Disinformation in Lithuania increasingly functions not as isolated misleading posts, but as a coordinated, cross-platform, and constantly evolving system. It spreads not only through individual messages, but also through recurring dissemination patterns and structural characteristics.

The Radio and Television Commission of Lithuania (LRTK), in cooperation with “Repsense,” conducted a study aimed at systematically identifying patterns of disinformation dissemination in Lithuania. The research shows that assessing the information space requires analyzing not only the content itself, but also the ways in which it is distributed.

Authentic online content typically reflects a diversity of opinions, uneven dissemination, and spontaneous reactions to current events. In contrast, disinformation campaigns are more often characterized by coordinated activity, structurally similar messaging, and targeted content distribution.

Key indicators that may reveal a disinformation campaign:

• Identical or highly similar texts appearing across different channels (“copy-paste” effect);
• The repeated use of the same narratives across multiple platforms;
• Content adapted to different platform formats while maintaining the same core message;
• Sudden and synchronized surges in comments or posts;
• Disproportionately dominant topics that do not reflect the actual context.

The study also found that disinformation campaigns frequently combine interconnected narratives, such as anti-government and pro-Russian messaging, or anti-Ukrainian and pro-Russian narratives. This points to coordinated strategies and deliberate information operations.

In addition, researchers observed that such campaigns are often adapted for different platforms while preserving the same core message, with dissemination taking place in stages through interconnected channels. Another common characteristic is that direct links to primary sources make up only a very small share of the content, while local or intermediary channels are used far more frequently.

The more of these indicators appear simultaneously, the greater the likelihood that the content is part of a coordinated disinformation campaign.

Disinformation can be identified not only by what is being said, but also by the way it spreads.