How to combat disinformation

Canada and Australia: Information voids and disinformation campaigns

Australians and Canadians are being subjected to a slew of fake political messaging, and disinformation campaigns via social media platforms in the run up to their federal elections. 

A report from Canada’s Media Ecosystem Observatory found that around a quarter of all social media users were encountering fake accounts online. According to the report, such pages masquerade as legitimate news sources, including CBC/Radio-Canada, but often link to cryptocurrency scams. “The ads have shifted in nature during the campaign—becoming more sophisticated and more politically polarizing, and increasingly relying on videos designed to look like real news coverage,” the report found. Meanwhile, a separate report found that there has been a wave of AI-generated ads working to the same purpose.

It comes as legitimate Canadian news organisations experience their first election while being blocked from posting on Facebook and Instagram. However, many Canadians are still unaware of the news ban, and still use these platforms to get their news. “But what they’re finding there instead is hyper-partisan meme-like content, that leans mostly towards the Conservative side, as well as straight-up fake ads and disinformation relating to the political campaigns. … In that news void, there are other voices that dominate the information landscape,” said Matina Stevis-Gridneff, the New York Times’ Canada bureau chief. 

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute has also reported on the threat of an information campaign being waged by China, via both macro-level interventions, and more community-based influence. For the latter, it pointed to the targeting of Chinese-speaking Canadians with politicised content via WeChat, while in Australia, official state media criticised one of the major candidates. “In both cases, the aim is the same: to seed confusion and divide public sentiment, ultimately reshaping policy trajectories in Beijing’s favour.” 

According to a report by the RECapture research team, WeChat is also being used in Australia, but is being driven by “commercial and domestic political interests.” 

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New Zealand: Spy agency investigated RNZ reporter over edits

It was revealed last week that New Zealand’s domestic spy agency, the Security Intelligence Service, became involved in a 2023 scandal over whether public broadcaster RNZ had been used for foreign interference. 

The agency concluded that foreign interference was not a concern when a web journalist edited wire copy to reflect a more “pro-Kremlin” perspective. The journalist, Mick Hall, had complained to the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security about the legality of any inquiry into him, which was not upheld. 

“I am satisfied that the basis and extent of these inquiries were both legal and proper and that [the] NZSIS recognised the sensitive nature of making inquiries into a journalist,” the inspector general, Brendan Horsley, said in a report. 

An independent investigation launched by RNZ found several editorial failures, which it pledged to address. 

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Finland: Changes continue for Yle

The cost-saving programme at Yle continues, with new negotiations focused on personnel and the Creative Content and Media and Strategy and Services units. 

In the second round of savings, the public broadcaster reportedly aims to cut €3 million in personnel costs and a further €2 million in other services. According to Yle, the negotiations concern more than 350 people, including the termination of 37 positions. These cuts are part of the €50 million savings package that the Finnish public broadcaster had to implement after a Parliamentary working group decided the organisation had to go through a restructure and cut down on its expenses. 

The Finnish Journalists’ Union warned that these heavy budget cuts would force Yleisradio to reduce its unique content offer, and raised concerns over the impact it would have on creators, the audience, and also Finnish culture. According to the chairwoman of the Finnish Journalists’ Union, Marjaana Varmavuori, “Children and young people have the right to information, and Yle’s job is to strengthen that right. Now, decisions made by politicians threaten to weaken media literacy,”. She declared that the reduction in Yle’s programmes were “absurd”, as Yle’s high quality production reflected the country’s culture.

As the public broadcaster continues the changes within its organisation, the Yle Act, which regulates the remit of the organisation, is also being modified to reflect the set of rules brought in the European Media Freedom Act that have to be implemented by autumn 2025. The amendments to the Yle Act aim to increase the transparency of the public broadcaster’s operations. 

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Ireland: National disinformation strategy launched

​​To tackle the “dynamic and ever-evolving problem” of disinformation and the threat it presents to democracy, the National Counter Disinformation Strategy has been launched by Ireland’s Department for Media. The document provides a set of recommendations and calls on the Irish government to develop a national strategy to ward off foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) and tackle fast-spreading disinformation.

As part of the recommendations, the strategy also aims to foster the development of regulations to combat disinformation and includes the promotion of greater media pluralism as well as the improvement of media literacy. The document also recommends the effective implementation of the European Media Freedom Act to national legislation. The Media Minister Patrick O’Donovan told RTÉ that they would work alongside public and private media in the country, as well as platforms, to carry out the mission of the strategy.

Along with the measures to counter the spread of disinformation and educate Irish audiences to its dangers, a Counter Disinformation Oversight Group will be set up to coordinate and monitor the implementation of the strategy. 

However, the Government’s strategy was criticised by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties for failing to tackle the threat represented by social media algorithms’ manipulative abilities. 

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USA: USAGM funding ordered to be restored

Employees at Voice of America have been cleared to return to work, after a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction which ordered Congress to resume funding for the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM).  The USAGM runs Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Asia (RFA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and several others. Funding for the agency was ended by executive order in mid-March, meaning all services were effectively stopped. However, a legal challenge brought by VOA and RSF was subsequently launched, culminating in Judge Royce-Lambeth’s ruling, in which he said that the President does not have the authority to end USAGM’s funding, which is decided by Congress. 

In a letter to all VOA staff, posted on LinkedIn, the Director Michael Abramowitz said, “The judge’s ruling vindicates our position that it falls to Congress to create or dismantle a government agency, not the executive branch alone … In a world in which American adversaries are relentlessly spreading propaganda and lies about the United States, the value of Voice of America could not be greater.” 

The decision was similarly welcomed by RFA, but in a statement, the organisation added that employees would only be able to return once they have received “timely disbursement of our funding on a consistent basis. Until then RFA unfortunately remains in the same position as last month when we began to furlough our journalists and staff.”

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