Since March 2020, Russian government-controlled and aligned media have published and amplified narratives that contain disinformation and wild conspiracy theories about COVID-19, vaccines, dangerous treatments, and government health protocols, which are contributing to growing anti-vaccination movements and spurring vaccine hesitancy among the public. Canadian anti-vaccination and anti-mask groups have shared Russian state media narratives and conspiracies about the pandemic, which serve to legitimize and fuel pandemic-related protests that have become increasingly aggressive and even violent worldwide.
Public health has long been a vector through which Kremlin propagandists have attacked western societies with information warfare. During the Cold War, the Kremlin undertook Operation Infektion, in which Russian leaders tried to pin the origins of HIV/AIDS on a US bioweapon lab in Fort Detrick, Maryland. Similar disinformation narratives have been recently recycled by both the Russian and Chinese governments in the context of COVID and shared by Canadian COVID anti-lockdown groups on social media.
A Kremlin aligned propaganda operation to promote general vaccination hesitancy was initiated several years before the COVID crisis. In 2014, a Kremlin campaign urged parents not to vaccinate their children. As a result, the WHO warned in 2019 that “vaccine hesitancy,” which the Kremlin’s disinformation contributed to, has become a leading global health risk.
As the COVID crisis began in early 2020, Russian state propagandists quickly recognized the divisive potential of the pandemic and began exploiting it. The EU’s External Action Service warned about the threat of Kremlin COVID disinformation in March 2020, stating that Russia was engaging in a “significant disinformation campaign” and that “the overarching aim of Kremlin disinformation is to aggravate the public health crisis in Western countries…in line with the Kremlin’s broader strategy to subvert European society.” While Europe may have been the initial target, the US, Canada, and other regions around the world have since been contaminated with the Russian COVID disinformation campaign.
Early disinformation that was amplified by Russian state media channels, RT and Sputnik, included the legitimization and amplification of narratives that questioned the existence of a COVID-19, which helped fuel anti-mask and anti-lockdown protests across Europe. Those state-supported information operations helped plant the seeds of and legitimize similar movements in Canada. In this context, ongoing Russian disinformation published on state media, Kremlin aligned platforms and social media accounts controlled by the Kremlin play a key role in supporting and feeding content to help domestic Canadian movements grow and attract more followers.
The aggressive and virulent anti-mask and anti-vaccination protests that have targeted hospitals, health workers and political rallies are in part, fuelled by disinformation and conspiracy theories that are advanced by Russian state media and actors who amplify them.
It should be noted that the Russian Embassy in Ottawa usually does not itself directly promote COVID disinformation in Canada. However, in one such case, an article questioning the safety of the Pfizer vaccine was posted to the Russian Embassy’s website in January 2021.
Over the past weeks, DisinfoWatch has observed that Russian state media, RT and Sputnik have produced and published a significant volume of content directly targeting Canadian anti-vaccination and anti-mask movements, which have been widely shared by these groups on social media. The content we have observed has been produced in both French and English languages and directly criticizes Canadian elected officials and Canadian COVID protocols and policies, including vaccination passports. This includes content posted during the election period.
Sputnik France, a Russian state owned and controlled French language media outlet, recently produced and published a radio program on YouTube which promoted vaccine hesitancy narratives. The program insinuated that vaccine passports would not be a temporary measure in Canada – this took place following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s announcement of $1 billion in funding for provinces implementing vaccine passports. There is no evidence that Trudeau has any intention of making COVID vaccine passports a permanent measure. The funding would go to provinces as healthcare is a provincial jurisdiction.
During the radio program, government claims about the effectiveness of vaccines were questioned, Canadian media was accused of biased reporting of the pandemic, doubts about the legality of vaccine mandates were raised as was vaccine safety for children. Alternative treatments to COVID that the scientific community has largely dismissed, including Vitamin D, hydroxychloroquine, and ivermectin in lieu of vaccination were also advanced.
While it is not out of the ordinary for a foreign broadcaster to take interest in Canadian affairs, the disinformation published by Russian state media seeks to exploit the fear and frustration felt by many Canadians during the pandemic.
Such narratives are not limited to Russian state-controlled media. A Montreal conspiracy theory website identified by the United States State Department as a “pillar of Russian disinformation,” Globalresearch.ca, has consistently published COVID-related conspiracies during the pandemic, including the amplification of content produced by Canadian anti-vaccination advocacy groups. One headline from an article shared over 1500 times on Facebook asks: “is the virus fictitious?”
Unfortunately, social media giants like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube help facilitate the spread of toxic malign foreign narratives. YouTube is the primary online broadcast platform used by Russian state media, RT and Sputnik, which allows them to generate advertising revenue that they share with YouTube’s owners, Google. Unfortunately, YouTube is directly and irresponsibly benefiting and profiting from the dissemination of Russian government disinformation and propaganda.
Screenshot of YouTube/Google advertising on Russian state owned media.
The Canadian government cannot afford to continue ignoring the role of malign foreign state media and actors aligned with them in fueling the rise of toxic anti-vaccination and anti-mask movements in Canada. Their ability to freely broadcast on Canadian cable and satellite networks and generate revenue from Canadian viewers on social media, should be immediately addressed by the new Canadian government. Foreign media outlets that pollute Canada’s information environment must be held to account and their ability to generate revenue and connect with Canadians through Canadian radio, cable and satellite systems monitored and restricted.
