Russian Bots Promote Fake News
Thousands of suspected pro-Russia robotic accounts producing bogus web messages about the Salisbury attack are the Nazi propagandists of the 21st century and must be confronted, the UK defence secretary has said.
Gavin Williamson said that the government may seek to talk with social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook about ways to combat this kind of information warfare, which he likened to the wartime “Germany calling” broadcasts of William Joyce, better known as Lord Haw-Haw.
He stressed the importance of protecting free speech, including the ability to criticise the government and challenge its assessment that the Kremlin was behind the attempted assassination of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.
Speaking to The Times, he revealed that he was nervous that President Putin would seek to attack Britain and its allies again in some unexpected way, but he said that Moscow would never win as long as Nato countries displayed a united front.
Mr Williamson, who told Russia this month to “go away and shut up”, said the West’s patience was wearing “very, very, very thin”. He described as “shocking” the results of government monitoring reports that Russia had begun a disinformation campaign since Salisbury, with an estimated 2,800 suspected automated online accounts churning out messages to sow dissent.
“What actually happens is it completely distorts the narrative of what people think about things,” he said during a visit to Estonia to meet hundreds of British troops deployed as part of a Nato mission to counter Russian aggression on its eastern flank.
He described how pro-Russia online robotic and troll accounts exploited genuine doubt among some about the UK’s blaming of Russia in the Salisbury case to create a false impression that this was the majority view.
It was part of a disinformation operation by the Kremlin, using state-backed media channels such as RT and Sputnik, amplified by fake social media accounts, that was designed to take advantage of divisions in democratic societies and turn people against each other.
“We have to make sure that that narrative is countered . . . It is effectively the Lord Haw-Haws of the modern era,” he said. Lord Haw-Haw was the nickname of Joyce, the English-speaking Nazi propagandist of the Second World War. He was in Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists and moved to Germany before the outbreak of war. His broadcasts from Berlin were prized by Goebbels.
Mr Williamson, asked whether the government should work with technology companies such as Twitter and Facebook to tackle state-backed hostile information in the same way as it was taking down online terrorist content, signalled that it could be an option.
“You maybe do need to look at . . . if you have to deal with this in a slightly different way and that is maybe working with some of those providers,” he said.
Britain is investing £100 million over the next five years to counter disinformation at home and across Europe, including in the Baltic states.
Mr Williamson said he also wanted the armed forces to play a greater role in the effort. A relatively new unit, 77 Brigade, focusing on information operations, would be a more central part of all military deployments, he said.
Britain was also seeking to retain a relationship with an EU team highlighting Russian propaganda and disinformation in weekly emails and online posts.
A recent cyber-attack on the UK Anti-Doping Agency failed to access confidential medical and drug testing data of Premier League footballers and Olympians.
Suspicion has fallen on the Russian Fancy Bears group, which has stolen sensitive records from the world and US anti-doping agencies before.
You Might Also Read:
