It's exceedingly effective.
I was talking politics with someone earlier today, on the topic of the new BRICS payment system, and the conversation went something like this:
Me: Countries should be able to trade in their own currencies, and no one country (USA or otherwise) should be able to declare unilateral sanctions and cause sabotage just because they want to.
Lib: Shouldn't USA be able to sanction Russia for its invasion of Ukraine?
Me: I don't think any country should be able to declare unilateral sanctions. On the other hand, if the global community wants to decide on sanctions together, that's another story. However, maybe the USA themselves should be sanctioned for their involvement in the 2014/2015 coup in Ukraine that started this whole mess.
Lib: Were those democratic protesters not legitimate?
Me: It was a far right, violet coup that overthrew a democratically elected government [Provides sourced examples of far-right violence during the coup, evidence it was a coup, and how it was clearly in the interests of Western governments]
Lib: [Provides Wikipedia links of the "Democratic mass movements in Ukraine"]
Me: Yes that is a textbook example of a CIA backed colour revolution.
Lib: That is Russian disinformation.
Why exactly does "disinformation" always have to come from "the other, evil foreign governments"? Why the fuck does Russia care what I think? Wouldn't it make a lot more fucking sense that our own government is trying to manipulate our understanding of the world?
I don't think I have ever once heard a lib use the term "American disinformation" or "misinformation from our own government" - it's always the evil Russians or Chinese. Of course reactionaries and chuds always cry foul at what the government says but it's only about dumb bullshit like vaccines and bike lanes.
The second any information runs contrary to the Libs heavily propagandised worldview it can immediately be dismissed as "foreign propaganda" - no matter how thoroughly sourced or researched or documented. It's just an immediate off switch for both the conversation and their brain. And, conveniently, they have handy NATOpedia articles to counter with.
Anyway, thanks for coming to my TED Talk. Don't forget to like and subscribe.
Free Palestine 🇵🇸
At this point “Russian disinformation” is just a shorthand for “foreign lies”. Even though disinformation tends to be more subtle and complicated than just telling lies. At best, libs have heard the thing about “nothing is true and everything is possible” and just been like, “yup, this is how I feel” even though it’s generally capitalist social media making them feel like that