The grant in question covered an educational competition for student projects on media literacy and countering Russian propaganda
Pro-Russian sources are spreading a screenshot from the USAID website, which allegedly proves that the agency funded Russophobic comments being written by students from Eastern Europe online and allocated almost $500,000 for this. The full title of this expenditure item is: «To encourage university students in Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia to promote social cohesion in communities where refugees from Ukraine reside and push back against anti-Ukraine/Ukrainian narratives online and offline.»
However, in reality, USAID did not fund any troll farms who post Russophobic comments online. These funds were allocated to implement the SURE program — Students for a United and Resilient Europe. As part of the program, students from 16 Eastern European universities conduct research and implement campaigns aimed at countering propaganda that causes conflicts between refugees and local communities. The first phase of the project ended with a final presentation in Bucharest, where teams from Romania, Poland, and Moldova presented their projects aimed at strengthening social cohesion and resilience in their communities. Kathleen Kavalek, the US Ambassador to Romania, who was present at the event, commented on the relevance of the program: «But Russia is not only attacking Ukraine. It is also engaged in hybrid warfare across Europe and beyond, using a variety of tactics to instill fear, sew confusion, and undermine cooperation and cohesion. One of Russia’s major tools in this hybrid warfare is the spread of disinformation and the use of lies to try to convince us that Russia is a victim, not the aggressor that launched an unprovoked and horrific attack on a peaceful neighbor.… Democracy is an ongoing process, one that has to be defended every day through engagement in our communities and involvement in our institutions. All of us need to be active members of our societies, to engage in our communities, and to try to make a positive difference..»
Thus, no Russophobic comments from troll farms were spread with the help of USAID. Instead, it is Russian propaganda that actively uses such methods to manipulate public opinion and spread disinformation. Thousands of automated or human-controlled accounts fill social networks with fake news, comments, and fake likes, creating the illusion of mass support for pro-Russian narratives. We wrote about these and other methods of manipulation in our media literacy guide Disinformation techniques used by Russia on social media.
