The Russian invasion of Ukraine redeployed the Kremlin’s foreign interference capabilities, saw the ban on RT and Sputnik in the EU, and weakened attempts to influence the French presidential election.
Attempts to destabilise the democratic process in France have been somewhat limited this time.
“Compared to the 2017 presidential election, it is perhaps the – likely temporary – collapse of Russia’s ability to cause trouble that was the most significant aspect in 2022”, said a new report published on Tuesday (28 June) by the Online Election Integrity Watch Group who saw the war in Ukraine as the main reason behind the findings.
“The content produced by RT and Sputnik shifted towards narratives designed to justify the invasion”, focusing on the “denazification” of Ukraine or the accusations of Russophobia in the mainstream media, the experts wrote.
They observed a sharp decline in RT’s election-related publications between the two rounds of the presidential election compared to 2017, falling from around 190 to 13 in 2022.
In addition, the EU-wide ban on state-controlled media from major online platforms has further undermined Moscow’s capacity to interfere.
Still, the authors stressed that this impact had been limited as Russian information operations were redeployed on other platforms, like Telegram, and other territories like Francophone Africa.
EU rolls out new sanctions banning RT and Sputnik
The EU has imposed economic sanctions on Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik for what officials describe as their “essential and instrumental” role in bringing aggression towards Ukraine and destabilising neighbouring countries.
The Watch Group highlighted that both RT and Sputnik had built quite a significant audience in France – RT France having, for instance, as many followers on social media as France Inter, one of the biggest radio stations.
“The distrust generated by the highly centralised nature of the French media is a source of vulnerability”, explained the experts, stressing that Russian media managed to exploit this gap by promoting “anti-system views”.
The ban, however, did not stop the Kremlin from trying to circulate deceiving narratives.
On 22 April, two days before the second round of the presidential election, Russian and French-speaking sources claimed that “Macron left 50 French officers to die in Mariupol”, relying on a video by the Turkish nationalist party Vatan’s chairman.
In a written statement published right after, the party presented this “information” as “accurate and reliable” and claimed it originated from the Russian state.
“The choice to be made [between Macron and Le Pen] is the choice that will save the independence, dignity and pride of the people of France”, the statement ended, calling the French people to vote for the latter.
This “information” was later spread on social media by accounts and websites that have been identified as “mouthpieces for Russia”.
While the sanctions have proven, at least partially, successful and restrained RT and Sputnik’s successes in France, “the niche these channels leave behind remains vulnerable to new attempts at autocratic interference”, the Watch Group’s analysts warned.
They observed that the Chinese state media and China’s embassy in France “filled the void” and amplified the content shared by the Russian diplomatic accounts – while Bejing’s information strategy usually focuses on promoting a positive image of China and not so much on interfering in democratic elections.
The experts also added that it would be a “mistake” to assume that Russia’s capacity to interfere has been permanently diminished and that Mali could very well become the Kremlin’s “rear base” for information operations aimed at the French-speaking world. The country could prove fertile soil for Russian propaganda after the withdrawal of French troops and increased Russian military presence.
Germany and France gear up to fight foreign interference ahead of elections
Berlin and Paris are taking steps to fight the expected manipulation of online information by foreign powers as they approach key elections, Germany in September and France next year.
[Edited by Luca Bertuzzi/Alice Taylor]
Source: euractiv.com
