EU to allocate 1 million euro annually to counter fake news coming from Russia
The European Union will increase the funding of the working group that works on countering Russian disinformation and monitors the news on Russian media. Starting in 2018, 1.1 million euros will be allocated for these purposes annually for three years from the budget of the EU, Voice of America reports.
The operational working group on strategic communications East StratCom Task Force was established in March 2015 by the decision of the heads of states and government of the countries of the European Union. The main task of the group is "counteraction of Russian disinformation campaigns."
The employees of the group publish weekly "reviews of disinformation," providing examples of the facts distorted by Russian media. To monitor the situation, a network of freelance writers has been created, including more than 400 journalists, experts and representatives of nonprofit organizations from more than 30 countries.
The team emphasizes that their main task is to explain the EU's policy towards the countries of Eastern Europe and to identify false news coming from Russian officials and Russian media. East StratCom is not engaged in counter-propaganda against Russia.
Earlier, the ministers of the Spanish government said that the Catalan crisis was instigated in social networks by Russian hackers.