Seven steps of fake news. New York Times exposes Kremlin’s methods

A multimedia project by the New York Times reveals how the current Kremlin misinformation campaigns come from a long tradition.

Entitled “Operation Infection”, the series tells the story of a “political virus”, invented decades ago by the KGB to “destroy its enemies slowly and methodically,” and Kremlin continues to deliberately spread until today.

New York Times has classified in seven steps the creation of great and big fake news:

Step I: Look for cracks in target societies.

Step II: Create a big lie – something so outrageous, no one will believe it is made up.

Step III: Wrap that lie around a kernel of truth – disinformation is most successful when it has a small bit of truth in it.

Step lV: Conceal your hand – make it seem that the story came from somewhere else.

Step V: Find yourself a  “useful idiot” – someone who would unwittingly push your message to wider audiences.

Step VI: When truth is uncovered – deny everything.

Step Vll: Play the long game – efforts might not bear fruit for years, but accumulated over a longer period of time they will eventually have a political impact.

EU vs Disinfo analyzed extensively the strategies and tactics of the Kremlin misinformation campaigns. Finding and exploiting differences within pluralistic societies, carefully calibrating misinformation messages for the target audience, wrapping false statements around a core of truth, amplifying stories through both wishing and dissatisfied voices – these are the basic features of disinformation campaigns of the Kremlin and are extremely efficient.

While the Kremlin’s methods are old, their instruments are new. While the Soviet KGB was supposed to be based on obscure newspapers, the Kremlin now has a media empire.

With time-tested methods and comprehensive modern tools, the Kremlin is constantly pursuing the strategy of “sharing and governing” to break alliances, transform individuals, social groups and countries against one another and weaken the West in a classic approach to sum-based play zero.

Source: https://euvsdisinfo.eu/seven-commandments-of-fake-news-new-york-times-exposes-kremlins-methods/