JRL NEWSWATCH: “The West Is Still Oblivious to Russia’s Information War; Paralyzed by free speech concerns, Western governments are loath to act.” – Foreign Policy
“… Despite the tedium of Putin’s two-hour-long lecture about an imaginary Russian and Ukrainian history, the streaming and promotion of the [Tucker Carlson] interview by Western platforms is only the latest successful foray in Russia’s information war …. A decade into Russia’s all-out information war, the social media companies seem to have forgotten their promises to act after … 2016 …. Policymakers not only seem oblivious to the full breadth and scope of Russia’s information war, but fears about stifling freedom of speech and contributing to political polarization have led them and the social media companies to largely refrain from any action to stop Russia’s ongoing campaign. This inaction comes amid growing signs of Russian influence operations that have deeply penetrated Western politics and society. … Meanwhile, a flood of money props up Moscow’s ambitions, including hundreds of millions of dollars … pouring into influencing elections …. While there have been some countermeasures since the start of Russia’s latest war — including … shutting off access to Russian media networks … these small, ineffective steps … do not fundamentally change Western governments’ lack of any coherent approach to the many vectors of Russian disinformation and hybrid warfare. … Western governments’ handle on the disinformation crisis seems to be getting weaker …. For Putin’s Russia, ‘information-psychological warfare’ — as a Russian military textbook calls it — is intended to ‘erode the morale and psychological spirit’ of an enemy population. … In the first year of the Ukraine war alone, posts by Kremlin-linked accounts were viewed at least 16 billion times by Westerners. … Moscow launches its attacks using a playbook familiar to anyone who watched the disinformation campaigns linked to the 2014 invasion of Crimea and the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Bots, trolls, targeted ad campaigns, fake news organizations, and doppelganger accounts of real Western politicians and pundits spread stories concocted in [Russia] ….”
Click here for: “The West Is Still Oblivious to Russia’s Information War; Paralyzed by free speech concerns, Western governments are loath to act.” – Foreign Policy: Ian Garner