EU Elections

More documents

Recommendations

Info

EUOBSERVER A ‘deepfake’ video purportedly of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky telling Ukrainians to lay down their arms, from March 2022. In just 12 months, the AI technology has advanced enormously since then. Source: Twitter the Green Deal, migration, and Europe’s support for Ukraine. “It will notably be the usual suspects — and yes, I mean Russia — that will try to propagate disinformation with the help of AI and deep fakes on those issues which are currently the biggest bones of contention in Europe: migration and climate change,” the president of Eindhoven University of Technology, Robert-Jan Smits, told EUobserver. He argues the main goals are also to create “unrest and polarisation” in society from which extremist parties can then benefit. “Given the enormous tensions in society, as can be seen from this year’s farmers’ protests, it will not take much to light a fire”. Key patterns which can help citizens spot disinformation campaigns include emotionally-charged language, and framing complex topics in black-and-white. Plus, trying to attribute false claims to authorities and using conspiracy theories to explain complicated events. When asked about narratives likely to surface during the EU election campaign, Jourová explained she tends to look back to previous narratives, and assessing whether they were predictable or not is key. “We have a tendency just to look into the dark future, [but] we should look at the dark past.” Experts point out that certain demographic groups are more likely to be targeted by disinformation campaigns than others. As a US cultural and political import now gaining ground in Europe, disinformation campaigns at elections also target the legitimacy of polling, by spreading unfounded allegations of voter fraud, foreign interference, and unfair practices, according to Giovanni Zagni, a member of the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO). But other key areas recently identified by EDMO as targets for disinformation campaigns are minority groups, the Israel-Gaza war and the recent farmers’ protests. Finally, euroscepticism is also expected to be a source of propaganda efforts. The targets Experts point out that certain demographic groups are more likely to be targeted by disinformation campaigns than others. “The more vulnerable parts of society, for example, people at risk of poverty or losing their jobs due to economic changes and environmental regulations, are easy targets for cheap, crude and sometimes outlandish false stories,” Zagni told EUobserver. He said a typical example is to make people afraid and angry towards groups seen as competition for public services — like migrants. But farmers have also been the target for fake news. In France, a recent disinformation campaign saw the creation of a fabricated Euronews TV programme, plus a fabricated letter from Vadym Omelchenko, Ukrainian ambassador in Paris, suggesting Ukraine was asking farmers to halt ongoing protests. Social media platforms use algorithms to target specific demographic groups with tailored content, including propaganda and sometimes disinformation. By ana-
EUROPEAN ELECTIONS lysing users’ data such as location, age, gender, education level, employment status, family status, and online behaviour, platforms can target those more likely to accept and share a particular message. However, this lucrative business behind disinformation has prompted a ban under the DSA on analysing users’ political opinions, sexual orientation or health for advertising purposes. Tactics used by disinformation dark actors include creating and disseminating false stories or conspiracy theories, fabricating fake experts and websites to increase the credibility of the narrative, flooding social media with the same message from different fake accounts created by automated bots, and most recently, creating AI-generated deep fakes. Deep fakes are AI-generated videos, or voice recordings, that convincingly portray people (usually famous, or politicians) saying or doing things they never did. And even though deep fakes thus far make up only a fraction of disinformation campaigns, they are a worrying trend due to their potential to rapidly spread online and take both electoral candidates and fact-checkers by surprise. And, conversely, generative AI can be seen as a potential tool in combating disinformation — by assisting fact-checkers in rapidly sorting and categorising claims, finding relevant accurate information, and conducting comparisons between claims and verified facts. ◄ In 2024, we see daily deepfake scams and it’s rising fast.” MEP Bart Groothuis “The platforms now have clear responsibilities,” said EU commissioner for the internal market Thierry Breton during a plenary debate in February. “Platforms can no longer monetise the virality of disinformation and hate content”. This was the case during last October’s parliamentary election campaign in Slovakia when a deepfake audio circulated where a presidential candidate and an investigative journalist were supposedly talking about rigging the elections. The fake recording was shared on Facebook during the 48-hour pre-election moratorium period, during which media and politicians were meant to stay silent. Before the vote, Juorová had warned that elections in Slovakia were “fertile soil” to advance Kremlin pro-war narratives. Dutch MEP Bart Groothuis warned: “In 2024, we see daily deepfake scams and it’s rising fast”. Groothuis said the EU should be better prepared, obliging online companies to detect deepfakes and label them as such. While not an obligation, the comission has urged online platforms to adopt algorithmic systems to detect watermarks and other indicators of AI-generated content and label them as such. About Elena Sánchez Nicolás Watch out for deep fakes Interestingly, whether people believe false information doesn’t rely solely on how realistic it appears. Instead, factors such as repetition, narrative appeal, perceived authority, group identification, and the viewer’s state of mind can matter more, according to a report recently published by the Carnegie think-tank. Elena is the managing editor of EUobserver. She joined the site in 2019 and specialises in institutional affairs, climate change and tech policy. 19
Page 1 and 2: MAGAZINE 01 24 Europe votes, as two
Page 3 and 4: EUROPEAN ELECTIONS An introduction
Page 5 and 6: EUROPEAN ELECTIONS 30 34 38 Migrati
Page 7 and 8: EUROPEAN ELECTIONS 7
Page 9: EUROPEAN ELECTIONS The Berlaymont H
Page 12 and 13: EUOBSERVER MEP and then European Pa
Page 14 and 15: Interestingly, whether people belie
Page 16: EUOBSERVER EU commission vice-presi
Page 21 and 22: EUROPEAN ELECTIONS 21
Page 23 and 24: EUROPEAN ELECTIONS expected to lose
Page 25 and 26: EUROPEAN ELECTIONS Europe has been
Page 27 and 28: EUROPEAN ELECTIONS EU eyes teen tur
Page 29: EUROPEAN ELECTIONS People like Gret
Page 32 and 33: HOW OTHERS SEE THE EU Recent EU agr
Page 34 and 35: EUOBSERVER To fight euroscepticism,
Page 36 and 37: EUOBSERVER in the latest two French
Page 38 and 39: EUOBSERVER Farm-to-fork, to protest
Page 40 and 41: EUOBSERVER the combined pressure fr
Page 42 and 43: EUOBSERVER
Page 44 and 45: EUOBSERVER “Brussels So White”
Page 46 and 47: EUOBSERVER 100 million disabled EU
Page 48 and 49: EUOBSERVER The disability community
Page 50 and 51: With a population of 1.3 billion pe
Page 52 and 53: EUOBSERVER Indian prime minister Na
Page 54 and 55: Turnout for European Parliament ele
Page 56 and 57: EUOBSERVER Political scientists cal
Page 58 and 59: EUOBSERVER Turnout in European Parl
Page 60: A EUROPE This material is financied

EU Elections

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?