War of words: information becomes a weapon in Ukraine

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, and the first to see TikTok videos posted alongside fighter jets and tanks.

The online fight unfolded on computer and mobile screens around the world, as Russia used disinformation, propaganda and conspiracy theories to justify its invasion, silence internal opposition and sow discord among his adversaries.

The war, which enters its second year this week, is likely to produce even more misinformation as Russia attempts to break the will of Ukraine and its allies.

“The natural question is ‘what’s next?’ We know Russia is preparing for a protracted conflict,” said Samantha Lewis, threat intelligence analyst at cybersecurity firm Recorded Future. “The Ukrainian fresco is almost certainly a key target for Russian psychological operations. the risk that the international (community) accommodates itself.”

Here is an overview of the war of disinformation waged by Russia since the beginning of the conflict:

DIVIDE AND YOU WILL WIN

Kremlin propaganda efforts against Ukraine began many years ago and intensified significantly in the months leading up to the invasion, said Ksenia Iliuk, a Ukrainian disinformation expert who has tracked disinformation operations. Russians.

Russia has tailored its messages to specific audiences in different parts of the world.

In Eastern Europe, Russia has spread unfounded rumors about Ukrainian refugees committing crimes or taking jobs from the local population. In Western Europe, the message was that corrupt Ukrainian leaders could not be trusted and that a long war could worsen or increase food and fuel prices.

In Latin America, Russian embassies broadcast messages in Spanish suggesting that the invasion of Ukraine was a fight against Western imperialism. Similar messages calling the United States hypocritical and belligerent have been broadcast in Asia, Africa and other parts of the world with a history of colonialism.

Russian news agencies have flooded Ukraine with propaganda accusing its army of weakness and its leadership of uselessness and corruption. But while the message was intended to reduce resistance to invaders, it had the opposite effect, Iliuk said.

“Russian propaganda has failed in Ukraine,” he said. “Russian propaganda and disinformation is indeed a threat and it can be very sophisticated. But it doesn’t always work. He doesn’t always find an audience.”

BLAME THE VICTIM

Many Russian fabrications attempt to justify the invasion or blame others for the atrocities committed by their forces.

After Russian soldiers tortured and executed civilians in Bucha last spring, images of charred corpses and people shot at close range horrified the world. However, Russian state television claimed the bodies were actors and the devastation was staged. Associated Press reporters saw the bodies for themselves.

Russia initially staged a missile attack on a train station in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, until reports of civilian casualties surfaced. Suddenly the Russian media insisted that the missile was not theirs.

“When they realized there were civilians killed and injured, they changed the message, trying to spread the idea that it was a Ukrainian missile,” said Roman Osadchuk, associate researcher at Digital Atlantic Council’s Forensic Research Lab, which monitors Russian disinformation. since before the start of the war.

One of the most popular conspiracy theories about the war also had help from Russia. The theory goes that the United States is operating a series of secret germ warfare laboratories in Ukraine that are dangerous enough to warrant a Russian invasion.

Like many conspiracy theories, the hoax is based on some truth. Washington has funded biological research in Ukraine, but the labs do not belong to the United States and their existence is far from a secret.

The project is part of the so-called Biological Threat Reduction Program, which attempts to reduce the likelihood of deadly disease outbreaks, both natural and induced. American efforts date back to the 1990s to dismantle the former Soviet Union’s weapons of mass destruction program.

A LONG HUNT

As European governments and US-based tech companies tried to silence Kremlin propaganda, Russia was finding new ways to spread its message.

Early in the war, Russia relied heavily on state media such as RT and Sputnik to spread pro-Russian arguments and misrepresentations about the conflict.

Platforms like Facebook and Twitter responded by adding hashtags to the accounts of Russian media and government officials. When the European Union called for a ban on Russian state media, YouTube responded by blocking RT and Sputnik channels. TikTok, owned by a Chinese company now based in Singapore, followed suit.

So Russia turned to its diplomats, who used their Twitter and Facebook accounts to spread lies about the war and Russian atrocities. Many platforms are reluctant to suspend or censor diplomatic accounts, giving ambassadors additional protection.

When its official media was muzzled, Russia expanded its use of networks of fake social media accounts. He also avoided bans on his accounts by removing features such as the RT logo from videos before reposting them.

Some efforts were sophisticated, such as a vast network of fake accounts linked to websites designed to look like real British and German media. Meta, the owner of Facebook, identified and removed this network from its platforms last fall.

Others were much more rudimentary, using easily identifiable fake accounts before they could even amass an audience.

ADVANCE THE ALLEGATIONS

Ukraine and its allies have won the first victories in the information war by predicting Russia’s next moves and making them public.

A few weeks before the war, US intelligence agents learned that Russia was planning an attack which it would attribute to Ukraine as a pretext for an invasion. Rather than keep the information secret, the government released it to thwart Russian plans.

By refuting Russian claims in advance, the United States and its allies were trying to reduce the impact of disinformation. A month later, the White House did it again by raising suspicions that Russia may be trying to pin down a chemical or biological attack on Ukraine.

The invasion has caused tech companies to seek new strategies. Google, owner of YouTube, has launched a pilot program in Eastern Europe designed to help people spot and avoid misinformation about refugees fleeing war. The initiative used short online videos that teach people how misinformation can fool the brain.

The project has been so successful that Google is currently planning a similar campaign in Germany.

Iliuk, the Ukrainian disinformation researcher, said she believed a year after the invasion began, there was greater awareness of the dangers posed by Russian disinformation and growing optimism about the possibility. to face it.

“It’s very difficult, especially when you hear the bombs outside your window,” he said. “There has been a huge revelation that this (Russian disinformation) is a threat. That it’s something that could literally kill us.”