137 Alberto Nardelli &
Craig Silverman, ‘‘Italy’s Most Popular Political Party Is Leading Europe in Fake News and Kremlin Propaganda
BuzzFeed News, Nov. 29, 2016;
Jason Horowitz, With Italy No Longer in US. Focus, Russia Swoops to Fill the Void
The New York Times, May 29, 2017. Jason Horowitz, With Italy No Longer in US. Focus, Russia Swoops to Fill the Void
The New York Times, May 29, 2017. Alberto Nardelli & Craig Silverman, ‘‘Italy’s Most Popular Political Party Is Leading Europe in Fake News and Kremlin Propaganda
BuzzFeed News, Nov. 29, 2016. Jason Horowitz, In Italian Schools, Reading, Writing, and Recognizing Fake News
The New York Times, Oct. 18, 2017.
ITALY
In
recent years, Italy has seen a resurgence of anti-establish- ment, populist parties that have garnered appeal among the population and achieved some electoral success. Some of these parties are strong advocates of pro-Kremlin foreign policies, and have extensively used fake news and conspiracy theories in their media campaigns, often drawn from Russian state-owned media outlets. With national elections coming up in 2018, Italy could be a target for electoral interference by the Kremlin, which will likely seek to promote parties that are against renewing EU sanctions for Russia s aggression in Ukraine. The Five Star Movement (MS, which was formed in 2009 and surged to popularity in recent years with its anti-establishment message, seeks to end sanctions on Russia and normalize relations with the regime of Syrian
dictator Bashar al-Assad, and recognizes the annexation of Crimea, opposes Italian participation in NATO exercises, and has called fora referendum on Italy’s inclusion in the Eurozone.
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The chairman of M5S’s foreign affairs committee,
Manlio Di Stefano, has stated that NATO is secretly preparing a final assault on Russia and that ‘‘there’s a limit to the alliance that Italy and the United States forged in the aftermath of World War II.
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During a failed 2016 constitutional referendum, MS used a sprawling network of websites and social media accounts
that were spreading fake news, conspiracy theories, and pro-Kremlin stories to millions of people according to an analysis by
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