“If you look at how European media, and even big American media, are covering the issue now, I would say
that it is those few people on that team who have been able to raise awareness,” said Jakub Janda, a deputy director with European Values, a think tank based in Prague, who has worked with East Stratcom.
Created by the European Union to address “Russia’s ongoing disinformation campaigns,” the team — composed of diplomats, bureaucrats
and former journalists — tracks down reports to determine whether they are fake.
Similar groups are being created from Finland to the Czech Republic to disprove online hoaxes, state agencies are improving online security to counter potential hacking attacks
and European news media outlets are expanding fact-checking teams to counter false reports.
Like many journalists, Mr. Alandete, the Spanish newspaper’s managing editor and a former United States correspondent, had seen waves of false reports during the presidential campaign, many directed at Mexico — a country
that accounts for roughly half of El País’ online readership.
Catching every fake news story would be nearly impossible,
and the fake reports the team does combat routinely get a lot more viewers than its myth-busting efforts.