Irish Examiner view: Fake news a nefarious online art

We all face an uphill battle in coping with malign disinformation

A website founded by a former US marine who is living in Russia has fuelled a rumour that the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, had purchased two luxury yachts with US aid money. Picture: Efrem Lukatsky/AP

Online disinformation has become something of an art form, with disingenuous and malign players working out ways of creating fear, suspicion, and distrust among political, economic, and ideological enemies.

An excellent example is the uncovering of a sinister plot to undermine US political confidence in how Ukraine’s war against Russia is being waged and, potentially, to threaten US funding for Ukraine.

A website founded by a former US marine who is living in Russia has fuelled a rumour that the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, had purchased two luxury yachts with US aid money. 

This gained traction among several members of Congress, which is making crucial decisions about military spending.

Right-wing Republicans, such as Marjorie Taylor Green and JD Vance, both rehashed the yacht claim, despite the fact that it was denied by the Ukrainian government, which also pointed out that both yachts are for sale.

The story was given a major boost by a Russia-linked website that purports to be based in Washington. 

The story was repeated by a website called DC Weekly, touching off a blaze of online speculation. 

The site, it transpires, is not a weekly publication and nor is it based in the US capital.

It was started by a former marine and Florida police officer who moved to Russia in 2016.

DC Weekly is filled with stories copied from other outlets and rewritten by artificial intelligence engines to give the site the sheen of legitimacy.

It is just another example of how malicious and often state-sponsored entities can not only distort facts, but manipulate them to a desired end.

But what is more worrying is that politicians will then manipulate this fictional landscape for their own ends. 

In this case, the pro-Russian influence operation — and many others like it — need to be exposed.

Were it to have gained traction, it could have had a devastating effect on US funding for Ukraine. 

Its exposure, however, indicates the uphill battle we all face in coping with malign disinformation.

No big cost to preventing STIs

The health and wellbeing of our population is — and has always been — a political hot potato.

It has in the past — and will, undoubtedly, in the future — cast its long shadow on election results, up to and including the formation of governments.

As we know, however, there are simple things we can do as a collective society and as responsible individuals to maintain aspects of the national wellbeing, that do not cost billions from exchequer funds or impact morally or culturally on our behaviour.

There are actions we can take — especially on an individual level — that will save the State considerable amounts of money and parlay into the general welfare of the nation as a whole.

The recent news, therefore, that Ireland ranks in the top five in Europe for incidence rates of syphilis and gonorrhoea — as well as many other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) — is nearly shameful in an educated, wealthy, and switched-on modern society.

And we are not alone. The latest report from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reveals a “concerning rise in STIs across Europe”, and an increase in chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis, and lymphogranuloma venereum across the 30 countries in the European Economic Area.

In total, there were 46,728 confirmed cases of gonorrhoea across Europe in 2021 — the year the results were compiled.

There were 2,108 in Ireland in the same period, a rate of 42.1 per 100,000 population. 

The figures underscore the importance of targeted prevention strategies, as well as enhanced surveillance by the individual medical authorities.

What is concerning, however, is that the ECDC suggests widespread under-reporting of STIs.

That being so, it would appear that more education is needed, both among the general population and within the medical profession, to halt the rise of what are known to be easily treatable problems.

It seems anomalous in this day and age that STIs should even be an issue.

Search and rescue questions

A new search and rescue (SAR) contract worth €670m over ten years has been signed between Bristow Ireland Ltd (a subsidiary of an American company, Bristow Inc) and the Department of Transport, for the provision of rotary and fixed-wing aviation services for the Irish Coast Guard.

Bristow has said it will begin transitioning to the new contract in the fourth quarter of 2024 and will operate six specialised SAR-configured AW189 helicopters from four bases in Shannon, Waterford, Dublin Weston, and Sligo.

And, in an extension to the current service, two specially adapted King Air fixed wing aircraft will be added to the fleet to provide operational support from Shannon Airport for SAR and environmental monitoring.

In a welcome move, these fixed wing aircraft will provide sophisticated aircraft mission management and communications systems, and will also provide ‘top cover’ support to helicopters engaged in long-range medevacs, of the sort that was being carried out by the Rescue 116 when it crashed into Blackrock Island, off Blacksod, Co Mayo, on March 14, 2017, killing the four crew members.

Since that crash, there have remained safety concerns for SAR helicopter services, so the impending addition of the fixed wing aircraft operated by Bristow is certainly helpful.

Worryingly, there have been unanswered reports that the Waterford SAR base could be closed for over six months to facilitate staff retraining, and local Independent TD Matt Shanahan has raised questions as to whether or not this will be the case. 

Seafarers and coastal communities whose areas fall under the cover provided from Waterford deserve to know exactly what the department and Bristow intend doing if the Waterford base does have to temporarily close.

This article was amended on December 29, 2023, to update an incorrect figure.