The Czech government is to set up a specialist “anti-fake news” unit as officials attempt to tackle falsehoods, predominantly about migrants, which they claim are spread by websites supported by the government of Russian president Vladimir Putin.
The new unit will aim to counteract interference in the Czech Republic’s forthcoming general election, to be held in October, amid polling evidence that online disinformation is influencing public opinion and threatening to destabilise the country’s democratic system, established after the fall of communism in 1989.
Although definite links are hard to prove, officials say they are convinced the Kremlin is behind about 40 Czech-language websites presenting radical views, conspiracy theories and inaccurate reports. The officials believe the objective is to transform the Czech Republic’s current status as a western-aligned country.
“The key goal of Russian propaganda in the Czech Republic is to sow doubts into the minds of the people that democracy is the best system to organise a country, to build negative images of the European Union and Nato, and [to] discourage people from participation in the democratic processes,” Tomáš Prouza, the Czech government’s state secretary for European affairs, told the Guardian.
Part of the interior ministry, the new Centre Against Terrorism and Hybrid Threats will begin operating on 1 January with 20 full-time specialists. They will be based in the building that was used as an interrogation centre by the former communist regime’s secret police during the cold war, when the former Czechoslovakia was a close ally of the Soviet Union.
The specialists will scrutinise disinformation and attempt to counter it, via a dedicated Twitter account and a new section of the interior ministry website devoted to communicating the government viewpoint. The centre will also train civil servants to avoid blackmail and resist foreign lobbying.
“Ensuring free and fair elections is a basic aim,” said a senior official in the unit, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“We will coordinate preparation to minimise the dangers to our elections. We will watch closely what happens in France [which votes for a new president in the spring] and Germany [where a general election is expected in September] and see what we can learn in the Czech Republic.”
The Czech fears echo those voiced by Germany’s domestic intelligence chief that Russia-linked “fake news” sites could interfere with its election. Claims have also been made of Russian cyber activity aimed at influencing last month’s US presidential election in favour of Donald Trump.
“They will undoubtedly try to influence the upcoming elections by discouraging people who would most probably vote for the democratic parties from voting,” said Prouza.
In autumn’s election, voters will be deciding the membership of the Czech Republic’s chamber of deputies and the make-up of its next government. The country is currently governed by a three-party coalition consisting of prime minister Bohuslav Sobotka’s Social Democrats, Christian Democrats and ANO, a populist party led by a wealthy businessman, Andrej Babis. ANO is widely considered the favourite to emerge as the biggest party, with Babis, a Euro-sceptic, tipped to become prime minister.
The new “anti-fake news” centre has drawn accusations that it will result in censorship, spying and a crackdown on free speech – a charge rebutted by its supervisors.
“The disinformation campaigns are trying to radicalise society and undermine its psyche. And to a certain degree it’s working. You can see it,” said the anonymous official. “The parties and forces being supported in these campaigns aren’t constructive or democratic. They are critical of the democratic system and the elite. Often they don’t say what they mean, but for the first time democracy itself is being blamed.”
Online agitation in the Czech Republic has been particularly influential during the refugee crisis, coinciding with a spate of anti-Islam rallies typically attended by protesters carrying placards denouncing the EU, Nato and Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor. It has fuelled public fears of terrorism and of an influx of people from the Middle East, even though the Czech Republic has only a tiny Muslim population and has been largely unaffected by the refugee crisis.
When a crowd wielding red cards booed the president, Milos Zeman for being too close to Moscow at a Prague ceremony in November 2014, marking the 25th anniversary of Czechoslovakia’s anti-communist Velvet Revolution, the website AE News claimed – citing flimsy evidence – that Zeman had been the victim of a Ukraine-style “Maidan” revolt hatched by the US embassy.
Efforts to uncover the origins of sites such as AE News have failed. “It is so well secured that Czech journalists have not been able to find out who is behind it,” said Jakub Janda, deputy director of the Prague-based European Values thinktank, which runs a programme called Kremlin Watch.
But intelligence officials and seasoned politicians have little doubt. They blame elements among the Czech Republic’s estimated 45,000-strong Russian community and Russia’s sprawling Prague embassy – a legacy of the cold war.
Moscow provides the “most active foreign intelligence services” on Czech soil, according to the Czech Republic’s domestic security agency, BIS, whose most recent annual report describes Russian espionage activities as geared towards “fabricating disinformation” and promoting the motto that “everybody is lying”.
The agency has complained about the number of Russian diplomats in the Czech Republic – estimated at between 130 and 150, double the number of Americans present – and says many are operating as undercover spies.
Ivan Gabal, an independent MP and deputy chairman of the parliamentary defence committee, advocates expelling Russian citizens convicted of peddling fake news and ejecting Moscow’s diplomats suspected of spying.
“This country strived for 20 years after communism to create an open, democratic society that’s part of the west, and now we have achieved a recognised place in the free world, we’re not going to give it up for some KGB guy,” he said, referring to Putin’s past career in the Soviet intelligence services.
“He is looking to break Europe up into elementary member states that compete with each other for Russian resources and influence. The risk is great. They feel we still belong to their sphere of influence. We are a bigger threat to them than Britain, because we’ve only been democratic for 25 years and we’re proof that it’s possible to transition from totalitarianism to an open society.”
