MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/. Ukraine and Britain are waging an aggressive information war against Russia, using specialized institutions and manipulative tactics to influence public perception, President of the Global Fact-Checking Network (GFCN) Vladimir Tabak said in an interview with TASS ahead of the Dialogue about Fakes 4.0 forum.

"Ukraine leads the way here, but there is a fairly simple explanation for that. We are in a military conflict, and today the information war is part of the broader war," he said in response to a question about which countries launch the most information attacks against Russia. "At the same time, we understand that several countries also act quite aggressively and use specialized institutions to operate against us. Britain is the primary example. It is a state that acts quite aggressively in the information sphere."

Tabak specified that Kiev has a specialized Center for Information and Psychological Operations, which "is part of the regular armed forces and falls under military units," while London most often relies on "media outlets and platforms that it supports through various grant programs and direct funding."

Britain also uses "AI, work with specific segments of the population, starting with simple narratives in which certain stories are introduced into the information space and extending to more complex operations" to conduct anti-Russian propaganda, the GFCN chief said.

Human psychology as challenge for fact-checking

"But despite the fact that we are in an intense phase of information warfare, we should not overlook ordinary people who often spread false information without malicious intent. This brings us back to the issue of cognitive awareness," he noted. "Our task is to stop constantly saying that everything we see is somehow a product of our adversary. That is not the case. In fact, fake news is nothing new."

People are naturally "inclined, especially when they feel uncertain or do not know the answers to questions that concern them, to come up with rather strange answers themselves, so to speak, or to look for them in completely unverified sources," Tabak emphasized. "That is why we need to work with a broad audience so that people learn to verify information," he concluded.

The GFCN chief therefore concluded that more effective efforts to combat unreliable information at both the professional and everyday level require "broad-based public education and outreach."

About Global Fact-Checking Network

The Global Fact-Checking Network brings together experts and fact-checking organizations worldwide. The association was founded by the TASS news agency, the nonprofit organization Dialogue Regions and the New Media Workshop to combat disinformation. More than 125 journalists from 55 countries already collaborate with GFCN on fact-checking.

The international Dialogue about Fakes 4.0 forum will take place on September 22 at the Russia National Center in Moscow. TASS is the event’s strategic partner.