Key Insights:
During the reporting month, Latvian social media actors primarily focused on domestic issues relating to corruption, the threat to conservative Latvian values, and migration from MENA. The main narratives for the reporting month are as follows:
- The Latvian government, especially the coalition parties, cannot be trusted as they are corrupt.
- The Istanbul Convention is a primary threat to children as it firstly will encourage gender change and secondly allows pedophiles to adopt children.
- The domestic issues currently faced in Latvia, e.g., the Russian language use, are actually a front for the real issues- migration from MENA.
- European Union has a negative impact on Latvia.
Overview of findings:
- In the reporting month, TikTok, Telegram, Facebook, and X platforms were monitored. The most engagement is reached through content in video format, making TikTok and Facebook the primary channels for disseminating disinformation. A total of 300 posts were examined.
- Similarly, as in the previous reporting month, the majority of content remains focused on domestic issues
- An element common among the majority of the disinformation actors examined is a highly critical view of the European Union. The European Union is portrayed as a negative entity that is imposing “Western” values upon Latvia that clash with the allegedly more conservative beliefs. Additionally, the European Union has also compared to the Soviet Union
- Similarly as in the prior month, an element common in the disinformation narratives p is the high involvement of children within the narratives. In the context of the Istanbul Convention, the disinformation narratives always lead to the Convention leading to harm to children either through enforcing gender change by encouraging gender change or through allowing same-sex partnerships to be a front for pedophilia.
Story of the month: Threat of Immigrants from Middle East
The video’s author starts by stating: “You know what? All of the controversies about the language divide in Latvia is just a diversion from the real issues- immigration from the Middle East”. The author of the video goes further to say that this is an issue common to the European Union and mentions an example of a group of migrants from the middle east raping a fifteen-year-old girl- they were not punished for their crime. The author ends the video by stating that this is an issue that the Latvian representatives in the European Parliament have not dealt with- potentially due to upcoming European Parliament elections.
The video, which is in Russian language and primarily addresses Russian audience, creates the narrative that the migrant crisis is an issue caused by the European Parliament and the “Western values” pushed while completely disregarding that the migrants coming to Latvia from the Middle East are a cause of Russian and Belorussian hybrid warfare tactics, e.g., the migrant pushing on Latvia’s Eastern border. Additionally, the author entirely disregards that in response to the migration crisis, the European Union is imposing more restrictions, making it even harder to seek asylum in the European Union.
Regarding engagement, the video posted on the TikTok platform reached 4192 likes, 464 comments, and 54,8 thousand views. The comment section reached relatively high engagement. The comments, primarily from Russian speakers, are highly supportive of the message expressed, expressing strong anti-immigrant and, at times, xenophobic statements.
