Information Warfare on the Internet - Exposing and Countering pro-Kremlin Disinformation in the

CEEC - Project Summary in Slovakia

Presentation prepared by Iveta Varényiová.

Slovak alternative media...or a storyabout war between conspiracy and

„Conspirators“

Analysed online media

• www.zemavek.sk

• www.zvedavec.org

• www.stopautogenocide.sk

• www.slobodnyvysielac.sk

• www.hlavnespravy.sk

• www.panobcan.sk

Technique: reversing history

Technique: „experts“ opinions

Technique: using emotions

Technique: mixing personal opinionswith facts

Technique: spreading propaganda

Low-quality journalism

• grammatical mistakes,

• misspelled names,

• usage of mocking wording.

• non-original articles and poorly translated texts.

Promoted „facts“ and main statements

• „Vladimir Putin is a strong leader“,

• „NATO is the war-mongering aggressor“,

• „war in Syria is fight against radical terrorism“,

• „Russian intervention in Ukraine is help to oppressed Russian speaking minority“,

• „Russian foreign policy is peaceful and helpful“.

Two sides of one story

• Spreading conspiracy,

• mixing facts and opinions,

• creating distorted news,

• Slovak polititians sharingpro-Kremlinpropagandistic opinions,

• amount of pro-Kremlinpropaganda slowlydeclining,

• more institutions and iniciatives informingabout propaganda sources,

• more experiencedreaders.

Summary

• Slovak so- called alternative media is publishing articles inspired or influenced by pro-Kremlin propaganda using various narratives, cospiracy teories and false statements. However, there is decline of amount of those kind of texts thanks to activities of particular Slovak and international organisations which aim is to disclose propaganda and educating readership.

• The authors use the technique of mixing facts with false claims and personal opinions, vague statements, describing unknown blogger as political scientists or geopolitical analysts, fogging facts, reversinghistory and cynism.

• The authors use the technique of vague statements and implementing emotions.

Thank you for your attention!

The project is co-financed by the International Visegrad Fund