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Rightwing extremists weaponising disinformation to destroy Europe from within

by AVAAZ
Dear Avaazers across Europe,

This photo of a ship full of people, practically spilling out over the edges, went viral all over Europe. It was meant to scare Europeans into believing their shores were being ‘flooded’ with new migrants. But there’s only one problem with it - it’s totally fake.

Extremists are using our social media feeds to manipulate us and turn us against each other, and in the next few weeks they plan to disrupt the European elections!
898fdc84-eed7-45d2-ae54-7890ef08b04d_1.jpg
Europe could be about to face an onslaught of weaponised disinformation designed to destroy Europe from within. If we do nothing then we could be witnessing the beginning of the end of the EU. So we need to fight back!

We’re putting together some of the best minds in Europe on how to tackle disinformation. But to help us can you let us know how concerned are you about disinformation? https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/disinfo_volunteer_loc/?bvjguib&v=116293&cl=15748725841&_checksum=81c69c5d240a8b13023b8bdd545fdf5b0ce4474be130b52d5d0e09d08439cb7b

The Europe we know is under threat and the upcoming European elections could be a pivotal moment where either the extremists win, or we use the power of our community to stop them.

The fakers and haters are small in number, but we are millions. Let’s take up the fight and defend a Europe that’s free of war, free of division and free of dangerous hatreds. Let’s not hand over the future of our continent to a bunch of extremists who want to tear it all down.

With hope and determination,

Pascal, Martyna, Martin, Patricia, Luca, Anneke, Christoph and the entire Avaaz team

SOURCES:
Avaaz’s Fake-Watch.eu
https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/disinfo_form/

How fake images spread racist stereotypes about migrants across the global (Observer)
https://observers.france24.com/en/20180105-fake-images-racist-stereotypes-migrants

Under far-right pressure, Europe retreats from migration pact (Politico)
https://www.politico.eu/article/migration-un-viktor-orban-sebastian-kurz-far-right-pressure-europe-retreats-from-pact/

Belgium's government loses majority over UN migration pact (Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/09/belgium-government-loses-majority-over-un-migration-pact

How the UN migration pact got trolled (Politico)
https://www.politico.eu/article/united-nations-migration-pact-how-got-trolled/

Image: Albanian refugees arriving in Italy, 1991
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/albanian-refugees-italy-1991/
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