For months now, someone has been hacking into the email and social media accounts used by Polish ministers, MPs, journalists and soldiers. Semi-nude photos of councillors, fake adverts on websites used by sex workers and news about a radioactive cloud that originated over Lithuania are being disseminated online. What do these attacks have in common?
We reveal a disinformation effort undertaken behind-the-scenes in an area where Poland’s PR and business sector meet.
False Twitter and Facebook accounts improve the way the public sees the chairman of the Polish national state broadcaster TVP, help politicians in their election campaigns, act as lobbyists for armaments companies and carry out attacks directed at journalists. These accounts reach millions of recipients. A large-scale disinformation campaign is organized by a Warsaw-based PR company and an ex-politician, while the whole thing is co-founded by the National Disabled Persons Rehabilitation Fund. The clues from the troll farm lead us to Bartłomiej Misiewicz, who is currently suspected of corruption.
Close associates of Poland’s justice minister organised a smear campaign aimed at judges who were critical of the changes in the Polish judiciary
The Russian online propaganda offensive has been launched after Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of war in Ukraine. The aftermath of this operation still echoes around the world today.
VSQUARE
