Disinformation, Russia’s ‘other war’, experts and start-ups at MWC warn

Various entities and outlets at the 2022 Mobile World Congress are warning that behind the military war in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion of the country, there is another “big war” – that of misinformation and fake news. 

Director of the Digital Future Society, Cristina Colom, explains that in five days of open warfare, around 700 fake videos and photos have already been detected. 

Colom says apart from the “conventional war” we are seeing in Ukraine, “there is another battle in cyberspace" with the spread of fake news – not only through traditional channels but also through artificial intelligence (AI) and bots. 

The director says that false information spreads very easily which is why she is also committed to “educating society” to understand and “discern fake news from real news” through a digital literacy plan.

This false content is made with technologies such as artificial intelligence, which verifiers such as Newtral also use to warn of possible signs of misinformation thanks to network monitoring.

Speaking to the Catalan News Agency, Newtral's head of technology, Rubén Míguez, points out that in both amid this war and during the Covid-19 crisis, the application of artificial intelligence is alarming its journalists who then certify whether the information being published is true.

This verification work must still be done by a "combination of humans and machines", Míguez says, adding that the tools available today "still need to be improved a lot."

The phenomenon of fake news has been around for a long time already with the last major worldwide story before the war in Ukraine being the pandemic. Previously the strategy of spreading disinformation was used in electoral processes "in an attempt to destabilize Europe," Míguez says.

"Now the war is much more open, just as there is a war of cyberattacks between countries we have a war of misinformation between countries," he said.

AI translation devices helping those affected

There is, however, another aspect of artificial intelligence and other new technologies that can be used to help those most affected by the war. 

Polish company Vasco Technologies is currently distributing dozens of mobile-sized devices that translate any message into more than 70 languages aloud to associations working on the Ukrainian-Polish border. 

Its CEO, who was due to attend the Mobile World Congress this week, is between the two countries distributing translators and portable battery chargers to refugees and assisting in humanitarian work as he is also a doctor.