Author: disinfo1

Many Ukrainian commentators have focused on Transdniestria as an example of the way in which Moscow uses a frozen conflict to influence a former Soviet republic, but they might learn more from considering the case of Gagauzia, an autonomy that was reintegrated into Moldova but remains a tool for Russian leverage there. If Transdniestria demonstrates the ways in which Moscow can use a part of Moldova that remains de facto outside of Moldova’s legal space, Gagauzia, a Christian Turkic republic of some 200,000 people southeast of Chisinau, shows how Moscow can and does use an autonomy it has long supported that de jure is fully part of Moldova. A…

Silverman is the media editor of BuzzFeed News and a dis- and misinformation expert. He started digging into the topic in 2014 while researching the spread of misinformation on social media and news, for a project at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University. From tracking digital rumors to reporting on search manipulation campaigns, Silverman has been in the thick of investigating the global information crisis.  Where do we find ourselves in our understanding of information manipulation? Some things remain consistent. For example, the abuse and exploitation of major social media and search platforms continues on a global scale. It is [also] very difficult…

The intentions of the European Union to integrate its eastern neighborhood into a functional, qualitative and democratic normative-institutional model accumulate new sources of unpredictability. The conditions under which the new European Commission, headed by Ursula Von from Layen, from December 1, 2019, must operate are fragile and hostile. Fragility consists of scattering democratic standards within the EU. Political regimes similar to those in Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria or Malta weaken the rule of law at national level, but are also legitimize that further through the affiliation with the pan-European parties. The hostility of the European context seems inevitable due to the elements of disintegration (“Brexit”),…