‘Democratic states must have a comprehensive strategy to combat disinformation. We need to focus more and take action to deter potential attacks of disinformation in the future’, said Arnoldas Pikžirnis, Prime Minister’s National Security and Domestic Policy Advisor when speaking at the Forum.
‘Lithuania has many years of experience in recognising and resisting to the disinformation coming from the Kremlin. Our society itself has taken actions to debunk fake news and coordinated information attacks from abroad. Lithuania-born elves movement or the media and experts initiative Demaskuok.lt has greatly contributed the overall regional resilience as regards the outside propaganda’, noted the Adviser.
Arnoldas Pikžirnis pointed out other hybrid threats too, including investments in strategic economic sectors, which may well be driven by political not only economic agendas. He noted the need for a comprehensive strategy in the fight against disinformation and other hybrid threats, which would prevent interference with our internal policies and protect our societies, lest we have another salisbury.
It has been the second year in a row for the Atlantic Council to hold this Strategic Communications and Digital Disinformation involving members of the US Congress, administration officials, foreign strategic communications leaders, media, experts and academic community. This year, private companies such as Facebook or Twitter have also joined the Forum.
This year, the Forum partners include the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in the USA, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom, the Swedish Embassy and the US company Twitter.