Novel technologies and Geopolitical Strategies: Disinformation Narratives in the Countries of the Visegrád Group

Abstract

In the current media environment of growing information disorder and social media platforms emerging as primary news sources, the creation and spread of disin‑ formation is becoming increasingly easy and cost‑effective. The projection of strategic narratives through disinformation campaigns is an important geopolitical tool in the global competition for power and status. We have analysed close to 1,000 individual news pieces from more than 60 different online sources containing disinformation, which originally appeared in one of the V4 languages, using a natural language processing algorithm. We have assessed the frequency of recurring themes within the articles and their relationship structure, to see whether consistent disinformation narratives were to be found among them. Through frequency analysis and relationship charting, we have been able to uncover individual storylines connected to more than ten overarching disinformation narratives. We have also exposed five key meta‑narratives present in all Visegrád Countries, which fed into a coherent system of beliefs, such as the envisioned collapse of the European Union or the establishment of a system of Neo‑Atlantism, which would permanently divide the continent.