Covid + Disinformation:

The key takeaways from the research conducted by Semantic Visions are following:

* Trend/pattern comparison of English and Chinese reporting reveal surprising level of openness of Chinese media at the early stage of outbreak. Particularly in comparison with the Chinese media reporting during the outbreak of SARS epidemic in 2002.
* Russian sources were first among the global disinformation to pick up on the new topic, with U.S. sources following several days later and Czech sources following weeks later.
* The narrative of the virus as an artificially created biological weapon designed by the U.S. military and deployed against China was originally authored by Russian-speaking sources.
* Czech disinformation news outlets took over content and narratives from Russian sources. However, there was a weeks-long delay in-between and the Czech outlets also used content from U.S. based sources. This would suggest that the connection between disinformation outlets in Russia and in Central European countries might be less direct than it was previously assumed.
* The assumption made by the EEAS, the EU body in charge of countering disinformation, is not supported by our research. The case of Russian media re-circulating the Washington Times article from the 26th of January would support the EEAS findings. However, the fact that the Russian outlets were the first ones to create and distribute the “virus made in the U.S.” narrative would suggest otherwise.
* The most likely conclusion is that both of the approaches are now applied simultaneously: while Russian propaganda still continues to author its own narratives, it might increasingly amplify those originating elsewhere.
* Such a dual approach to spreading disinformation corresponds with the Russian strategy of waging information warfare. By creating a figurative Molotov “disinformation cocktail” through mixing multiple, contradictory messages, Russia seeks to confuse people, undermine trust in their governments and thus impose chaos on Western democracies.
https://semantic-visions.com/russia-leading-from-behind-coronavirus-focused-case-study-of-cross-border-disinformation-spread/