Securing Democracy Dispatch

American conservatives frequently criticize social-media companies for their content-moderation policies and the EU for its social-media regulations, alleging they infringe on freedom of speech. However, the lack of regulation further imperils online speech, leaving it subject to whichever way the political winds blow, Managing Director David Salvo and Senior Fellow Bret Schafer write.

The decline of local news and changing ways that Americans receive information have created more pathways “for bad actors to infiltrate spaces to spread a specific narrative”, Senior Fellow Bret Schafer told WFAE 90.7’s Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins.

Russian diplomats and state media focused on two main narratives this week:

• Alleged Occupation of Moldova: Ahead of this weekend’s parliamentary elections in Moldova, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) accused European countries of planning to deploy NATO troops to occupy Moldova. Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) elaborated that the EU wanted to keep Moldova within its “anti-Russian” sphere at any cost, including the deployment of troops. TASS added that Europeans allegedly intend to “take it out on little Moldova” out of fear of a “direct confrontation” with Russia. Lenta.ru reported that NATO military units were supposedly concentrating near Romania’s border with Moldova, while NATO paratroopers were supposedly being transferred to Odesa in Ukraine to intimidate Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region. Lenta.ru further alleged that the first group of military personnel from France and the United Kingdom had already arrived in Ukraine, while TASS alleged that officers in French military uniforms were spotted in Moldova. However, Moldova’s Ministry of Defense (MOD) explained that the circulated photo featured military attachés accredited in Chișinău.
• Estonia’s Airspace Violation: Russian officials and state media vehemently denied any violations of Estonia’s airspace by Russian MiG-31 fighter jets. Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the accusations “empty and unfounded”. Russia’s MOD declared that the three jets made a scheduled flight from Karelia to an airfield in the Kaliningrad region “over neutral waters of the Baltic Sea”. Yulia Zhdanova, the acting head of the Russian delegation at negotiations in Vienna on military security and arms control, stated that Poland and Estonia had not provided evidence of Russia’s involvement and claimed that these countries sought to “create a stir” to prepare their populations for a possible war with Russia. Russian television propagandist Vladimir Solovyev speculated that the Baltic states were turning the Baltic Sea into a “NATO internal sea” to hinder Russian logistics and sever Russia’s connection with the Kaliningrad region, a scenario he described as a “potential threat to Russian security”.

The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) diplomats and state media focused on two main narratives this week:

• United Nations: PRC diplomats and state media outlets covered world leaders’ speeches at the 80th UN General Assembly in New York this week. A short CGTN Europe TikTok video featuring Western leaders’ statements recognizing a Palestinian state was the most viewed piece of PRC messaging over the past week. Xinhua stated that the recognition would create a “deepening rift with Washington” while CGTN America portrayed the statements as “defying (…) Israel and” the United States. PRC diplomats and state media outlets promoted Beijing’s “Global Governance Initiative,” amplifying UN and Russian officials who praised it. PRC messaging relayed clips of US President Donald Trump’s speech, while China Daily pointed out that the American public did not share his negative views on the organization. Furthermore, the PRC’s ambassador to Colombia called Trump “misinformed”.
• Xi in Xinjiang: On Tuesday, Xi Jinping arrived in Xinjiang, China’s westernmost territory, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the autonomous region that he described as “brimming with festive joy”. In a barely veiled response to the persistent accusations of repression toward the region’s Uyghur ethnic minority, PRC diplomats and state media outlets insisted that “all ethnic groups” took part in the celebrations. CGTN amplified a British “PhD candidate” who said that the Uyghur language was not banned. Pro-PRC commentators also advertised the region’s tourism potential and offered to share “the true reality [of the region]”. China Daily highlighted the “colorful song and dance” in the region’s capital while CGTN affiliate Frontline praised the “region’s cultural vitality and ethnic unity.”

Iranian diplomats and state media focused on one main narrative this week:

• UN Sanctions: Iranian state messengers continued to dedicate significant coverage to the anticipated return of UN sanctions on the country. Iran’s MFA denounced the UN Security Council’s recent rejection of a resolution that would have permanently lifted sanctions on Iran, accusing Germany, France, and the United Kingdom of activating the snapback mechanism for their own “excessive political interests”. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi threatened to terminate the country’s recent agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency to restore cooperation. Iran’s health minister claimed sanctions cause more deaths than war, while other officials and propaganda channels questioned the efficacy of the sanctions, calling them merely a “psychological” threat. Press TV produced a 30-minute video titled “Snapback: Mechanism or Machination?” in which it called Europe a “dead actor” serving Washington’s agenda and claimed that the West does not want a resolution but instead leverage over Tehran.

Widespread Russian efforts to influence Moldova unmasked on eve of Moldovan elections: Moldovan President Maia Sandu accused Russia of spending “hundreds of millions of euros” to buy votes and spread pro-Kremlin narratives to undermine this weekend’s parliamentary elections. Researchers also discovered that a news outlet promoting pro-Kremlin narratives that had gained millions of social-media views since its launch in June is tied to the Russian online influence group Rybar. Managing Director David Salvo writes, “Russia’s interests in destabilizing Moldova’s democracy are vast. Chief among them are the borders Moldova shares with Ukraine and Romania, and the current Moldovan government’s pro-EU trajectory. A Kremlin-friendly coalition in the Moldovan parliament—or even a minority government that collapses, creating greater instability within Moldovan politics and society—gives Russia more maneuverability to use Moldova to stage hybrid operations into a strategic part of Ukraine it does not currently occupy and into the EU via Romania, which also houses important US and NATO military infrastructure. And like Ukraine, Moldova has long been a training ground for Russia to test new hybrid tactics. From calling in bomb threats to destabilize polling locations to using cryptocurrency to finance vote buying schemes, Russia has been innovating and refining its tools in Moldova for some time. The Euro-Atlantic community ignores what’s happening in Moldova to its own detriment.”

In Case You Missed It

• YouTube will begin reinstating accounts previously suspended for spreading false narratives about the integrity of the 2020 US elections and COVID-19, the platform announced in a letter to the US House Judiciary Committee.
• Pro-Russian narratives have been found across prominent Italian history and geography textbooks, including those that call Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic states part of a “Russian region”, refer to Crimea as Russian territory, and characterize Ukraine as corrupt and backward, according to research presented to the Italian Senate.
• A coordinated influence campaign linked to pro-Russian social-media accounts has misrepresented a report on the prevalence of false narratives online following Russia’s drone incursion in Poland’s airspace to claim that Polish citizens are holding Ukraine responsible for the incident.
• A plane carrying the Spanish minister of defense reported GPS interference while crossing over the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad en route to a Lithuanian air base on Wednesday.

Foreign powers use Charlie Kirk’s death to spread disinformation. Senior Fellow Bret Schafer quoted in NPR

Bizarre AI Generated Anti-Trump Videos Are Getting Billions Of Views On YouTube. Senior Fellow Bret Schafer quoted in Forbes

The views expressed in GMF publications and commentary are the views of the author alone.