Category:
Reports
Latvia Monthly: Private Airplane Flights Taken by Krišjānis Kariņš
During the reporting month the main controversy that struck the Latvian public and was further incorporated in the disinformation narratives was the private airplane flights taken by Krišjānis Kariņš during his time as the prime minister. At the beginning of the controversy the amount spent on the flights was thought to have reached approximately 600 000 euros which already caused high criticism from the public and comparison to leaders of other similarly situated state leaders taking commercial flights. Thus, further creating the perception that life in other states is exceptionally better and such scandals are only prevalent in Latvia. The controversy continued to fuel discussions and continue to be discussed by the examined disinformation channels as new information showed that the actual amount spent on the private flights was 1 363 861 euros.
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Estonia Monthly: Restrictions on Native Language
The Estonian social media and web-based media actors during the reporting month predominantly were still focusing on the Estonian/Russian language policy issues, specifically the policy which is introducing Estonian language in all the government funded schools, human rights issues, democracy and trust towards elected officials, war in Ukraine, as well as the international security situation in general. This month the attention towards terrorist crisis in Israel somehow diminished, but in turn, it went more over the economic and financial issues and the context of the European Union in this regard. Accordingly, the main narratives that were spread over the social media were the following:
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Lithuania Weekly: Finalised MG Baltic Case
During this reporting period, the Lithuanian Court of Appeal issued a ruling in one of the most resonant political corruption cases in Lithuanian history. Eligijus Masiulis, Raimondas Kurlianskis and Vytautas Gapšys were convicted of bribery and influence peddling in the scandalous MG Baltic political corruption case. Even though this case started back in 2016, being the largest one in Lithuanian history, it has still attracted mass attention. Besides intriguing citizens, the MG Baltic case also strongly affects the public’s opinions on the courts and the judicial system in general.
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Latvia Weekly: Istanbul Convention and Economic Struggles
At the centre of discussion of the examined week were two topics that have been prevalent in the disinformation content examined prior- the ratification of Istanbul Convention and the controversy surrounding private jet flights by the current foreign affairs minister and the former prime minister Krišjānis Kariņš. With Istanbul Convention getting closer to ratification which had been priorly articulated by the examined accounts as impossible the narratives now help to fuel their aspiration of dismissing the current parliament for which they are currently trying to obtain necessary votes for a referendum. In regard to the private jet flights, there is an overall agreement that this constitutes excessive spending however it helps the examined authors to further create the image of Latvia being corrupt, its people being poor and create and shape and overall narrative of not thrustworthy government. During the examined week, the volume of content examined was significantly lower than prior weeks. From the examined platforms, it follows same as the prior weeks- video content reaches bigger audiences and creates more engagement with Twitter and Telegram receiving the least engament and Tiktok and Facebook the most.
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