Coronavirus: China and Russia sow disinformation to undermine trust in Western vaccines, EU report says
- State media pushed fake news online sensationalising vaccine safety concerns and promoting Russian and Chinese shots as superior, the study says
- The campaigns, aimed at dividing the West, also make unfounded links between jabs and deaths in Europe, according to the report
From December to April, the two countries’ state media outlets pushed fake news online in multiple languages sensationalising vaccine safety concerns, making unfounded links between jabs and deaths in Europe and promoting Russian and Chinese vaccines as superior, the EU study said.
The Kremlin and Beijing deny all disinformation allegations by the EU, which produces regular reports and seeks to work with Google, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft to limit the spread of fake news.
Russian and Chinese vaccine diplomacy “follows a zero-sum game logic and is combined with disinformation and manipulation efforts to undermine trust in Western-made vaccines,” said the EU study released by the bloc’s disinformation unit, part of its EEAS foreign policy arm.
“Both Russia and China are using state-controlled media, networks of proxy media outlets and social media, including official diplomatic social media accounts, to achieve these goals,” the report said, citing 100 Russian examples this year.
The EU and Nato regularly accuse Russia of covert action, including disinformation, to try to destabilise the West by exploiting divisions in society.
