Report: CONTENT ANALYSIS OF DISINFORMATION AND NARRATIVES RELATED TO THE WAR IN UKRAINE

The aim of this analysis was to identify key disinformation and manipulative narratives related to the war in Ukraine spreading in Southeast Europe, using qualitative and quantitative content analysis of the fact-checked information.

Key findings:

• The results of this analysis indicate that anti-Ukraine disinformation and manipulative narratives are present in the SEE region and being systematically deployed to achieve the 5Ds identified by EEAS: to dismiss allegations, to distort the narrative and change the framing, to distract and shift the blame, to dismay and intimidate, and to divide communities.
• The quantitative content analysis established that the most prevalent content shared in the Croatian disinformation ecosystem is based precisely on the identified narratives, primarily on the narrative of American hegemony and Russia’s right to defend itself, as well as on global conspiracy theories and framing of Ukraine and Ukrainians as Nazis.
• Most of this disinformation comes from Serbia, and more than half of the intensively shared content originates from fringe news sites.