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Although threats of force have subsided, Danish and European officials warn of US influence and disinformation on the autonomous island...
US President Donald Trump has backed down from his threat to take Greenland by force, but online the clash has only just begun.
The US president shocked Europe in January with threats of tariffs, linking them to his claim to the right to own Greenland, an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.
While the intensity of these threats has faded for the time being, Danish and European officials say the small island remains vulnerable to the power the US administration wields in the online space.
With a population of less than 60,000, even the smallest amount of misinformation can spread quickly and significantly influence public opinion, especially when the false narrative comes not from an anonymous Russian troll farm, but from the most powerful politician in the Western world.
"Greenland is the subject of various influence campaigns," Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard told Politico, adding that one of the goals of these campaigns is "to create divisions in the relationship between Denmark and Greenland."
Over the past year, disinformation has increased in Greenland, said Thomas Hedin, editor-in-chief of the Danish fact-checking platform TjekDet.
Although this increase has not taken the form of a "structured campaign", including from Russia, Hedin cited as an example of disinformation the idea that the US could buy Greenland, a message repeated by Trump, but which is impossible under the Danish Constitution.
The fact that Greenland is not part of the European Union means that EU social media law, which obliges platforms to assess and mitigate the risks of disinformation to civic debate, does not apply in Greenland, the Danish Ministry of Digitalization told Politico.
Meanwhile, polls show that Greenlanders continue to favor integration with Europe. However, German Green MEP Sergey Lagodinsky warned that the EU must prepare for a “new kind of hybrid confrontation” regarding the island.
"It's no longer about fighting Russian trolls trying to manipulate the system. If disinformation is directed at the EU and Greenland, campaigns on American platforms become the system itself," he said.
Favorable terrain for exploitation
The relationship between Denmark and Greenland is particularly well-suited to exploitation, said Signe Ravn-Højgaard, co-founder and executive director of the Digital Infrastructure Think Tank in Denmark, who has analyzed the disinformation landscape in Greenland.
With a population the size of a Brussels municipality, news travels fast in Greenland and there are few media outlets that can counter false information. Most people rely on Facebook, Ravn-Højgaard said. With just a few shares, a fake news story can reach the entire population.
“This is completely different from Denmark,” she said. In a town of 20,000, if 5,000 believe something untrue, “it’s not a threat to Danish democracy.” But in Greenland, this “spreads quickly to everyone and constitutes a very large percentage of the population.”
According to two researchers Politico spoke with, no organized foreign intervention campaigns have yet emerged in Greenland, but misinformation is spreading.
Two members of the Greenland government, Fisheries Minister Peter Borg and Labor Minister Aqqaluaq Egede, called on citizens on social media to "stand united" in the face of threats from the US.
European lawmakers have also raised the alarm. Green MEP Alexandra Geese said to expect “influence operations using advanced propaganda, as well as hate and harassment campaigns against political figures in Greenland and Denmark.”
Transparent
Although Denmark said it has no legal obligation to implement the EU's Digital Services Act in Greenland, some lawmakers say this should change.
Geese stated that the EU must enforce the law, "ensuring that algorithms respect the choices of users and not the interests of the same tech oligarchs who are investing in Greenland's minerals."
This is despite the fact that the European Commission has not yet concluded any of its investigations into the risks to elections and civic debate, even though it has opened proceedings against four platforms, including Meta's Facebook and Instagram, TikTok, and X.
In addition to changes to platform systems, the DSA could also help increase transparency in the online ecosystem. The law requires platforms to be transparent about paid advertising and data, something Greenland lacks, Ravn-Højgaard said.
She cited paid ads that appeared on Facebook ahead of the territory's March 2025 election, but were not available in the platform's transparency database.
Lagodinsky suggested that the EU create an “ad hoc expert group, focused specifically on Greenland.”
He added that Brussels should increase support for fact-checking networks and civil society organizations, just as it has in countries such as Moldova and Ukraine. /Adapted from Politico /
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