1/20 In todays SALO we will talk about social media manipulation. We all know about bots but Russia has more tricks up its sleeve. I will give a few examples on how Russia deploys strategies that are less talked about.
2/20 Let’s start with INTERPALS, this social media website is themed around language exchange and building international friendships. With 6.8 million users it’s not the biggest of platforms but it does have some reach in the social media landscape.
3/20 The invasion started, Ukrainian profiles and pro Ukrainian voices were silenced or banned. A Putin clown avatar or 'Puck Footin' was enough. An agile redditor noticed the pattern that emerged...
4/20 It became apparent that Interpals was far from neutral on the matter. Pro Russian voices were quite unrestricted in spreading hate, even after being reported. As another reddit member noticed....
5/20 Interpals became a bit like that good old Animal Farm novel. “We’re all equal but some are more equal than others.” Maybe the fact that its owner Antonio Lupher has studied in Russia and did an internship at a Russian newspaper has something to do with it?
6/20 The significane of this policy can’t be underestimated. The site leaves every room to do war promotion from the Russian side influencing an international public, often less knowledagble about the subject. Moreover; excluding Ukrainians from the same rights is even worse...
7/20 The art of duplication is often used on twitter. While not always super succesful it’s a low efort strategy that can pay off. The Putin regime also uses this trick at elections, putting clones on the ballet that stir up confusion.
8/20 Dutch account @oorlog_monitor has been quite effective debunking Russian propaganda. One can’t get a bigger compliment than when the Z side tries to mimic your name in a desperate ploy to redirect the traffic from that profile.
9/20 Telegram is another place we can find Russian propaganda. I am not even talking about Russian Z bloggers. Russia also has active campaigns to manipulate minorities. The ethnic Hungarians within the Ukrainian territory were recentlly targetted to ‘leave Ukraine’....
10/20 But no it weren’t those 'horrible Ukrainian nationalists' as the Kremlin likes you to believe. When the ip-adresses match with Kazachstan and Bosnia the false flag becomes apparent. Stirring up those minorities against their own Ukrainian government has bigger meaning..
11/20 The effect? It breaks morale for those that have to enlist from those areas. Moreover people will become more sympathetic towards Hungarian far right nationalists like Mi Hazank. They plead to get the ‘lost territories’ reunited with the Hungarian ‘homeland'.
12/20 Another popular propaganda venue for Russia are the Reddit Forums. Reddit can be seen as a patchwork of all kinds of forums. They vary from hobbies, sports, history, politics to any other topic that can gather a crowd talking. It ranks spot 18 in most valuable websites.
13/20 On reddit we can find communist sub r/thedeporgram that in general is a very ‘anti globalism’, ‘anti NATO’ and ‘anti West’ leaning sub. The USSR past is showcased postively. The community gives no agency to the Soviet responsibility in the Holodomor.
14/20 The Deprogram currently uses an autobot (automaticly being triggered when the word gets mentioned) giving its own version of events. It's actively advocating the USSR didn't commit any genocide.
15/20 In 2022 Germany acknowledged the Ukrainian Holodmor as a genocide towards the Ukrainians. The Germans took it one step further making it a crime to deny to Holodomor as a genocide.
16/20 Quite recently social media need to abide by the rules of the EU considering the spread of desinformation (DSA). You might have noticed an extra reporting button on twitter. It also means communities like TheDeprogram need to abide by German law.
17/20 The DSA is a tool that can now be used against disinformation. support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/reque…
18/20 More on Mi Hazank mentioned in (10) can be read here: threadreaderapp.com/thread/1761731…
19/20 FOOTNOTE I: The accusations on interpals might seem strong, every social website has it rotten apples afterall. Yet after having talked to 30 Ukrainian (ex) members and several Pro Ukrainian voices there I think it is a stern but just conclusion.
20/20 There are more articles like this here: I got shadowbanned for no reason. If you like something please share as it is the only way for more people to see it. Thanks to everyone doing that in the past. :)threadreaderapp.com/user/SLAVAUA20…
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