- VIBE 2023: How the Kremlin's disinformation efforts have reshaped the media landscape in Europe, Eurasia and Central Asia
WASHINGTON, Sept. 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The large-scale invasion of Ukraine has had a significant impact on the media and information sectors in countries across Europe, Eurasia and Central Asia, as highlighted in the IREX Vibrant Information Barometer 2023 for Europe and Eurasia (VIBE).
Through national expert panels held in 18 countries, VIBE assesses the dynamism of countries' information systems in the digital age and explicitly examines newer concepts, such as media literacy and information bubbles, along with the quality of information in the media and information sector.
The 2023 edition of VIBE shows that most countries in all three regions experienced an increase in propaganda efforts and disinformation campaigns that VIBE experts attribute directly to the Kremlin and its representatives in Russia. In Ukraine, a November 2022 report by local data journalism organization Texty identified 120 Telegram channels created by Kremlin-linked information actors in the first weeks of the large-scale invasion, stating that at least half emerged of a coordinated effort and were managed from the same location. These channels copied local news to attract subscribers, with the main objective of spreading the rhetoric of the Russian Government and simulating Ukrainian support for the Russian occupation forces. In another example, although Georgia has long experienced Kremlin-motivated narratives, the VIBE panel highlighted the destructive impact of the far-right, Russian government-affiliated national broadcaster Alt-Info, whose coverage has actively sought to portray the government. Ukrainian as a puppet regime of the West, fostering anti-NATO skepticism as a tool to distance Georgia from the West, and exacerbating popular fears about the loss of Georgia's occupied territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
The Kyrgyzstan panel noted that many people echo the pro-Kremlin propaganda they see on television programs from Russia. Additionally, citizens of Kyrgyzstan have family members or friends working in Russia who actively distribute video and audio podcasts from Russian social media via instant messaging applications. This phenomenon actively establishes a multi-layered system of Kremlin propaganda and helps explain how disinformation continues to proliferate in Kyrgyzstan.
In Europe, the Bosnia-Herzegovina panel described the Russian embassy as a leader in the dissemination of disinformation and propaganda, such as that of biolaboratories that manufacture weapons with Russian DNA, also spread by the media. The influence of the Russian government has also contributed to the polarization of information about the war throughout the country. Federation media, for example, describe it as an invasion of a sovereign state, while those in the Republika Srpska, aligned with the Russian government, have adopted the term "special military operation," preferred by Russia." .
VIBE is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Visit our website to view country reports and VIBE Explorer to examine and compare data trends, VIBE principles, regions, and individual countries.
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