Washington [AFP]. Thousands of accounts linked to Russia on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram spread misinformation against U.S about the new coronavirus emerged in China, US officials told AFP.
The accounts promote conspiracy theories, according to which the virus, for example, was manufactured in U.S, in an attempt to damage the American reputation, when the epidemic is already present in 26 countries.
State Department officials charged with fighting Russian misinformation said fake identities are being used on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to promote Russian arguments and conspiracies in several languages.
“Russia’s intention is to sow discord and undermine the institutions and alliances of the United States from the inside, including through covert and coercive campaigns of evil influence,” said the Acting Under Secretary of State for the Office of European and Eurasian Affairs, Philip Reeker.
The theory that the virus was created by the United States to spread “Wage an economic war against China”, which is a biological weapon invented by the CIA, and which is part of a Western “anti-China messages” strategy.
The messages also falsely accuse Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, whose foundation has invested billions of dollars in international health programs.
“By spreading disinformation about the coronavirus, Russian evil agents choose again to threaten public safety by distracting themselves from the global health response ”said Reeker.
US officials say the accounts, managed by people and non-robots, publish messages simultaneously in English, French, Spanish, Italian and German.
Thousands of accounts involved were monitored for interfering in various crises around the world, from the war in Syria to the protests in Chile and France.
According to the Global Engagement Center of the State Department, a cell to combat foreign misinformation companies, these accounts publish “almost identical” messages about the coronavirus.
The misinformation campaign was discovered by US officials in mid-January, when China accounted for three deaths of the new coronavirus in Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic.
Since then, more than 2,340 people have died, mainly in China. The total number of cases exceeds 76,000 and the virus has spread to 26 countries. Among them is Iran, which on Saturday ordered the closure of schools and universities in two cities, after registering a fifth death.
– Coordinated accounts –
Unlike other issues where the activity generally lasts three days, the accounts have been active for a month, according to US officials, a sign of the importance that the Russians attribute to the case.
“This is classic of the Russian doctrine of confrontation of information”, said another Global Engagement Center official.
“The global number of cases of coronavirus has not reached its peak, so the Russian strategy is to exploit the information environment in a very economical but very effective way, to sow discord between China and us, or for economic reasons” .
Russian state-funded media began an online campaign on January 20, broadcasting anti-Western articles and interviews about the cause of the epidemic, especially in RT and Sputnik. The operators of social media accounts began publishing globally the next day, according to US officials.
“It is unlikely to be a coincidence”, said. “When the Russian media began to draw these theories, Russian accounts really began to promote them worldwide.”.
“They are not robots, they are real people behind a keyboard”he added.
“In this case, we were able to see its disinformation ecosystem fully operational, including state television, websites close to them, and thousands of false identities on social networks, all pushing the same issues”said Lea Gabrielle, head of the Global Engagement Center.
Washington believes that Russian misinformation is hampering the health response to the virus, particularly in Africa and Asia.
“These operators seem to have a carte blanche to sow discord,” said a State Department official, saying that Russian trolls were autonomous and did not necessarily act on explicit orders.
“It doesn’t matter if a particular topic is directed from the highest levels or not. It is the fact that they have the independent ability to operate in this space to do the damage they can, which could have seismic implications. ”.
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