Countering Russian disinformation and propaganda requires not only deterrence, but also a long-term strategy of media literacy training and awareness campaigns for the general public. In the short term, the creation of a state body to monitor the media environment and combat disinformation, similar to the existing ones in the Western countries, would help. Another…
As part of its ongoing research on disinformation and foreign influence, CSD is monitoring the disinformation narratives related to the situation in Kazakhstan that appeared in Bulgarian News Front’s content during the first half of January 2022. The outlet published nearly 100 articles referring to Kazakhstan out of total of 350 articles in the period…
The narrative about the Ukrainian “nuclear bomb” may not be among the most popular stories in our country related to the war in Ukraine. But the way in which it is constructed illustrates how Kremlin propaganda works: loud claims, unsupported by facts, respectively – difficult or impossible to verify and possibly refute; simultaneous dissemination of…
The AEJ today calls for an EU-wide ban on RT, which has played a key part in spreading lies and endorsing “false flag” that ensured confusion over Vladimir Putin’s aggression against Ukraine, and in general seeking to weaken Western democracies which Ukraine wishes to join. Full statement here
The deal with the US for eight F-16 fighter jets is the most significant and expensive step in the modernisation of the Bulgarian army in at least 20 years, but now it is in danger of becoming a hybrid tool of Russia. The contract was signed by the last government of Boyko Borissov, but its…
Bulgaria has once again proven to be one of the most insecure NATO member states – with a divided society, a “captured” political class, corruption and lack of leadership, and the cost of this behaviour in the deepening crisis over Ukraine is becoming higher and higher. Russia’s main hybrid weapon in Bulgaria is the NATO-Russia…
“There is no Russian aggression against Ukraine”; “Ukraine has joined the Russian Federation”; “Happy freedom, Russian brothers and sisters”. Such and other similar misinformation posts and statuses are being spread in hundreds of Bulgarian Facebook groups and dozens of websites, a check by Factcheck.bg showed. The onslaught of messages with false or misleading information, spread…
On 12 November 2021, the Center of the Study of Democracy held a press conference Disinformation Narratives in the November 2021 Bulgarian Elections Campaign: Key Actors and Amplifiers. On the event was presented recent analysis assessing the main propaganda and disinformation narratives and dissemination channels during the pre-election campaign in Bulgaria. The political campaign for the…
In its Policy Brief Disinformation Narratives in the November 2021 Bulgarian Elections Campaign: Key Actors and Amplifiers Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) is exploring Bulgaria’s growing vulnerability to propaganda and disinformation in the context of November 2021 parliamentary and presidential elections. At the same time COVID-19 pandemic is at the height of its…
