WHEREVER one sits on the political spectrum, the information explosion brought about by the internet and social media brings with it real challenges about what to believe and what not to believe. We are using the word “information” here in its loosest sense. Some of what we read informs. Some misinforms.

When we consider Russia, perhaps a large part of our thinking is informed by the days of the Cold War and Pravda. Happy days? Not by a long chalk. But infinitely less complex than today. While it is always easy to consider Vladimir Putin’s Russia in the most sinister light, only the most naive would deny it has recognised the value of new media as a propaganda tool.

But, nowadays, it is not even as straightforward as that. One expert at the Scottish Parliament’s Cross Party Group on Russia has noted that, far from simply exporting an ideology or world-view, Moscow is deploying a range of outlets aimed simply at stirring up trouble and, presumably, undermining the West.

These media include the up-front and quite professional web and broadcasting outlets of Russia Today and Sputnik (which, last year, opened an office in Edinburgh); troll factories, in which operatives in shifts work social media; and fake news websites.

An essential part of their modus operandi appears to be stirring up nationalist sentiment, at least in its right-wing guise. Thus, Donald Trump in the US, Marine Le Pen in France, and the far right in Germany may have benefited from their efforts.

In Europe, Brexit and its various continental counterparts have been seen as the main tool of disruption, which may at least have had the effect of taking the Scottish National Party off the list of perceived “useful idiots”, so to speak. When seen as fomenting the break-up of the United Kingdom, the SNP was much more flavour of the month.

But the party’s staunch pro-EU stance, and its much more moderate approach to politics generally, might make it now more of an enemy than a useful if unwitting ally. Undermining the EU is a much bigger prize and, with Nicola Sturgeon something of a heroine in Brussels, the propaganda focus as far as Scotland is concerned could be about to turn against independence. So runs some well-informed speculation.

To its credit, even when Russian state media outlets came on friendly, the SNP (with one or two exceptions) wisely kept its distance. Some of its supporters, particularly on the fringes – as well as those on the extremes of other parties – complain about the “mainstream media”, seeing it as deploying malicious propaganda through its own nefarious means.

But, odd though it may sound to say so, the mainstream media isn’t at the races when it comes to this sort of thing, and The Herald for its part must surely have missed the memo. Our simple, if old-fashioned and worthy, interest remains the truth and nothing but.

Hence our support for a Fighting Fake News campaign launched recently. The sad fact is that vigilance is required, particularly online. The truth may well be out there, but falsehoods also abound.