A civic network that will fight pro-Kremlin disinformation has been formed in Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center.
Similar networks already operate in other European countries, where they coordinate efforts to push back against Russian disinformation and influence operations, Euromaidan Press reports.
The network of activists, who have chosen a fantasy name to oppose Russian trolls, has long existed in the Baltic countries, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia.
Since this year's fall, they have been operating in Ukraine as well, reads the original report by Ukraine Crisis Media Center.
"Elven" trainings gathered people from many regions of Ukraine, while lecturers are experts in countering propaganda, misinformation, as well as the military, journalists, volunteers – those who have been actively fighting against Russian aggression over the past six years.
The first elves appeared in Lithuania in 2014, when local activists decided to unite to give an organized rebuff to Russian information attacks against Lithuania, Ukraine, and other democracies.
The movement has grown to include about 40,000 Lithuanians, and then residents of other countries, who volunteer to invest time and effort in the struggle for the integrity of the information space.
Ukrainians, who are well aware that information manipulation and propaganda pose a direct threat to state security and public well-being, have borrowed the Lithuanian experience and created own network of activists, which so far covers eight regions from Kyiv to Donetsk regions.
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