Truth Missing in Action in Czech Information Wars

"Politicians are not really eager to burn their fingers over disinformation," Jakub Kalensky, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank, told participants at a summer school of journalism in the central Czech town of Havlickuv Brod in August.

Kalensky, who formerly headed the EU's East StratCom Task Force combating Kremlin-linked disinformation campaigns, said Baltic and Scandinavian states lead the way in tackling fake news, hoaxes and conspiracy theories.

Such falsehoods spread via fringe websites and social media, amplified by "bots" and bogus profiles, before seeping into more established press, mainstream politics and everyday conversation.

In July, Kalensky gave testimony to a US Congress foreign affairs subcommittee on Russian disinformation attacks in Europe that he said were designed "to weaken and destabilise the West at every level".

"In this effort, the disinformers are spreading heavily polarised messages that trigger strong emotions and sow discord," he said.

"They spread conspiracies that undermine trust in reliable sources of information; support radical and anti-Western elements in the targeted societies; promote anti-Western, anti-liberal, and anti-democratic politicians; and denigrate politicians who defend Western, liberal, and democratic values, because democracy and the rule of law threaten the survival of the current regime in the Kremlin."

They spread conspiracies that undermine trust in reliable sources of information; support radical and anti-Western elements in the targeted societies; promote anti-Western, anti-liberal, and anti-democratic politicians; and denigrate politicians who defend Western, liberal, and democratic values.

- Jakub Kalensky, Atlantic Council

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