Information Laundering in the Nordic-Baltic Region
Information Laundering in the Nordic-Baltic Region

Author(s): Belén Carrasco Rodríguez, Nika Aleksejeva, Sebastien Cubbon, Tihomira Doncheva, Benjamin Heap, Rueban Manokara, Thomas Elkjer Nissen, Merete Voetmann
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Social Sciences, Media studies, Political Theory, Communication studies, Sociology, International relations/trade, Politics and communication, Theory of Communication, Crowd Psychology: Mass phenomena and political interactions
Published by: NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence
Keywords: Nordic-Baltic region; information laundering; external information influence; domestic media; information manipulation; building resilience against hostile information influence;
Summary/Abstract: The penetration of external information influence in a domestic media ecosystem is largely enabled by the interactions between foreign and domestic actors. The term ‘Information Laundering’ describes how these actors manipulate and amplify manipulated information in a particular media environment and the techniques utilised for such purposes. This report evaluates to what extent Kremlin-official and pro-Kremlin actors leverage Information Laundering techniques to conduct influence campaigns in the Nordic-Baltic countries and examines the role that domestic and foreign actors play in enabling these campaigns to reach target audiences. For this purpose, the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence developed a theoretical model of Information Laundering presented in this study. The model was applied to a comparative analysis of 32 Information Laundering cases, linked to the activity of 570 single actors in the eight Nordic-Baltic countries. Through researching Information Laundering in the region, this report aims to support national institutions in their goal to build resilience against hostile information influence operations.

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