Disinformation from internal and external sources poses a serious threat to democracy and to society as a whole. Disinformation creates disorder, distrust towards state institutions, undermines the legitimacy of government, creates unjustified tensions in society, and distorts public debate. In the face of Russian aggression, Ukraine has become a testing ground and a center of disinformation, especially on the part of its eastern neighbor. And this applies today not only to the events in Donbass and in the occupied Crimea, but also to almost all spheres of life.
To counter the information war that is unfolding in Ukraine, it is necessary to build effective communication between all government agencies and begin coordination with foreign partners.
The Council of Europe has adopted a number of standards that will help to combat the information disorder, including:
Experts of the Council of Europe have emphasized that in taking measures to combat disinformation, states must ensure that these measures are lawful, necessary in a democratic society, proportionate and subject to constant scrutiny, in particular by parliament and national civil society institutions.
The objective of Ukraine is to bring media legislation closer to European standards. Efforts have to be made at both the international and national levels to respond effectively to disinformation.
US Ambassador to Greece Jeffrey Payette presented the DisinfoHacks, project aimed at combating misinformation. According to him, the project will be funded by the Department's Global Engagement Center.
Media literacy and the ability to distinguish disinformation or fake messages play a significant importance in the information era where data, judgements and different interpretations are everywhere.
A number of cyber attacks showed a tendency for increasing in 2020 and 2021. It concerns not only their number but also their impact on cyber security. For instance, a number of cyber attacks aimed at critical infrastructure have increased and COVID-19 has resulted in more cases of cyber espionage.
Russia continues to carry out information and disruptive activities against Ukraine. For example, since the beginning of 2021 the Security Service of Ukraine has exposed more than 30 Russian internet agents. 23 of them were convicted of disrupting the state security of Ukraine.
The national project on media literacy «Filter» implemented by the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy has published a comprehensive analytical report on media literacy among the Ukrainian population.
The Ministry of Defence and the State Service of Special Communication and Information Protection took part in the US cyber exercises «Cyber Flag 2021» for the first time.
There is a positive tendency in 2021 regarding Ukrainians’ ability to identify disinformation. In addition, a percentage of those who had found it hard to figure out whether a message was true or false decreased.
The governments abuse the situation related to COVID-19 and adopt new laws against those who are critical about the reaction of officials to the pandemic. In addition, the governments keep trying to limit society’s control over them as well as avoid accountability.
The digital age carries many possibilities and risks. Immediate access to any information, communication with new people online may represent advantages of the digitalized world and hide serious dangers. The latter is particularly relevant for children as the digital world has become an integral part of their lives.
Media literacy is one of key skills of the ХХІ century that facilitates both critical thinking and resilience of a country as a whole. The welfare of an entire country, especially during a war or other extreme situations, may depend on the ability of every resident to critically analyze information that he/she has received.
Ukraine is ranked second concerning the number of cyber attacks committed against it on the part of foreign states. The USA is ranked first.
The Ukrainian government and civil society have done a lot to make Ukrainians more resilient to disinformation since 2018.
The National Bank of Ukraine has started to elaborate the methodological recommendations to strengthen security of online banking operations as well as of online payment operations via bank cards, mobile apps and chatbots in messengers.
Russian authorities informed that approximately 150 thousand citizens on the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts who had received Russian passports took part in the elections to the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament.
Systematically Russian propaganda brainwashes the minds of Ukrainian children on the temporarily occupied territories by means of a system of military and patriotic upbringing. The aim of the system includes not just a propaganda of the “Russian world” but also shaping a distinct image of an enemy represented by Ukraine, the West and Ukraine as a part of the Western world.
Today, 4.6 billion people, or 59.5% of the world's population, use the Internet. This figure is growing every day.
The development of the Internet brings many opportunities of self-development and search for information but it also contains threats to our children. Unchecked or fake information, threat to visit a webpage of suicidal character, fraud, cyber bullying are only a part of dangers that children may stumble across online.
There is an improvement of freedom of expression on the Internet in Ukraine, although censorship remains a negative trend online.
Ukrainians, i.e. approximately 280-310 thousand residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts who have received Russian passports, will vote in the current elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in a compulsory way. What is this? Is it a major characteristic of the elections to the State Duma this year or the most insolent attempt of falsification?
A non-governmental organization iDemocracy has carried out a monitoring of information space within Ukraine, the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts as well as Russia and detected that militants’ and Russian media outlets broadly spread an anti-Ukrainian narrative about Ukraine’s “fencing off” Donbas at the end of June-beginning of July 2021.
Recently in the Ukrainian mass media it was published that the Security Service of Ukraine informed the Presidential Office about the high possibility of a terrorist threat on the part of Russia - has worried the non-governmental organization iDemocracy.
Information security starts with ... understanding the peculiarities of human psychology and those ways and tools that form the features of perception and processing of data received from the senses.
A non-governmental organization iDemocracy has carried out a monitoring of information space across Ukraine, the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts as well as Russia and detected that at the end of June-beginning of July 2021 there was an anti-Ukrainian narrative about Ukraine’s “fencing off” Donbas.
Sometimes banal and hackneyed things are correct. No matter how annoying they may seem. And it is better to repeat the same thing "one hundred hundred" times than to lose everything – sovereignty, the State, Human Rights and freedoms.
