Verification: disputed assertions that Polish troops were deployed in Ukraine
In a recent development, Polish military representatives have found themselves at the centre of a misinformation campaign orchestrated by Chinese media outlets. The controversy stems from remarks made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a press conference in Kyiv on September 11.
Zelenskyy implied that Polish military representatives would be sent to Ukraine for drone defense. However, the Polish Ministry of Defense quickly clarified that all activities would take place on Polish territory. Despite this clarification, Chinese online platforms and media, including Hot News and Haokan, continued to misrepresent Zelenskyy's original remarks.
Marcin Przychodniak, a China analyst from The Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM), explains that the Chinese authorities hire citizens with certain accounts or companies which operate content farms to produce certain campaigns and push certain narratives. These content farms are part of a complex Chinese media ecosystem under government control.
Przychodniak notes that if these narratives are still accessible online, it suggests that they are at least being tolerated by the authorities. The content farms in China are producing material that includes headlines such as: "10 countries in Europe sent troops to Ukraine," and "Putin's mansion set on fire, 26 nations deploy troops to Ukraine."
The strategy, according to Przychodniak, is not particularly effective in the West, where audiences can generally recognize obvious disinformation. However, it appears to be a method used to destabilize and create informational chaos, with contradictory, controversial statements which make it hard to define what is true and what's not.
Interestingly, Przychodniak states that Russia and China share some narratives and sometimes imitate lines of thinking on NATO and the European Union, portraying NATO as an aggressive, expansionist force encroaching on Russia's sphere of influence. This disinformation strategy may be aimed at higher-ranking officials in the Chinese Communist Party, who need to see that the job was carried out, that the message was delivered, and that the directive from above was accomplished.
The incident has sparked international discussions about Poland and NATO's response. Notably, 19 Russian drones infiltrated Polish airspace on September 10, adding a real-world dimension to the ongoing information warfare.
In a related development, Russia and China have agreed to cooperate on information narratives after signing a bilateral pact in July 2021. This agreement could potentially escalate the dissemination of disinformation, further complicating the information landscape in an already volatile region.
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