There was a large coordinated attempt on social media to peddle pro-Russian, anti-vaccine and anti-LGBT narratives as the June European vote approached, a new report says “with absolute certainty”.
Swathes of accounts inundated social media in countries across the EU with disinformation before the European Parliament elections in June, in addition to promoting French and German far-right political discourse, a new study has found.
The Dutch Socialist and Democratic National delegation commissioned analysts at the Dutch consultancy Trollrensics to investigate potential disinformation networks influencing public opinion before the European elections.
The consultancy carried out investigations in Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands, in addition to a more general probe into English-language words and hashtags linked to the election.
“We can conclude with absolute certainty that a large coordinated network of accounts was influencing the public discourse on social media around the EU elections in Germany and France,” the report said.
“Trollrensics found a disinformation network in Italy, but it was not very active in influencing the discourse around Italian EU elections,” it added. “In the Netherlands, no disinformation networks were identified.”
Trollrensics studied 2.3 million posts from nearly 500,000 accounts in those countries. It identified 50,000 as accounts that spread false narratives.
The study found that the disinformation network in Germany was particularly vast.
It promoted the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, anti-LGBT discourse and anti-vaccine disinformation.
“This is a substantial network, exerting a major influence on the political debate on X in Germany, specifically in the German language,” the report said.
The network in France, meanwhile, had significantly more accounts than the German network.
At least 20% of posts related to far-right politician Éric Zemmour came from accounts within the network, according to Trollrensics.
The misinformation campaign’s impact on political debates on X was so substantial that it could make topics trend just by flooding social media with posts, comments and likes, the report found.
The Italian network was less substantial but still promoted right-wing politicians while attacking those on the left.
It contained a lot of older accounts created between 2011 and 2022, Trollrensics said, meaning that it had likely been influencing Italy and spreading pro-Russian narratives for a long time.
In fact, the report said that the networks in France, Germany and Italy weren’t specifically created to influence the EU elections — many of the accounts were created just after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and some were even older than that.
ADVERTISEMENTMany of them follow Russian government accounts and officials and notable far-right commentators, such as Dmitry Medvedev, Tucker Carlson and Eva Vlaardingerbroek.
The report said that the networks in France and Germany are expanding at an “incredible rate,” with more accounts being created to amplify those already in the network.
Going forward, Trollrensics recommends further investigation into similar networks in other European countries, in addition to honing in on potential disinformation campaigns on TikTok and other social platforms.
As usual, it’s crucial to keep your eye on where the social media content you’re sharing is coming from and be aware of these disinformation networks.
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