Increasing resilience of Lithuanian diaspora to disinformation

Problem

Propaganda and disinformation have become an integral part of international relations these days. By utilizing disinformation campaigns, third parties are intervening into national security matters, trying to influence the outcomes of the elections and referendums on questions of major importance. The examples of the presidential elections in the USA and France, as well as Brexit referendum in the UK are sending an alarming signal and exposing how dangerous and harmful to democracy such interventions can be. These risks are also relevant for Lithuania and their relevance is predicted to skyrocket in the upcoming year.

With the presidential elections, accompanied by European Parliament elections and, most probably, a referendum on dual citizenship in 2019, Lithuania is expected to face more and wider disinformation attacks, touching upon an extensive range of issues. This could lead to a segmentation of the society and could affect the outcomes of the elections and a referendum.

Recent surveys show that 49% of Lithuanians believe they can recognize propaganda in the media, while 38% argue they can spot fake news. 68% of respondents say that if they would spot different interpretation of same facts in different outlets, they would just ignore it. Acknowledging the need of better information literacy among its citizens, Lithuanian government, academia and civil society are currently engaged in developing are already developing tools aimed at increasing population’s resistance to disinformation.

However, the influence of propaganda and disinformation on Lithuanian diaspora is not monitored or researched. It is unclear how around 1.3 mln of Lithuanians living abroad are being affected by disinformation and what effect it has on their perception of Lithuania and international events.

Goal

Propaganda and disinformation have become an integral part of international relations these days. By utilizing disinformation campaigns, third parties are intervening into national security matters, trying to influence the outcomes of the elections and referendums on questions of major importance. The examples of the presidential elections in the USA and France, as well as Brexit referendum in the UK are sending an alarming signal and exposing how dangerous and harmful to democracy such interventions can be. These risks are also relevant for Lithuania and their relevance is predicted to skyrocket in the upcoming year. With the presidential elections, accompanied by European Parliament elections and, most probably, a referendum on dual citizenship in 2019, Lithuania is expected to face more and wider disinformation attacks, touching upon an extensive range of issues. This could lead to a segmentation of the society and could affect the outcomes of the elections and a referendum.

Result

Participants

2017/18

Kristina Belikova

2017/18

Aurelija Olendraitė