Analysis

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  Fake news, biometrics and blackout - Iran's disinformation tools

  Despite the scale of terror, most of the world does not know much about the situation in Iran, because its government tightly restricts access to information, by using propaganda tools and fake news, and by controlling access to the internet. The problem concerns not only Iran, but also the armed conflict on the European continent. This is because Tehran's actions may be a model for Moscow and the subject of the already existing exchange of know-how with Russia.

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  Revisions of European frontiers – the Kremlin’s propaganda bogeyman

  In view of the prolonged invasion of Ukraine, Moscow is employing all possible means to discourage the West from supporting Kyiv and force Ukraine to surrender. For this purpose, the Kremlin’s propagandists are trying to intimidate the societies and elites of the Western countries, among others, with warnings about supposed plans to revise state frontiers in Europe. In this context, Putin’s propagandists have also prepared a narrative concerning Poland’s imperial ambitions and plans to seize control of western Ukraine.

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  "They behave as if it was their territory" - the perception of the Polish people in Russian propaganda

  The Russian Investigative Committee has promised to focus on the question of alleged war crimes committed by Polish mercenaries. But Russian media also speak about "good Polish people." These are pro-Russian analysts. Poles are also said to be getting ready to "conquer Lviv" and that they "will freeze to death."

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  Fake news concerning reports on mercury in the River Odra

  For several days after August 11, false information was circulated in the Polish media about an unusually high mercury level in the waters of the River Odra which had apparently caused the death of masses of fish. The fake news about life-threatening mercury in the water was based on information from a single news source in Brandenburg that was published before any official research had been presented in Poland and Germany, and is an incident can certainly serve as a case study for how fake news is spread.

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  Orlen caught in Moscow’s crosshairs

  The Polish fuel market is very sensitive to 'information war' activities, such as fake news, for several reasons, the main one being that it is part of the energy sector - a critical element of any economy. That is why it is often the first target of attack and actions to destabilise it are often carried out with great intensity.

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  Anti-Ukrainian propaganda has replaced much anti-vaccine propaganda, although the sources are often the same and tend to work in the interests of the Kremlin - according to analysis by Fakehunter.

  With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the content of fake news circulating on social media changed almost overnight.Polish sources that had since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic disseminated anti-vaccine content (often inspired by media associated with the Kremlin) now began to publish information falsifying the picture of the war in Ukraine and aiming to set Poles against Ukrainian refugees. Ukrainian crimes against Poles eight decades ago, for example, were dragged into this information war.

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  Russian disinformation focuses its attack on the Polish economy - current and forecast directions

  Raw materials, currency risk, debt and conflict in the EU - this is what the Russians are focusing on. The apparent weakness of the Polish economy in the Russian propaganda war is a main narrative line.

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  Russia’s key disinformation narratives addressed to Poles - Fakehunter analysis

  In Russia’s ongoing disinformation war, one can already talk of a "dedicated product,” that is propaganda messages based on what appears to be comprehensive analysis - taking into account Polish realities of life, fragments from some of the country’s tragic history, and Polish society’s likes and resentments. The channels used by Russian propagandists aiming to get into the minds of Poles are mainly social platforms, especially Twitter.