AI image with Donald Trump in the Oval Office with European leaders, in front of a map where the North American flag covers not only the USA, but also Canada, Greenland and Venezuela
It’s no longer about fighting Russian trolls trying to hack the system. Danish territory is vulnerable to the power exercised by the North American administration in digital media, and to disinformation launched by the most powerful politician in the Western world.
The President of the United States appears to have given up on threats to take Greenland by force, but in the digital world war is raging. just starting.
In January, Donald Trump shocked Europe against countries that supported Greenland, reaffirming its right to own Greenlandan autonomous territory of the Danish kingdom.
Although the intensity of these threats has diminished for nowDanish and European officials say that the small island remains vulnerable to the power exercised by the North American administration in digital media.
According to , with a population of 60,000 inhabitantsthe smallest drop of misinformation can spread quickly, and significantly affect public opinion in the country — especially when the false narrative does not come from anonymous Russian trolls, but of the most powerful politician in the western world.
“Greenland is target of influencer campaigns of various types,” the Minister of Justice told Politico Peter Hummelgaard. “One of the objectives of these campaigns is “create division in the relationship between Denmark and Greenland“.
Second Thomas Hedindirector of Danish fact-checker TjekDet, last year misinformation has increased in Greenland.
Although the flow has lacked a “structured campaign“, including from Russia, Hedin cited as an example of disinformation the idea that the U.S. could buy Greenlanda message repeated by Trump but which is impossible under the Danish Constitutionknee Hedin.
The fact that Greenland is not part of the EU means that the European law which requires social media platforms to consider and mitigate misinformation threats to civic discourse, does not apply to Greenland.
Although polls show that Greenlanders still support integration with Europe, the German Green MEP Sergey Lagodinsky stated that the EU needs to prepare for a “new type of hybrid confrontation” around the island.
“It’s no longer about fighting Russian trolls trying to hack the system. If targeted at the EU and Greenland, disinformation campaigns on North American platforms become the system itself“, diz Lagodinsky.
A relationship between Denmark and Greenland is particularly conducive to exploration, says Signe Ravn-Højgaardco-founder and executive director of the Denmark-based Digital Infrastructure Think Tank, which conducted an analysis of the misinformation landscape in Greenland.
With a population the size of a Brussels municipality, news travels quickly in Greenland and there are few media outlets capable of deny information. “Most people depend on Facebook, and with just a few sharesfalse news can reach the entire population”, says Signe Ravn-Højgaard.
“It’s completely different to how it is in Denmark“, he adds. In a city of 20,000 people, if 5,000 people believe something false, “it does not represent a danger to Danish democracy.” But in Greenland, “this, firstly, would spread quickly to everyone and, secondly, it represents a large percentage of the population”, he said.
Although Denmark have no legal obligation of enforcing the European Union Digital Services Act on Greenlandic territory, several MEPs say that this should change.
In addition to getting platforms to make changes to their systems, the law could also help bring transparency to the digital ecosystem. The Digital Services Act requires platforms to be transparent about paid advertising and data, something Greenland lacks, says Ravn-Højgaard.
