COUNTERING RUSSIAN INFORMATION INFLUENCE IN THE BALTIC STATES: A COMPARISON OF APPROACHES ADOPTED IN ESTONIA, LATVIA, AND LITHUANIA

Abstract

Since 2016, various studies have been conducted and articles published on the characteristics, prevalence, and causes of information influence activities (primarily regarding mis- and disinformation) but very few have studied the means that democratic countries have to counter information influence. The main objective of this article1 is to examine and compare the approaches adopted by Estonian, Lithuanian, and Latvian governments in responding to Russian information influence activities. The article will concurrently provide a comprehensive overview of the countermeasures applied by these three small countries. The author examines how the Baltic States perceive responding to information influence activities in strategic documentation, focusing on three areas: the general composition of strategic communication, the integration of media literacy into national curricula, and media policy and other regulative activities.