The East StratCom Task Force (ESCTF) is a part of the European External Action Service, focused on "effective communication" and promotion of European Union activities in Eastern Europe (including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine)[1][2] and beyond[3] (Russia itself).[1] The task force's flagship project is EUvsDisinfo, a database of articles and media which the organization considers as providing false, distorted or partial information.[4]
The ESCTF was created as a conclusion of the European Council meeting on 19 and 20 March 2015, citing the "need to challenge Russia's ongoing disinformation campaigns".[5] Initially, it relied on donations from European countries and consisted of ten people, of whom only one (a former Czech journalist) worked full time. Funding from the EU budget began in 2018.[6]
The East Stratcom Task Force is intended to communicate about issues where EU strategic communication needs to be improved, or the EU is subject to disinformation campaigns. Such products will be put at the disposal of the EU's political leadership, press services, EU delegations and EU member states and are intended for the general public.[7] The group is designated to develop communication campaigns, targeting key audiences and focused on specific issues of relevance to those audiences, including local issues. The actions of the ESTF are built on existing work and coherent with wider EU communication efforts, including activities of the EU institutions and EU member states.[3]
The ESTF is one of several organizations with the purpose of opposing propaganda that attempts to undermine the norms and collective identity of the European Union, particularly propaganda from Russia. Its motto "Question even more" is a response to RT's "Question more".[8]
The team's communications products are mainly focused on the countries of the Eastern Neighbourhood and produced in the local languages of those countries. They are disseminated via the social media channels of the EU Delegations in the region, and are also carried on television and via other media and public events.[9] In addition, the Task Force, in cooperation with the European Commission, led the EU's six-month Eastern Partnership communications campaign culminating in the November 2017 Eastern Partnership Summit in Brussels.[10]
The team's main product to raise awareness of disinformation is the weekly Disinformation Review (in English and Russian languages), launched in November 2015. The goal is to provide data for analysts, journalists and officials dealing with this issue. The Disinformation Review also brings the latest news and analyses of what the task force labels as "pro-Kremlin disinformation".[9] The full record of the Task Force's work on disinformation is available on its website EUvsDisinfo.eu, available in English, Russian, and German languages. The team also runs the European External Action Service's Russian language website, as well as Twitter and Facebook accounts. This communicates primarily about the EU's foreign policy by publishing information about EU activities, as well as EU statements and press releases with relevance to the Eastern Neighbourhood in particular.[9] Most of the organization's efforts are distributed on providing information support on issues related to the Russo-Ukrainian War.[11] One of the ESTF's main challenges has been described as distinguishing disinformation from legitimate dissent.[12]
ESCTF has documented numerous examples of propaganda and disinformation published by Russian media.[13][14] Between 2015 and 2016 EUvsDisinfo registered 1,992 confirmed disinformation cases with 36 each week on average.[15] Between November 2015 and August 2019, the project identified more than 6,000 cases of disinformation. Among the most common topics was the topic of migration.[16] As of March 2024, 943 cases of disinformation were related to the COVID-19 pandemic[17] and 2855 cases related to the war in Ukraine.[18]
EU Member State Governments have strongly supported the Task Force since its inception and provide the majority of its staff.
The European Parliament has consistently supported the Task Force and called for adequate staffing and resourcing. An EP preparatory action for 2018 – "StratCom Plus" - has allocated €1.1m for the team to focus on how to counter disinformation on the EU more systematically.[19]
The ESTF has been described as "possibly the most widely recognised, and criticised, anti-disinformation unit set up to handle Russian disinformation."[8] In 2020, The New York Times wrote that the ESTF "is unique because its biggest supporters — countries in Central and Eastern Europe with a history of Communist influence — are also among its loudest critics. They say the task force has been underfunded and undersupported and should be more ambitious."[32]
Danish newspaper Politiken criticized East StratCom for writing[33] that Russian-backed militants were fighting in Ukraine at the Battle of Avdiivka. They said that ESTF only used Ukrainian sources in their review, and claimed that one of the sources (the Ukrainian website Inform Napalm) was linked to the "controversial and secretive" Ukrainian website Myrotvorets.[34]
In 2018, it was found that the ESTF's database of news articles that contain disinformation had incorrectly included three articles from Dutch news outlets, in part due to a translation error.[12][35] The outlets (GeenStijl, The Post Online and De Gelderlander) sued the EU for libel.[36][37][38] On 6 March, the Dutch Parliament passed a motion to advocate that the EU remove the ESTF's funding.[12][39] In response, the ESTF removed the articles from their database and changed the language it uses when describing outlets that it identifies as publishing disinformation.[12][40] On 9 March, Dutch Minister of the Interior, who had previously[41] opposed closing EUvsDisinfo, said that the government would make a case for closing it in the European Union.[42][43] Professor Wouter Hins from Leiden University admitted that EUvsDisinfo made a mistake, but argued that it should not be closed: "The idea that the government should then shut up is rather unworldly".[44] On 13 March the three Dutch media withdrew their case.[45]