Netvís finds no organised disinformation ahead of EU referendum

There are no signs of organised disinformation ahead of Iceland’s referendum on opening accession negotiations with the European Union, according to a Netvís expert, Morgunblaðið reports. The referendum is scheduled for August 29.

Stefanía Ragnarsdóttir, an expert at Netvís, said the centre had received various reports from the public through its online portal. Netvís serves as Iceland’s cybersecurity centre and operates under the Media Commission.

“People who have been following the discussion will have noticed that information disorder has been widely discussed in recent days. We have received some reports about false personas and similar issues, but nothing that appears to be part of anything larger and organised, which is naturally what concerns us most,” Stefanía told Morgunblaðið.

She said Netvís was primarily monitoring possible organised interference in the referendum rather than isolated inaccurate claims. The centre is part of a consultation group on election integrity with CERT-IS, the Icelandic Communications Office, the Media Commission, the analysis division of the National Police Commissioner, the National Electoral Commission and the Data Protection Authority.

Stefanía said the group could direct reports to the appropriate institution if they fell under another organisation’s remit. She added that complaints about promotional material from the National Electoral Commission had not been raised or discussed within the group.

Claims made by both sides

Both the pro and anti European Union camps have accused each other of spreading disinformation during the referendum campaign.

One recent case involved a video produced by the organisation Sjá. In the video, Margrét Rós Sigurjónsdóttir compared interest-rate conditions in Sweden and Iceland and said that the Swedish krona was linked to the euro. The video has not been removed. Margrét Rós later explained that she meant the krona was effectively linked to the euro because of the volume of trade between Sweden and the European Union.

Sjá previously removed another video after criticism of a comparison between the number of litres of milk that could be bought with minimum wages in Iceland and Sweden. The video used a milk price in Iceland that was about 60 percent higher than the actual price.

Another example involved Áfram Ísland, which removed a video claiming that Iceland’s president would effectively lose the power to refer legislation to a referendum if Iceland joined the European Union. Under Iceland’s Constitution, the president can currently refuse to sign legislation and refer it to a national referendum. The article states that this power would otherwise continue to apply to legislation passed by Alþingi, while European Union rules would take effect in Iceland when published there, as elsewhere in the European Union, without the involvement of Iceland’s parliament or president.