Misinformation has worried intellectuals and governments for decades. The philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote in “The Origins of Totalitarianism” in 1951: “The ideal subject for a totalitarian government is not the convinced Nazi or the communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and between truth and falsehood no longer exists .” exists”. The immediacy enabled by social networks has increased the fear of the spread and consequences of this false content. In December 2020, the European External Action Service (EEAS) published a statement by Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, signed an article in which he warned of the dangers of disinformation during the Covid pandemic and pointed out that Russia is considered one of the main perpetrators of foreign interference. “We are obviously not facing a new phenomenon. But with the possibilities that the Internet “Today, misinformation is spreading faster than ever and reaching citizens’ homes every day,” Borrell acknowledged. Now the EEAS has published a study pointing the finger at Russia again and focusing on disinformation against the LGTBI community.
At the presentation of the report in Brussels, to which EL PAÍS was invited by the EEAS on October 23, Lutz Güllner, Head of the Strategic Communications and Information Analysis Department of the EEAS, wanted to make it clear that the ultimate goal of this content is not It is not the LGTBI -people, but the institutions. “These are foreign interventions that are not only aimed at spreading disinformation, but there is always an intention behind it that amplifies certain voices, it is an attack on our values,” he noted. According to the report, the goal of the political actors involved is “to destabilize liberal democracies and gain support for the conservative project represented by the Kremlin.” For the study, 31 cases were selected, divided into 15 languages, nine from the EU (German, Czech, Slovak, English, Finnish, French, Italian, Polish and Portuguese) and six from non-EU countries (Arabic, Chinese , Russian, Serbian, Somali). and Ukrainian). Beatriz Marín, a member of Güllner’s specialist group, explained the selection of publications. “We wanted to take a manageable and as representative sample as possible so that we could analyze it. “We have worked with country delegations to understand the context in which they are taking place.”
The report shows that 55% of the cases analyzed are of Russian origin, and community sources confirm that 12 of them are attributed to the Kremlin. “There were channels attributed to the Russian government and unattributed channels, but they often cooperate with channels attributed to the Kremlin,” these sources specify. These Moscow-related cases include a video game on the Russian website SouthFront that involves shooting at various helmets that appear on the sides of the screen bearing the NATO, Nazi, Ukrainian, and even the flag. Rainbow. “The website was attributed to the Russian secret services,” EU sources clarify.
The main distribution platforms for this content were Telegram (46%), websites (20%) and Twitter (19%). 43% of cases occurred immediately before, after or during certain celebrations such as Gay Pride Month. Up to 80% attacked Ukrainian, German, community institutions and sports organizations such as the International Olympic Committee and NATO. The most common narratives included the term Gayropa (pun between gays and Europe), the preservation of the natural family and traditional values, gender ideology and LGBTI people as a social disease.
Among the tactics they use to give lies the appearance of truth, the most common is imitating publications or creating content that resembles the official names, style and visual identity of official organizations. In one of these cases, a page similar to an NGO in Ukraine is created, which publishes a job offer as a tolerance tutor for the anti-Russian front. Another creates an alleged cover of a German satirical magazine (similar to El Jueves in Spain) in which members of the LGTBI collective (depicted as people with beards and large breasts) destroy the Olympic rings. And an alleged Euronews video communicates that the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris want to be openly LGTBI. There was also an alleged book that was distributed in Germany to Ukrainian refugees to educate them about diversity.
In addition, it includes the creation of sites such as a contact website in Kiev and Moldova where NATO members sign up to be guides for “dissenting Ukrainians.” Or a brochure encouraging gays and transgender people to join the Russian armed forces. Sometimes they even combine action in the physical world with the Internet. For example, in a brochure advertising Mocaf beer of French origin in Somalia with the image of two men kissing. The tweet sharing the false promotional image reads: “Mocaf has launched a new advertising campaign to promote European values. Let them do it in France, Africa has different values.”
The specific cases of Ukraine and Georgia
A report by the Ukrainian NGO Detector Media agrees with those of the EEAS in its findings. The organization’s research team examined 33,200 posts on Facebook, YouTube, Telegram and Twitter dated between March 23 and July 23. This work, entitled “Homophobia on Social Media: Straddling Russian Propaganda and Ukrainian Discourse on Values,” concludes that Russia is trying to portray itself as the only guarantor of traditional values and is using terms such as sodomite, sinner or demonizer against LGTBI people . In this case, three main sources of content distribution were discovered: Russia, Ukrainian religious groups and the far right. “This group,” says Lesia Bidochko, deputy director of the research center Detector Media, “even claims that the LGTBI community is more dangerous than the Russians.” Bidochko, who attended the presentation of the report in Brussels, says that similar to The EAD study also found narratives that claim that there are battalions of Ukrainian homosexuals who are recruited in gay bars.
A study by the Georgian Media Development Foundation comes to similar results. Pro-Kremlin far-right groups (the agent that most promotes these publications) claim that integration into Europe and the assimilation of Western values threaten Georgia’s conservative identity and that Russia is trying to protect this identity by restricting homosexuality. The anti-gender and anti-LGBTQI mobilization in Georgia, which also includes attacks on feminism, analyzed 1,163 homophobic messages between January 1 and May 31, including 839 in the media and 324 on social networks. One of the most important messages they send is that portraying the LGTBI community in any form, be it a demonstration, a film or a television show, is aggressive propaganda promoting European values.
Direct and indirect consequences
Although the ultimate goal of disinformation is to destabilize European democracies rather than the group itself, these messages have led to direct attacks on LGTBI individuals. Magdalena Wilczynska, disinformation accounting expert at Techsoup Poland and participant in the presentation in Brussels, points out that the inclusion of the LGTBI issue in the 2019 election campaign and its polarization led to stones being thrown during the Pride demonstration were thrown. This refers to the march in the city of Bialystok, where Pride was celebrated for the first time and whose participants were attacked. Ana Subelian, co-director of Tbisili Pride (Georgia) and also present in Brussels, points out that far-right groups boycotted the 2021 march celebrations. Stella Ronner-Grubacic, EU Ambassador for Gender and Diversity in the EEAS, blames these messages on the legislation against stricter homosexuality in Uganda. “Disinformation worked there,” he emphasizes.
However, it also had unexpected and positive consequences. A survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology shows that although 60.2% of Ukrainians had a negative attitude towards members of the LGTBI community in 2016, this percentage fell to 20% in 2022. As of January 2023, 58% of Ukrainians were very positive or somewhat positive about LGBTBI people enjoying the same rights as the rest of the population, while 20% were completely opposed.
Bidochko points out that the Russian invasion and its propaganda against the collective are responsible for this change and points to other advocacy movements. “There has been an unprecedented level of support for Pride this year. Between May and June, many companies showed solidarity, including the mobile operator Kyivstarc, the pharmaceutical company Apteka Dobrogo dnya and the household appliances and electronics chain Comfy. The national postal service Ukrposhta also publicly expressed its support, and the Ukrainian ministries of culture and foreign affairs changed their social media logos to the rainbow flag. In addition, the Ukrainian media has positive visions about the participation of LGTBI people on the battlefield reported that helped to improve the group’s concept.
The most notable impulse came in March 2023, when parliamentarian Inna Sovsun from the “Voice” party, together with 17 parliamentarians from “Voice” and “Servant of the People” (Volodymyr Zelensky’s party), registered Bill No. 9103 on civil partnerships. This proposed law advocates the creation of de facto couples in the country, including those of the same sex. “Civil unions would receive the same rights as immediate family members, such as property rights, inheritance and social protection,” explains Bidochko. “However, they were unable to adopt or seek custody of their partner’s children.”
Enact laws, the most forceful response
The EAD report suggests a variety of responses to disinformation against the LGTBI community, such as providing reliable and legitimate information about the community, supporting LGTBI rights campaigns together with civil society experts, and researching and reporting on international instruments to monitor misinformation or improve content moderation on networks. On the latter, Eleonora Esposito, from the European Commission’s Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology in Brussels, highlighted the entry into force in November 2022 of the Digital Services Act (DSA), which introduces measures for social networks such as establishing content moderation tools and greater transparency in algorithms and the processing of personal data. “With the DSA we have new regulatory opportunities to check whether platforms are complying with the rules, changes are starting to occur, X gives context to tweets.”
Kim van Sparrentak, a member of the European Parliament and co-chair of the LGTBI intergroup, was more skeptical in her response to Esposito. “The DSA is not enough, much content is not illegal and we cannot wait for social networks to act when the damage is already done.” We need to create a safe space as offline violence due to misinformation has increased. If you are looking for trans in Whoever is responsible for this must be financially and able to act,” he defended.
Joel Bedos, director of the Sogi Campaigns program, advocated maintaining a constant discourse in response to misinformation, without switching arguments or jumping between topics. “In the end, the lie is proven and it turns against these actors, as was the case with Jair Bolsonaro,” he said. Kate Hugendubel from LGTBI rights organization ILGA Europe argued for investment to allow activists to continue their work and stressed the importance of legislation for normalization. “Transgender laws have been passed in Scotland, Finland and Spain despite the noise and that is the strongest response you can give.”
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