Thursday, November 22, 2018

#DisinfoReview: Occupying The Information Space


“Nobody Asked Thou Occupation”, a protest sign says in an image. If you just have a quick look, it is hard to see where and when this photo was taken.

So it was a convenient way for the pro-Kremlin propagandists to illustrate articles about Norwegians allegedly protesting against a recent NATO exercise. The image illustrated stories in Georgian and Russian outlets in November.
But if you zoom in and pay attention to the tiny advertisement in the background, you will see three words in Polish: złoto, srebro, brylantyGold, silver, diamonds.

Myth Detector’s fact-checking and a Google reverse image search show that the same photograph was in fact taken in Poland already in 2016.
From the point of view of the disinformation campaigner, the picture has one advantage: it includes the keyword occupation. The pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign seems to be obsessed with claims about occupational forces. It repeats messages that not just SyriaUkraineGeorgiaCzech Republic or all the Eastern European countries but all of Europe is under either US, NATO or German occupation. At the same time, it appears that Ukraine is also occupied by the EU. See the links to set the record straight.

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