U.S. and European leaders are worried that they’re losing ground in the global battle for public opinion on the war in Ukraine, and have begun formulating a strategy to counter what they claim is a united messaging push by Russia and China that has struck a chord in the global south.
“The Kremlin’s and the [China’s] disinformation campaigns, amplified by their mouthpieces around the world, are used to sow distrust and discontent,” James Rubin, the Biden administration’s new special envoy on global communications, said during a speech in Washington earlier this month. “Democracies must now do more than ever to dispel this flood of falsehoods.”
Russia and China have built expansive media operations across Africa, Asia, and Latin America that are cutting into the viewers of U.S. and European outlets. Western officials say Moscow and Beijing are now wielding those bullhorns to promote a coordinated message blaming the Ukraine conflict on NATO, often while airing false anti-western conspiracy theories about the war’s origins.
American and European officials have been holding strategy meetings in Washington, London and Brussels to try and fashion a more organized response. Tools they’ve discussed include continued sanctions against Chinese and Russian media companies, training foreign governments and media to better identify and combat state-driven disinformation, and bolstering the West’s own media presence abroad.