Fake News Police In The Czech Republic

There is an election spree across Europe, with many nations, including Germany, France, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic casting votes this year. At the same time, the fear of a fake news bombardment, similar to the one present during the US presidential race, can be felt.

To combat this fear, the Czechs have set up a new "SWAT team for truth," reports the Washington Post.

"Armed with computers and smartphones, the freshly formed government unit is charged with scouring the internet and social media, fact-checking, then flagging false reports to the public," according to the Washington Post.

The unit braces itself mostly against Russia and its sympathisers - pro-Russian websites in the Czech language that "gaslight the public by fostering paranoia and undermining faith in democracy and the West."

"Using methods reminiscent of Soviet-era propaganda, such sites offer a vision of a world where no Russian soldier set foot in Ukraine, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is a Muslim-hugging menace and the US is behind Europe’s refugee crisis," according to the Washington Post.

Other mentions of the Cold War are common in the article, as the struggle for influence between Moscow and the West has been going on for some time in the Czech Republic. Most recently, the Czech Republic suffered a security breach after hackers infiltrated the e-mails of the foreign minister and other senior diplomats, with some fingers pointed at Russia.

The article reads almost like a spy novel, with inquires into the activities of Moscow’s embassy in Prague and the undertakings of pro-Kremlin websites. But the author also raises interesting points about free speech and censorship.