OREANDA-NEWS. Russian-related attackers attempted to intervene in the course of the European Parliament elections held in May 2019, the Financial Times reported, citing the report of the European Commission and its foreign policy division. According to the newspaper, during the elections, large-scale attempts were made to mislead the voters and reduce turnout.

"The evidence gathered indicates a continuation of the consistent disinformational activities of Russian agents aimed at suppressing voter turnout and influencing their preferences," the FT quoted the report. According to the publication, the report doesn't contain information about who exactly coordinated the intervention attempts, however, it is indicated that the organizers changed tactics. Instead of “large-scale operations on digital platforms”, there are now “local operations” that are more difficult to identify.

According to FT, an example of operations aimed at reducing turnout, experts believe the distribution of materials describing the European Parliament's control over lobbyist groups and its uselessness. According to experts, the attackers influenced the mood of voters by throwing information into social networks about the decline of moral values ​​in the EU (as an example, a fire in the Notre Dame Cathedral was mentioned as an example) and accusing the German and German intelligence services of the corruption scandal in Austria. Spain and the "deep state".

“There is a constant tendency of misinformation by criminals to propagandize extremist views and polarize disputes, including by unreasonable attacks on the EU”, the FT quotes the document. According to the newspaper, before the end of the year, the European Commission plans to assess the feasibility of tightening regulatory measures aimed at countering the spread of misinformation in social networks.