As war rages in Ukraine, a battle rages against Russian disinformation

As war rages in Ukraine, a battle rages against Russian disinformation.

But social media platforms are unprepared, said Courtney Radsch of the University of California, Los Angeles. “I think the content moderation policies are being created on the fly yet again.”

Even though the physical fighting is in Ukraine, the battlefields of the global information war are social media platforms, news sites and even app stores.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, social media users have been sharing images and stories of the conflict. Mixed in with the feed are coordinated disinformation and propaganda campaigns.

This weekend, Facebook and Twitter announced that they removed Russian disinformation networks, which had various accounts set up across other social media platforms.

Courtney Radsch is a fellow at the Institute for Technology, Law and Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles and a senior fellow at the Center for International Governance Innovation.

“We have seen Russia perform amazing feats of disinformation in terms of creating new accounts, networks that are comprised of both bots and actual supporters, the creation of narratives that really promote Russian superiority, diminish Ukraine and its president’s ability to defend itself, and lots of videos, including the use of humor to perpetuate pro-Russian narratives”.

“Russia has conducted an all-out information offensive, and it’s just blanketing Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Google with its disinformation and with its propaganda. But let’s remember, not everything is disinformation. Some of it is its, you know, very valid belief that it is in the right from its perspective. And so, you know, what you see is Russian propaganda spreading across social media networks and also demands of companies like the Apple Store or Netflix requiring them to carry Russian propaganda stations and Russian media outlets, which these companies are refusing to do at this point”, she added.

Meanwhile, Russia blocks access to Facebook and Twitter.

Move to block Facebook and Twitter comes as the government passed a bill the criminalizes ‘fake’ reports against the war

The bill, quickly rubber-stamped by both houses of the Kremlin-controlled parliament and signed by Putin, imposes prison sentences of up to 15 years for those spreading information that goes against the Russian government’s narrative on the war.

Source: Marketplace – an American radio program