Earlier this month, the US administration raised concerns over Russia’s alleged efforts to spread disinformation and misinformation through fake accounts to influence the upcoming presidential election. In the US, the move is considered part of Russia’s broader strategy to undermine American democracy, with US intelligence officials labelling Moscow as the “primary threat to the elections.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is also investigating Iran’s involvement in targeting the presidential campaign of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. However, US officials claim that Russia is the more formidable foe, with a clear preference for Donald Trump as its preferred candidate. The US government has seized 32 internet domains linked to influencers who were allegedly paid by Moscow to spread fake news. It has also imposed sanctions on 10 individuals and two entities allegedly linked to these efforts
Russia has been accused since 2016
This is the third consecutive presidential election in which US officials have accused Russia and President Vladimir Putin of attempting to influence the results. This was a major issue during the 2016 election as well. The FBI still lists 12 Russian military officers as “most wanted” for their role in hacking and interfering in that election. These officers, members of Russian military intelligence, were indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team in 2018. The indictments allege that they hacked Democratic Party emails and systems and leaked information to influence the election in favor of Donald Trump. Subsequently, hundreds of documents were leaked to WikiLeaks. A federal arrest warrant was issued for these 12 officers after a grand jury in US District Court found them responsible for conspiring to interfere in the election. Their appearance on the FBI’s “most wanted” list underscores the ongoing tensions between the US and Russia over election interference and cyber espionage.
Moscow has consistently denied these allegations, with President Vladimir Putin personally denying these claims in various interviews and press conferences. Even Donald Trump came to Putin’s defense, as he once told reporters, “He (Putin) said he didn’t interfere. Whenever he meets me he says, ‘I didn’t do it’, and I truly believe he means it when he says that to me.”
Western hypocrisy
The Kremlin accuses the US and other Western powers of hypocrisy, and cites numerous examples over several decades in which the US has been accused of interfering in elections in numerous countries. In fact, the West – particularly the US – has a long record of influencing elections, supporting military coups, providing covert financial aid and spreading political propaganda in foreign countries to advance its own geopolitical interests. The Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) long history of alleged involvement in elections and regime changes in other countries is well documented, with numerous declassified documents serving as evidence.
Professor Dov H. Levin’s research for Carnegie-Mellon University covers election interference by both the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He claims that between World War II and 2000 the two countries interfered in 117 elections; two-thirds of them involved the US. In more recent times, he says, there were 21 election interferences between 1990 and 2000, 18 of which were committed by the US. The alleged interference by the USSR (later Russia) remained shrouded in secrecy, while the US was more transparent in some cases.
Declassified CIA documents shed light on the role of US actions in the overthrow of Mohammad Mossadegh’s government in Iran in 1953, the role of US actions in the overthrow of Salvador Allende’s government in Chile in 1973, and more recently in Venezuela and the overthrow of the government of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovich in Ukraine in 2014.
In the most recent example, Sheikh Hasina said the US was behind her political downfall after she resigned from office on August 5 and fled the country. This was not the first time she had made such claims – in 2022, she accused the US of trying to undermine her regime. Her allegations have also been repeated by some non-Western leaders, who accuse the US and other powerful countries such as France and Britain of using their influence to destabilise their governments.
Disinformation and fake news
The truth is that the ongoing allegations of election interference are just one front in a larger information war between the West and Russia. It is a battle of narratives, with Western media primarily supporting the West and Russian media supporting Putin’s viewpoint. Interestingly, Russian media has historically been dismissed by the West because of the Kremlin’s strict control. But Western media, which has long prided itself on its objectivity, faces accusations of spreading disinformation and even fake news to advance Western interests. For example, a few weeks after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Western media ran fake news about Putin’s health. It suggested that Putin was suffering from a mysterious illness and might not live long. All mainstream Western media pushed this lie. And there was no apology when it was found to be unfounded.
Janusz Bugajski, a renowned expert on Eastern European and Russian affairs and the author of numerous scholarly books, is a Senior Fellow at the Jamestown Foundation in Washington, DC. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Bugajski wrote a book titled Failed State: A Guide to Russia’s Rupture. In it, he explored the potential dissolution of Russia. Last year, he told me that the dissolution of the Russian Federation was inevitable. “I would say it will be a long process, a rolling process, it will be different in different parts of the country. I would say the war in Ukraine will certainly accelerate this process because you have a growing number of casualties, especially from the poorer parts of Russia and especially from ethnic parts of Russia that are generally discriminated against in Russia,” he said. Many in the West believe his claim. Putin has often lamented how the West is working to break up his country.
No one is capable of challenging the dominance of Western media
In the ongoing information war, Russia appears to be at a disadvantage, with many believing it is already losing or will eventually lose. This view is rooted in history, as Western media has consistently dominated the narrative, often to the detriment of regional media outlets.
Consider the example of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, where Western media spread the now infamous claim that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Despite a lack of evidence, this narrative persisted and regional media, including Al Jazeera Arabic (Al Jazeera English came into being in 2006), struggled to counter the misinformation.
This phenomenon is not limited to the Middle East. Dutch investigative journalist Bette Dam, whose work focuses on Afghanistan and Western media reporting on the conflict, argues that Western media often fuel wars by presenting one-sided stories, failing to address the underlying causes of conflicts.
During the Cold War, Western media played a key role in promoting narratives associated with their governments’ anti-communist stances. Media outlets were used as a means of soft power, aimed at promoting liberal democratic values and presenting the Soviet bloc as an ideological enemy. These strategies were openly acknowledged by governments, often described as necessary to counter Soviet misinformation.
West–East flow
Historically, ever since professional journalism came into existence, the flow of information and news has always been from West to East. It is the Western media that constantly shapes the narrative and influences public opinion by setting the global agenda every day. Of course, there are disruptions to this flow now, but the Western media narrative has proven difficult to counter. This dominance was, for example, evident in the difference in coverage of the January 2014 attacks in France and Nigeria, where the former attracted widespread international attention while the latter was largely ignored. The Westernization of the media perpetuates cultural imperialism, spreading Western ideals and values.
After all, many people, especially young people, have lost trust in mainstream media and are turning to social platforms to get their news and other information, including the latest allegations and counter-allegations of election interference in the U.S. This erosion of trust should be a warning to traditional Western media.
(Syed Zubair Ahmed is a senior London-based Indian journalist with three decades of experience in Western media)
Disclaimer: These are the personal views of the author