Blog: EU4Youth days — Disinformation, Social Media Diplomacy and Public Resonance

On October 11, Artur Aheiev, Young European Ambassador from Ukraine, took part at EU4Youth Days conference in Brussels covering the topic of “War and Crisis” as a keynote speaker. The main focus of his presentation was on disinformation, social media diplomacy and the importance of public resonance.

EU4Youth Days 2022 brought together youth workers and practitioners, policymakers and researchers from the Eastern Partnership region, the Western Balkans and Türkiye, and the Southern Neighbourhood.

In this blog, we would like to share the main highlights of Artur’s presentation:

“We live in turbulent times, times of wars, pandemics and humanitarian crises. Times when people are losing trust in international institutions due to their inaction or constant words of “concern”, times when the fast flow of information is manipulated to impose narratives favourable to biased parties, times when people do not read articles, but only their headlines, times when reposts outpace critical thinking.

We have many challenges in our lives, but none of them is insurmountable. The question I always ask myself in any crisis is what I can do personally. How my actions, within my information and networking bubble, can improve the situation. Staying on the sidelines is the biggest faux pas of 2022.

And for those of you who are wondering whether there is still such a concept as “out of politics” – the direct answer is no. We are in an ongoing fight against authoritarianism in its various dimensions, a battle that we have no right to lose. In this long-term struggle for democracy, there should be no half-measures, no flirting with terrorist countries, but only a clear unwavering position of the entire civilized world that lives by the rules of international law and adheres to them.

So how can we face the challenges of the 21st century? What are they? And how can a young person make a difference?

I would like to start with the media. How many of you currently reading this article have music subscriptions to streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud, etc? Personally, as someone who never forgets his headphones when going outside, I feel that if I want to listen to music at any time of day or night, I should have the responsibility of paying for services that are an integral part of my life.

Copyrights and quality matter. Would you agree that the quality of information you receive from the media also matters? I think it certainly does. But will your $10 donation to support media independence make a difference when billions are being allocated to dilute the truth and grab television airtime? I think the example of the fundraising campaign by Ukrainians to buy “Bayraktars” (medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned combat aerial vehicles) may give you part of the answer. The question that still remains is to define independent media. Personally speaking, every month I donate to two media in Ukraine on Patreon – Svidomi and The Kyiv Independent. Why? Because I trust them. And the trust comes not by default, but from the fact that I know the journalists who work there personally or follow those who are published there regularly. I know their publication history, information from which I have repeatedly checked for accuracy in references to official sources. I know that they are people with values who care about their reputation. This and the ease of presenting information in ways that meet the needs of the digital world made me a supporter of their 24/7 activities on Twitter, Instagram and websites.

Just follow the 5-step approach when working with media. The five milestones that I have defined for myself are: trust, values, lack of bias, expertise and approach. If there are no such media around you in your country, then my proposal for you would be to create one. You can start by becoming an influencer for your audience, which will certainly expand if the content produced is of high quality.

But how can we deal with already biased media, which not only engage in so-called ‘jeansa’ (paid-for material) but also openly broadcast disinformation? The answer is – by knowing their techniques for making propaganda. The following list, which you will see below, could serve you as a navigator in finding the hidden meanings of a particular headline, or the context of an article to further publicise the exposure and falsity of this claim.

Propaganda narratives:

1. Hide your hands.
2. Use useful idiots.
3. Deny everything.
4. Play long.
5. Find cracks in society.
6. Create a giant audacious lie.
7. Turn the lie around the true core.

Propaganda often plays on human emotions and is always backed up by paid bots on social media. We should not be naïve that one day it will stop. As long as it is profitable, no one will refuse to use such tools. What you can do is start with your immediate environment and do fact-checking for your relatives and/or friends. Information analysis skills will get multiplied as your audience’s acquaintances systematically grow. Let us create useful information “bubbles”, which will later merge into one conscious civil society.

The conference, in which I participated, was broadcast live. Most of the material got into the Internet and it is almost impossible to delete it. This is important because you cannot take back your words. That is why I almost always recommend people to ask specific questions on the air, for which it will be difficult to find a neutral excuse. Screenshots do not burn! Every word and sentence is direct proof for your follow-up on this topic in the future. Hold politicians accountable for their words and actions, or inactions. But also, don’t take a constant position of criticism; back up your comments with facts and possible solutions. Take responsibility and be prepared to change the situation from within. Sometimes one person can make more of a difference on the inside than from the outside. You can find my personal example to this statement on the EU Neighbourhood & Enlargement social media pages by watching a live stream of my presentation on 11.10.2022.”

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