As the pandemic has swept the globe, it has been accompanied by a dangerous surge of false information — an “infodemic,” according to the World Health Organization. Analysts say that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has played a principal role in the spread of false information as part of his wider effort to discredit the West and destroy his enemies from within. [DISinformation trolls are running rampant on a recent Washington Post video about hydroxychloroquine and COVID-19. Hell only know how many poorly-educated, anti-authority authoritarian [sic] Americans are credulous enough to believe the LIES.]
His agents have repeatedly planted and spread the
Moscow’s aim, experts say, is to portray American officials as downplaying the health alarms and thus posing serious threats to public safety."
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"The Russian president has waged his long campaign by means of open media, secretive trolls and shadowy blogs that regularly cast American health officials as patronizing frauds. Of late, new stealth and sophistication have made his handiwork harder to see, track and fight.Even so, the State Department recently accused Russia of using thousands of social media accounts to spread coronavirus DISinformation — including a conspiracy theory that the United States engineered the deadly pandemic."
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"Because public interest in wellness and longevity runs high, health DISinformation can have a disproportionally large social impact. Experts fear that it will foster public cynicism that erodes Washington’s influence as well as the core democratic value of relying on demonstrable facts as a basis for decision-making."
Article's other links
"Seeding lack of trust in government institutions,” Peter Pomerantsev, author of “Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible,” a 2014 book on Kremlin disinformation.
