{"id":3936,"date":"2025-08-14T18:25:26","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T18:25:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/becid.ut.ee\/?page_id=3936"},"modified":"2025-08-15T10:26:58","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T10:26:58","slug":"hot-report-defamation-through-disinformation-and-digital-reputation-washing-via-google","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/becid.ut.ee\/lt\/hot-report-defamation-through-disinformation-and-digital-reputation-washing-via-google\/","title":{"rendered":"HOT REPORT: Defamation Through Disinformation and \u201cDigital Reputation Washing\u201d via Google"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"724\" src=\"https:\/\/becid.ut.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/HOT-REPORT-JUNE-2025-thumbnail-A2-Landscape-1-1-1024x724.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3963\" srcset=\"https:\/\/becid.ut.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/HOT-REPORT-JUNE-2025-thumbnail-A2-Landscape-1-1-1024x724.png 1024w, https:\/\/becid.ut.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/HOT-REPORT-JUNE-2025-thumbnail-A2-Landscape-1-1-300x212.png 300w, https:\/\/becid.ut.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/HOT-REPORT-JUNE-2025-thumbnail-A2-Landscape-1-1-768x543.png 768w, https:\/\/becid.ut.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/HOT-REPORT-JUNE-2025-thumbnail-A2-Landscape-1-1-1536x1086.png 1536w, https:\/\/becid.ut.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/HOT-REPORT-JUNE-2025-thumbnail-A2-Landscape-1-1-2048x1448.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This report examines a growing form of disinformation targeting individuals in Estonia and beyond: defamatory campaigns that exploit Google\u2019s search engine to spread false accusations while suppressing legitimate journalism. The practice \u2013 often described as <mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#ffcd05\" class=\"has-inline-color\">\u201cdigital reputation washing\u201d<\/mark> \u2013 uses fabricated copyright complaints and imitation news sites to both discredit innocent people and conceal the activities of disinformation actors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The findings highlight how these coordinated efforts undermine trust in search engines, exploit platform vulnerabilities, and inflict real reputational and professional harm. With links to previously identified pro-Kremlin influence operations, the campaigns represent a broader threat to the integrity of the information space and the safety of democratic societies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This report is a deliverable of the EU-funded project (ID 101226242) coordinated by Re:Baltica, and is based on original investigative work published by <em>Eesti Ekspress (Delfi Meedia)<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/becid.ut.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/HOT-REPORT.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"HOT REPORT \u012fterpimas.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-f54d84d3-8a0a-4ad3-ab3a-d1c5e426eacc\" href=\"https:\/\/becid.ut.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/HOT-REPORT.pdf\">HOT REPORT<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/becid.ut.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/HOT-REPORT.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-f54d84d3-8a0a-4ad3-ab3a-d1c5e426eacc\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This report examines a growing form of disinformation targeting individuals in Estonia and beyond: defamatory campaigns that exploit Google\u2019s search engine to spread false accusations while suppressing legitimate journalism. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":""},"class_list":["post-3936","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"ticketed":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/becid.ut.ee\/lt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/becid.ut.ee\/lt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/becid.ut.ee\/lt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/becid.ut.ee\/lt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/becid.ut.ee\/lt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3936"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/becid.ut.ee\/lt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3975,"href":"https:\/\/becid.ut.ee\/lt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3936\/revisions\/3975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/becid.ut.ee\/lt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}