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Foreign states may be interested in influencing decision-makers and citizens of other countries. This interest may be entirely legitimate, involving overt activities building on diplomatic, economic and cultural connections, but it may also involve foreign interference, which is a criminal offence under Section 108 of the Danish Criminal Code.
Foreign interference
Pursuant to Section 108 of the Danish Criminal Code, it is considered a criminal offence to assist or enable the intelligence service of a foreign state in operating within the territory of the Danish state. For example, this could be by aiding a foreign intelligence service in influencing decision-makers or public opinion. This is the only type of interference activities that PET investigates and prevents.
Are they interfering in our elections?
So far, PET and the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (DDIS) have not detected any foreign state interference activity in connection with elections in Denmark. However, there are several examples of attempted interference in democratic elections abroad.
Attempts to create sympathy, antipathy and division
When foreign states launch interference campaigns, the purpose is to achieve an effect. The overall aim may be to covertly build support for their own domestic agendas or to generate antipathy for adversarial countries.
They may also seek to sow division between population groups of other countries or within coalitions of countries, such as NATO or the EU. The typical approach is to exploit existing disagreements and differences to stoke up conflict and polarization.
Interference may occur through various channels: In person through interference actors creating personal networks abroad or digitally through websites, social media etc.
Interference, disinformation and misinformation
Disinformation is the deliberate dissemination of false or misleading information and is one form of interference activity. It can be difficult to recognize disinformation, especially when the sender appears to be a reliable source.
The term ‘fake news’ describes disinformation disguised as journalism. However, people often misuse the term to discredit proper journalism that they simply dislike.
Misinformation is very similar to disinformation. The difference is that the information is shared without malicious intent. Thus, it is possible to spread misinformation in good faith. The dissemination of both disinformation and misinformation can form part of an interference campaign.
Countering disinformation
Maintaining a free and open debate is essential to a democratic society. Democratic state actors can take various measures to counter disinformation. As a society, we can improve the general ability for source criticism through education, support fact-checking institutions and develop a crisis response plan for the event of a large-scale coordinated attack.
Private individuals also play a role in preventing the spread of disinformation. Most people use social media, and it is through these platforms in particular that people are exposed to disinformation and misinformation. The recommendations for tackling disinformation may seem simple, but can be difficult to follow, as they involve critical thinking, the ability to keep calm and awareness of one’s blind spots.
Before sharing a story on social media, ask yourself the following questions:
- Is this likely to be a true story or is it “too good (or bad) to be true”? Be aware that the risk of believing a false or misleading story is greater if it fits your own world view and if it sparks strong emotions.
- Is the sender credible? What motive could the person or organization have for posting the story – at this exact time or in this exact context?
- Are there other sources for the story? If so, what are their angles to the story?
If you see content on social media that you believe to be disinformation, you can often report it to the hosting platform. For example, Facebook has a feature allowing users to report posts that provide false information. It is also possible to report fake accounts.