The EU on Tuesday formally accused China and Russia of mounting targeted coronavirus disinformation campaigns to undermine European democracy, in documents seen by AFP. “Foreign actors and certain third countries, in particular Russia and China, have engaged in targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns around COVID-19,” the paper, set to be published on Wednesday, says. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell held video talks with Chinese Foreign Minister on Tuesday, warning afterwards that Europe needed to devote more resources to tackling disinformation. The EU strategy paper says social media platforms had reported that they were trying to promote accurate virus information and limited content that was false or misleading. Borrell, who in recent weeks has called for a “more robust” EU stance on China and warned Beijing does not share European values, said governments needed to wise up.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer June 10, 2020 11:16 UTC