Russia ramps up disinformation war on UK with barrage of online propaganda
www.independent.co.uk
Exclusive: Putin’s campaign to erode trust and cause chaos has reached staggering levels amid Britain’s support for Ukraine and Russia’s closer relations with Donald Trump

Russia’s disinformation war on the UK has reached new highs as Kremlin-backed media seek to sow chaos amongst Britons and ramp up attacks on their “main adversary”, experts warn.

In the past six months, state-affiliated media have pushed hundreds of thousands of stories on social media portraying Britain as ungovernable, defenceless, and a legitimate Russian target, The Independent can reveal.

Analysis by risk intelligence firm Osavul, which tracks global hybrid threats and supplies technology to Nato, shows such media output rose by around 15 per cent in September, when it produced around 40,365 stories about the UK, while similar levels of disinformation pushed in October.

False claims that the UK bombed the city of Voronezh with storm shadow missiles, that British police were threatening to arrest people for using air conditioners, and that Andy Burnham was “powerless to stop the UK’s collapse” are among several posts seen by The Independent.

Osavul said the aim was “to leave British readers with a lower opinion of their own state, and readers abroad with the sense that Britain is not a serious power”.

…

Archived

  • tardigradeOPEnglish
    31·
    3 days ago

    Guest commentary and columns that require membership don’t show up in normal search engines

    Why did I find it then and you don’t?

    • zedcell@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
      21·
      3 days ago

      It showed up for me when I looked back at my search on like the third page of results - probably because fuck all people read it because it’s locked behind a paywall and the fact, as stated, that it isn’t a news article. Interestingly, here’s the political editor of the Independent on why he believes Keir Starmer’s government didn’t act sooner against Israel https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uk-israel-gaza-starmer-david-lammy-sanctions-trade-b2754928.html

      Here is him smearing the idea that there is undue Israeli influence in the labour party:

      Antisemitic conspiracy theories suggesting Labour is being held back by Zionist interests can readily be found on social media, but none of this is true."

      The ‘real reason’?

      In reality, Labour under Sir Keir Starmer has been held back by a sense of shame.

      A visible reminder of this came when former leader Jeremy Corbyn got to his feet to challenge Lammy. Under Corbyn’s leadership, Labour became so immersed in antisemitism and so marginalised the Jewish community that the party has had to continue working hard to restore its reputation

      • tardigradeOPEnglish
        21·
        3 days ago

        It showed up for me when I looked back at my search on like the third page of results

        First, you say it doesn’t show up. Now, as it is clear that this is wrong, you are fabricating the next (false) narrative only then to deflect into another topic.

        And, again, here are more than these two.

        But more importantly, it has nothing to do with Russia ramping up the disinformation war on the UK with propaganda claiming Britain is ‘ungovernable and defenceless’

        • zedcell@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
          21·
          3 days ago

          It didn’t show up until I clicked through multiple pages of results. I will concede that makes me incorrect that paywalled articles still technically eventually show up in search results. All good now, nitpicker? It still doesn’t change that it is not a news article and can’t be passed off as such, and that I have now shown the explicit stance the paper’s political editor has on the mere concept of Israeli influence in British politics. Nor has it changed my initial point that Russia’s “disinformation war” is clearly ineffective and irrelevant besides as scaremongering when the government, the opposition and mainstream political media and thought is basically 100% behind deep-throated support of Ukraine, NATO and expanding military spending. Maybe the article could talk about US influence and “dis-information” because it’s clearly more effective that whatever shit Russian affiliated news sources are able to achieve.