"I think it is fair to say that this was an attempt to influence public opinion in countries critical of the indiscriminate scanning of all digital communications of all EU citizens and to put pressure on the negotiators of these countries to agree to the legislation," says Meki?. "If the European Commission, a significant institution in the EU, can engage in targeted disinformation campaigns, it sets a dangerous precedent." The Dutch researcher's find adds to the controversy surrounding the Commission, which has recently come under fire due to allegations that certain AI firms and advocacy groups with significant financial backing have had a notable level of influence over the shaping of CSAR-allegations that lead Commissioner Ylva Johansson countered, asserting that she had committed no wrongdoing. Johansson's office did not respond to WIRED's request for comment. "There's an inexplicable obsession with this file [CSAR] in the Commission. I don't know where that comes from," EU lawmaker Sophie in 't Veld told WIRED after she submitted a priority parliamentary question on the case. "Why are they doing while the legislative process is still ongoing?". As the pressure on the Commission has been mounting, Johansson lashed out against the influential civil rights nonprofit European Digital Rights, one of the strongest critics of the legislation and a defender of end-to-end encryption. She referred to its funding from Apple, suggesting EDRi was laundering the company's talking points. "Apple was accused of moving encryption keys to China, which critics say could endanger customer data. Yet no one asks if these are strange bedfellows, no one assumes Apple is drafting EDRI's speaking points," she noted in a Commission blog on October 13. Referring to EDRi's independence and transparent funding processes, senior policy adviser Ella Jakubowska tells WIRED: "Attempts to delegitimize civil society suggest a worrying effort to silence critical voices, in line with broader trends of shrinking civic space. When both the content and the process regarding this law are so troubling, we need to ask how the European Commission allowed it to reach this point." Adding to the Commission's conspicuous ad campaign, Meki?'s discovery came on the same day the European Commission formally sent X a request for information under the Digital Services Act, the sweeping EU digital disinformation law, following indications of "Spreading of illegal content and disinformation" on the platform.
This Cyber News was published on www.wired.com. Publication date: Thu, 30 Nov 2023 23:19:27 +0000