The West Is Losing the Information War
Pekka Kallioniemi, The Baltic Sentinel, May 23, 2025
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The West must urgently adapt to the digital information war dominated by authoritarian regimes like Russia and China, Pekka Kallioniemi writes in his latest op-ed for The Baltic Sentinel.
Countries like Russia and China have spent years turning disinformation into a central pillar of statecraft. They donât just lieâthey lie loudly, constantly, and across every available platform. Theyâve mastered the art of sowing confusion, undermining trust, and deepening political divides inside democratic societies. This isnât done by accidentâitâs done through well-funded, highly coordinated campaigns that blend state media, covert troll farms, social media influencers, and manipulated algorithms.
At the same time, they maintain an iron grip on their own information environments. In Russia, independent media is silenced, dissenters are jailed, and the internet is censored through so-called âsovereignâ infrastructure that can block or throttle unwanted content. In China, the state filters all online speech through the Great Firewall, bans platforms like YouTube and Twitter, and floods domestic social media with tightly controlled propaganda. Algorithms are not tools for engagementâthey are instruments of obedience.
Thatâs the key to their advantage: they control what their citizens see while exploiting the openness of our societies. We canât inject truth into theirsâbut they can inject lies into ours. Their disinformation can reach our phones in seconds, while our facts canât even get past their digital borders. Itâs a deeply asymmetrical fight, where authoritarian states operate with speed, scale, and impunityâwhile democracies struggle to respond without undermining our own values of free speech and transparency.
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These regimes donât wait around for approval. They donât worry about press freedom or public debate. If they want to launch an influence campaign, they do itâquickly and quietly. They have entire networks producing and spreading their messages in dozens of languages, 24/7.
Worse still, theyâve gotten very good at grabbing attention. They use social media superspreaders, conspiracy influencers, and flashy TikTok videos to package their propaganda into something that feels exciting, rebellious, or funnyâeven when itâs completely false. They tell simple, emotionally charged stories that spread like wildfire. And all this is supercharged with AI.
And what do we counter that with? Dry press releases from EU officials. Long reports. Monotone statements from diplomats. Detailed debunking articles hidden behind paywalls, or buried deep in PDF reports that almost no one reads. Good intentionsâdelivered with all the flair of a tax form. Most of it never reaches the people actually being targeted by disinformation. Itâs not that we donât have the factsâitâs that weâre terrible at making people care about them.
Meanwhile, the information battlefield has already shifted. In Finland, half of teenagers between 13 and 18 now get their news from TikTok. And itâs not just influencers and entertainmentâeven North Korea is now publishing propaganda on the platform. Thatâs the level of reach and adaptability weâre up against. Authoritarian regimes are speaking directly to the next generation, using their language and their media. And weâre still whispering from behind paywalls and official podiums.
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Weâve already seen how devastating information warfare can be when left unchecked. In January 2014, 60% of Russians had a positive view of Ukrainians. Then the Kremlin launched a relentless defamation campaign on national TV and social mediaâpainting Ukrainians as Nazis, traitors, or puppets of the West. By 2015, the numbers had flipped: 60% of Russians now had a negative view of Ukrainians. This is how propaganda works. And when you control the entire information ecosystem, it works terrifyingly well.
But at the same time, Ukraine learned to fight back. Since 2014, and especially after Russiaâs full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukrainians have treated information like a front line. Theyâve built partnerships between government, civil society, and creative communities. Theyâve used humor, memes, music, and viral videos to expose lies and boost morale. They work around the clockânot because itâs trendy, but because they understand just how destructive these manipulation campaigns can be. In Ukraine, disinformation isnât an abstract threatâitâs a weapon that softens targets before the bombs fall.
Take Russia: itâs spending nearly $2 billion a year on state propaganda. Chinaâs media operations are even more extensive and opaque. Meanwhile, the European Union is spending a tiny fraction of that trying to defend the truth.
Itâs not just about moneyâitâs about mindset. Weâve been playing defense, trying to fact-check lies after theyâve gone viral. Thatâs not enough. We need to get ahead of the problem.
And we canât just focus on short-term fixes. Both Russia and China plan their information strategies decades aheadâand we should too. That means giving more resources and support to modern media creatorsâinfluencers, podcasters, digital artists, futurists, analysts, visionaries. These are the people shaping how millions think and feel. We need to invest in the platforms, voices, and formats that actually reach people today.
We also need to build long-term resilience. We need to build a vaccine against online disinformation. And that vaccine is education.
That means warning people before the lies start spreading. It means teaching media literacy in schools, so young people know how to spot manipulation. It means putting clear, truthful, engaging content in the places where people actually spend timeâYouTube, TikTok, Instagramânot hiding it away on obscure government and EU websites.
But defense alone wonât win this war. We must take the fight to the adversaryâs doorstep. Authoritarian regimes have real vulnerabilitiesâcorruption, repression, inequality, and elite hypocrisy. These are pressure points we should be targeting with truth-based messaging that empowers dissent, exposes abuse, and undermines their control over public perception. This isnât about regime changeâitâs about using facts to challenge the myths they rely on to stay in power. Just like they exploit our openness, we must be willing to expose their rot.
This isnât about copying authoritarian tactics. Itâs about defending the values we care aboutâfreedom, transparency, democracyâwith creative and bold strategies.
Do we really need to wait until Russia is sending drones and troops across our borders to finally take this seriously?
The information war is here. We donât get to choose whether weâre part of it. But we can choose to stop losing.