First of all, don’t give into your emotions. Secondly, don’t make every sensational news a truth. Thirdly, don’t believe unverified sources, anonymous users, suspicious sites or so-called experts claiming to voice the “uncomfortable truth”.
The portal StopFake.org has reported that the Belgian infosphere has been targeted by a disinformation campaign run by the Russian Internet Research Agency (IRA).
There have been over 200,000 tweets sent from fake accounts made by IRA employees. The peak of this campaign occurred right after the 2016 terrorist attacks in Brussels. The content of these tweets is obvious: racial and ethnic issues, hate speech and fake news.
Elections are nearing and no one should have to be reminded that we ought to remain vigilant
If you believe that Poland is safe from being targeted by this group, continue to believe so. It may seem true. Reality is much more complicated however.
Although there isn’t as much political conflict and controversy in Poland as there is in Western Europe, this doesn’t mean that alarming content doesn’t appear on the Polish web. Posts about Ukraine and Ukrainian workers in Poland, the country’s conflict with Western Europe and simply warnings against a “war with Russia” are just but examples. The most recent one is the attempt to heat the dispute between the government and Polish farmers.
The responsibility for analyzing these issues lies not only with the country’s special services, but also the media and ourselves. Elections are nearing and no one should have to be reminded that we ought to remain vigilant.
