How to get the European Parliament to read Russia Today
EP Today is a news site that targets decision makers in the EU, while borrowing nearly 99% of its articles, most from Russia Today (RT), misleading the public about its origin.
“EP Today” (short for “European Parliament today”) is a self-proclaimed “monthly news magazine for the European Parliament”. And sure enough, with a name including one of the major institutions of the European Union, together with a cursive logo in a ring of 12-stars on a blue background, you may get the impression that it is a serious news outlet. The 145 000 Facebook fans and an average output of 25 articles per day complete the narrative that it is an established, influential and informed part of EU politics.
Except: “EP Today” uses the name of the European Parliament in a misleading way and without any legal authorisation.
The website, Facebook page and Twitter account suggests that “EP Today” has a connection to the European Parliament, which is not the case. The European Parliament contacted “EP Today” in September of this year regarding the unauthorised use of the institution’s name and suggested ways to rectify the situation and stop misleading the public.
More than 99% of articles that appear on eptoday.com are not from “EP Today”. Since October 24th 2018, 47% of the articles are word-for-word copies of articles from RT.com. Often, the entire homepage is filled with exact copies of RT articles. The same article can even appear multiple times on the same page.
The website seems to be a lobbying platform, presented as a serious news outlet, whose target audience are EU decision makers. The concept is simple: “EP Today” offers exposure (or the illusion thereof) in return for attention.
We have seen related “information laundering” of RT content in the US, Germany or Belarus. The result (and sometimes objective) is always to mislead readers.
Source: https://euvsdisinfo.eu/how-to-get-the-european-parliament-to-read-russia-today/
