The "EP Today" site posing as an information site on the news of the European Parliament was pinned on Tuesday 8 October by the European Union's External Action Service (EEAS) as a propagator of fake news. It is actually a simple recovery of articles from the Russian news site RT. com.
The EP Today website describes itself as a "monthly magazine of information on the European Parliament" . He was pinned by one of the bodies of the European External Action Service (EEAS) as a propagator of Infox, reports the website Politico Wednesday 9 October.
"With a name referring to one of the main institutions of the European Union ... 145,000 fans on Facebook and an average production of 25 articles per day, one can have the impression of a serious medium which constitutes an established element , influential and informed about EU policy " , writes EEAS East StratCom working group. "The website appears to be a lobbying platform, presented as a serious news media, whose target audience is EU policymakers. "
With 145,000 fans on Facebook, this site has an important strike force. On his page, EP Today has links to his articles and videos containing their content or videos available on the website of the European Parliament on which he affixes his logo. However, this site has only 6,000 subscribers to its Twitter feed and 10 to its Youtube account.
Its head office is located in Brussels' "European district" , square de Meeus, a few hundred meters from the European Parliament.
RT copy and paste
The EEAS agency found that after relying on Voice of America articles, now "47% of articles" relayed on the site are actually "copies of RT articles. com " , the media funded by Russia. Satellite channel at the start, Russia Today was interested in the news of Russia and the Russian position on various international issues. The channel has changed names - for a more neutral RT - and editorial line. She espouses the Kremlin's theses and strategy in foreign policy, develops rhetoric based on anti-Americanism and its alleged misdeeds, free trade and freedom of the body (homosexuality, mastery of procreation).
RT. com authorizes on its site "the free reuse of its articles for non-commercial purposes" , provided to create a link to the original page, which is the case on EP Today. For its part, RT told Ouest-France that "there is no relationship between RT and EP Today. However, third-party platforms are permitted to republish RT content as long as they comply with our terms and conditions. "
Meanwhile, the Moscow-based media criticizes the EEAS working group for pointing it out when the site was not a problem when it took over the contents of Voice of America . "As soon as anyone deigns to look for different perspectives, for example the choice to suggest other sources, then it's a scandal. We believe in the diversity of points of view, it is unfortunate that this is not the case of EU vs. Disinfo. "
The report was published on EUvsDisinfo, the flagship project of the East StratCom working group of the European External Action Service. This project was launched in 2015 " to better anticipate, process and respond to disinformation campaigns conducted by the Russian Federation targeting the European Union, its Member States and the countries of the shared neighborhood" , it is written on its website.
An advertisement for the French army on the site
In the meantime, EP Today continues to work. This Wednesday, October 9, an advertisement for the French army was even visible on some items as shown in this screenshot.
The French army has not yet concluded contracts with this site. The Navy and its recruitment service (SRM) goes through an advertising agency to manage the distribution of these recruitment campaigns. This agency has a black list of websites on which it refuses to disseminate the contents of its customers.
"But this list is created by an algorithm and a system of key words, there can sometimes be failures," says the SIRPA Marine Ouest-France . "We have traced this breach concerning this site to the agency buying space that will take into account as soon as possible in its blacklist. "
The EP Today website did not respond to requests from Ouest-France.
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Fight against false information. The EP Today site pinned by the European UnionOuest-France.frENLARGE
