THE STATEMENT by the Temporary Commission of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Countering Foreign Interference and Hybrid Threats

THE STATEMENT by the Temporary Commission of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Countering Foreign Interference and Hybrid Threats THE STATEMENT by the Temporary Commission of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Countering Foreign Interference and Hybrid Threats https://innews.media/en/news/id-41986

The Temporary Commission of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Countering Foreign Interference and Hybrid Threats analyses cases of hybrid threats regularly and subject to its mandate. 

Research has revealed that Azerbaijan’s information space is subject to a co-ordinated intrusion from one of its neighbouring countries in the form of disinformation and information manipulation. 

There is evidence of manipulative and co-ordinated propaganda being conducted primarily via social media and in multiple languages. Additionally, news resources in the Azerbaijani language have been created with the specific aim of directly influencing public opinion.

The campaign involved the use of a method of creating ‘duplicate’ pages of certain accounts operating in the Azerbaijani segment of Facebook as well. Examples include pages operating under names such as "Nə var, Nə yox?", "Bizim Azərbaycan", "Azerbaijan Daily", "Xəbərlər və Hadisələr", "Yerli media" and others. 

For instance, an analytical study of the large-scale media campaign launched across online resources in connexion with the incident involving the Embraer 190 passenger aircraft of Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) OJSC whilst on the Baku–Grozny (Russian Federation) flight, revealed a widespread dissemination of misleading narratives that did not reflect the actual causes of the incident.  

Those disinformation materials were disseminated in clusters via "news" resources and internet bots (note: programmes that perform automated tasks). 

Another tactic consisted in the illegal cyber activities aimed at creating confusion amongst the citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan and undermining trust in state institutions in connexion with the air incident. “Deepfake” technologies (note: audiovisual content created using artificial intelligence tools) and impersonations pretending to have been on behalf of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan were used to that end.

The Commission on Countering Foreign Interference and Hybrid Threats urges citizens to remain vigilant, and periodically shares information on the tactics of interference, forms of propaganda, and methods of disinformation campaigns directed against our country, seeking to protect the society from targeted and harmful information attacks. 

Acting in collaboration with the relevant state institutions, our Commission will intensify efforts to apprehend such information operations.