Showing posts with label #Disinformation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #Disinformation. Show all posts

The FIMI Iceberg - Decoding Foreign Interference Threats

According to data gathered by the European External Action Service (EEAS), last year over eighty countries and over two hundred organizations were targets of attacks from Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference - or FIMI. These attacks targeted everything from major international events like the Paris Olympics, to national elections, regional conflicts and local protests.

The main instigators of these influence operations were China and Russia and they use FIMI to manipulate public opinion, fuel polarization and interfere with democratic processes within the EU and worldwide. They employ a multi-layered strategy using both state and non-state actors to exert long term influence.

According to the EEAS report, "their aim is to destabilize societies, damage democracies, drive wedges between different groups and undermine the EU's global standing". The EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas says "FIMI is not merely a tool for disseminating deceptive narratives. It is an integral part of military operations used by foreign states to lay the way for kinetic action on the ground," and "is a major security threat to the EU."

And it would appear that no country is immune. Even a small neutral country like Ireland was mentioned thousands of times by Russian and Chinese influence networks during a monitoring period from September 2023 to September 2024 according to an in-depth study carried out by Norway's Defense Research Strategy.

In this episode of Perspectives with Neilo, we chat with Eoin McNamara (X: @McNamara_Eoin  BSky: @mcnamara-eoin.bsky.social), Research Fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs in Helsinki to unpack some of the key findings in these reports. We discuss what motives lie behind these manipulation and interference campaigns as well as some examples of recent case studies and their impact. In addition we talk about the vulnerability of western society to such interference and what democracies can do to protect their citizens from such nefarious interference in the future.

Date of Recording: March 31st, 2025.



The thumbnail is entitled the FIMI Iceberg and shows Russia President Putin and Chinese President Xi - one on either side of an iceberg. They are surrounded by symbols of their state organizations and state controlled media outlets that appear around the iceberg above the water line. Below the waterline are symbols of China's and Russia's covert state linked channels and state aligned channels.
The FIMI Iceberg showing Russia's and China's Overt threats such as official state agencies and state controlled outlets (media organizations) as well as Covert threats (below the water line) such as state linked channels and state aligned channels. See the 3rd EEAS Report on Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Threats linked below for full details.


DIVE DEEPER:

Additional information on the topics covered in this episode:



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Music Credits:
Title music: Uplifting by Plastic3 used under Tribe of Noise license
Break: Shining Bright Dusk by FreeSoundServer via Pixabay

#FIMI, #InformationWarfare, #Geopolitics, #Cybersecurity, #Disinformation, #DigitalWarfare, #ForeignInterference, #Propaganda, #CyberThreats, #ElectionInterference, #ChinaInfluence, #RussiaInterference, #HybridWarfare, #ChinesePropaganda, #AuthoritarianInfluence, #EUDemocracy, #EuropeanSecurity, #EUPolitics, #EUForeignPolicy, #DefendDemocracy, #IrelandSecurity, #IrelandPolitics, #NeutralIreland, #SocialMediaManipulation, #DigitalPropoganda, #FakeNews, #CyberTactics, #Podcast, #PodcastEpisode

Safeguarding Taiwan's Democracy from China's Disinformation Deluge

 With Taiwan's presidential election taking place in early January, the island's future relation with the neighboring People's Republic of China (PRC) occupies pole position on the ballot.

The PRC who claim Taiwan as their sovereign territory despite having never occupied or controlled it, have historically launched extensive disinformation campaigns to dissuade voters from supporting the ruling pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

According to a 2022 report by the Digital Society Project, part of the Swedish institute Varieties of Democracy, Taiwan has ranked as the biggest target for foreign disinformation in the world for the last decade. Taiwanese politicians and researchers say the majority of those attacks originate from China.

In recent months, Beijing has been amping up its campaign of intimidation, disinformation and cyber attacks sending ever-increasing numbers of fighter jets into Taiwan's air defense identification zone, as well as exploiting Taiwan's free speech and open internet to manipulate politics and influence public opinion. Among their more popular disinformation tactics are inciting fear of a possible war of invasion and sowing skepticism about the sincerity of the support from Taiwan's allies, most notably the United States.

Disinformation actors also use current international events, such as the ongoing war in Gaza, to remind audiences of the dire consequences of war, sending the message that avoiding war with China is the best option for Taiwan. Beijing aims to convince Taiwanese people that unification is inevitable and irresistible, while balancing its deployment of coercive measures with incentive-driven approaches. 

Thankfully, there are a number of expert organizations in Taiwan that work full-time to investigate and debunk disinformation. One of those is the Taiwan Fact Check Center (@taiwantfc). According to their website, they are a non-profit NGO established by the Association for Quality Journalism and Taiwan Media Watch Foundation. Their mission is to fact-check claims related to public interest issues to promote reliable information, digital literacy, and to make Taiwan a better and stronger democratic society.

We met up recently with their CEO, Eve Chiu (邱家宜) to talk about the organization, examples of their debunking work, China's wumao disinformation army (五毛黨) and much more.


Date of Recording: November 16th, 2023.



Disinformation visualized by a flow of 1's and 0's from a hidden faced character in a hoodie with a CCP government crest in front of his face
Main image courtesy of Pixabay and Taiwan News (see link below)


DIVE DEEPER:

Additional information and references on the topics covered in this episode:

  • Seeing is not believing - deepfakes and cheap fakes spread during the 2024 Taiwan presidential election - Wei-Ping Li, Ph.D., Taiwan Fact Check Center (December 25th, 2023)
  • Additional Fact Check Organizations in Taiwan
  • Shadow Play [pdf download] - Jacinta Keast, Australian Strategic Policy Institute (2023) - see graph below
  • Wumao - 50 Cent Party - wiki

  • Title graphic image courtesy of Pixabay and Taiwan News


Graph of YouTube China propaganda video posting versus China Standard time
From Shadow Play by Jacinta Keast, ASPI, 2023 (see link above)

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