Have you heard about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s yachts? There seem to be at least two of them, and both cost billions of dollars – all paid for with Western aid.
Of course, that story is nonsense, a total fabrication, but it is circulating rapidly on social media. Many different sources are cited and countless people will swear that it must be true because they have heard it from someone they trust.
The real source, of course, is the Russian intelligence operation, which produces disinformation on an unimaginable scale. Zelensky’s yacht lie has been particularly successful, fueling resentment over the cost of supporting Ukraine. But the lies extend to much more than just war.
This sophisticated disinformation machine is currently working in overdrive in the UK to disrupt Thursday’s general election. Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden warned at the weekend that this industry of lies represents a real threat to our democracy.
Have you heard about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s yachts? Apparently there are at least two of them, and both cost billions… all paid for with Western aid
Of course, that story is nonsense, a total fabrication, but it is quickly circulating on social media. In the image: Russian President Vladimir Putin
He was responding to reports by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that Russian propagandists were covertly exerting their influence through a series of Facebook pages to increase support for Nigel Farage’s reform party. The pages have a total of 190,000 followers.
Dowden called this “gravely worrying” and blamed “evil foreign actors.”
Five Facebook pages are just the tip of the iceberg. Russia employs thousands of computer operators to flood our social media with distortions, manipulated reports and outrageous lies.
Much of this disinformation may seem plausible, but there is so much of it that checking all the facts is impossible because “fake news” spreads and mutates so quickly. Even if it is later debunked, the damage is already done.
For example, in a marginal seat where the Reform candidate has a chance of unseating a Conservative majority, a false story could begin to circulate about how immigrants are monopolizing local NHS dental services, forcing established residents to go private.
Some people will not need testing. They will accept the statement without question and will probably repeat it. Others may be skeptical at first. But when the lie is repeated endlessly, it begins to seem true simply because it has been told so many times.
The surest way to spread this simple lie is to tell it to a few people who will surely spread it. This is called ‘microtargeting’ and requires access to data collected by online giants such as X (formerly Twitter), Google and Facebook owner Meta.
All companies insist they have security mechanisms in place to prevent the misuse of detailed information about their users, but Russian intelligence networks have decades of experience in spreading disinformation and finding workarounds to access data.
During the Cold War, spreading propaganda was slow work. One KGB method was to steal documents from a Western state, reproduce them with a few lies inserted, and leak them to newspapers.
Another way of bribing or blackmailing British journalists and politicians into spreading fake news was the case of Labour deputy prime minister John Stonehouse in the 1960s, who was tricked into falling into a trap by a Czech agent.
Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden warned at the weekend that this industry of lies represents a real threat to our democracy.
He was responding to reports by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that Russian propagandists were covertly exerting their influence through a series of Facebook pages to boost support for Nigel Farage’s reform party.
But today Russian agents don’t even need to know the identity of their “useful idiots.” They search for social media users by location and use algorithms to identify the most active users and their interests.
They also focus on small communities of like-minded people who share something in common, whether it’s a sport, hobby or job. This creates an atmosphere of trust, which makes people more likely to believe what they read.
To increase the credibility of these lies, fake news and reports are spread elsewhere, a method known as “surfacing.” One piece of false information is linked to another until the sources are so confused that no one can tell where the lie came from.
Russia is not running a conventional PR campaign. The aim is not to win admirers but to sow discord. Forty years ago, Soviet defector Yuri Bezmenov described it as a campaign to demoralise the West: “A demoralised person is unable to assess true information. The facts tell him nothing.”
This long and slow process is becoming increasingly toxic to democracy.
Neil Barnett is co-author of Russia’s Hybrid War on the UK: Time to Fight Back against the Kremlin, published by the Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies.