This Week in Misinformation: Russia Losing the Information War, Platforms' Putin Crackdown, AOC v. Fact Checks, Convoy At Sea
3 March 2022
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Reliability scores for media outlets cited in the summary are in parentheses for each, courtesy of the terrific folks at Ad Fontes Media.
Now, on to our top three stories.
In Russia’s war against Ukraine, Moscow is struggling on the information front.
Among those in the West who make important decisions, no one is picking up what Putin is putting down (Time, 43.28), so sanctions and lethal aid to Ukraine flowed swiftly this week. Fact-checkers around the world have rallied to push back against against Kremlin disinformation (Poynter, 41.01).
Among the people who live in Putin’s Russia, too, the justifications he has given appear to be largely unconvincing--even if Russia doesn’t broadcast the protests on its television stations (CNN, 42.93). The soldiers Putin has sent to invade, themselves targets of years of false propaganda, have been confused at the reality they are confronting in Ukraine (@zoyashef via Twitter). Seeking to reassert control of the flow of information at home, Russian authorities shut down independent media outlets (France 24, -) and lawmakers are looking to make “disinformation” about the war a crime carrying heavy punishment (Wall Street Journal, 46.01).
Ukraine has maintained the upper hand in the information tussle (Washington Post, 43.30), though at times by sacrificing the truth itself (The Nation, -). President Zelenskyy, for example, wrongly asserted that the plucky Snake Island defenders were all killed after defying a Russian warship, but we later learned they are all still alive and well (People, -). Moscow, perhaps taking note of Kyiv’s success at controlling the narrative, targeted the Ukrainian capital’s television broadcast tower (VICE, 41.49);
There are elements of U.S. society, though, particularly the conspiracy theory set, who are all in for Russia and repeat its disinformation.
Some extremists, especially in pro-authoritarian right-wing conspiracy fringes including QAnon, have taken a shine to dictator Vlad Putin and praised his invasion of Ukraine (VICE, 41.49).
One reason? They think, wrongly, that there are U.S. bioweapon laboratories in Ukraine and the invasion is a cover for Putin to deal a setback to the Deep State by destroying them (Foreign Policy, 42.69).
Putin’s insistence on unprovoked war has also prompted harsh responses from Silicon Valley that are impairing Russia’s propaganda machine.
Russia’s “media war” played out with social media platforms, regulators, and business partners in the U.S. (Nieman Lab, -) in parallel with the military adventure on the ground. Generally, this week was a bad one for the Kremlin’s reach in the West and around the world, especially via its online operations (Axios, 45.61). This may be just the beginning of Big Tech pushback on Russian disinformation (Bloomberg, 45.75).
Zooming in, Meta restricted Russian state media on Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram (Variety, 41.74) and stopped recommending Russian state media globally through Facebook’s algorithm (The Verge, 44.19). TikTok joined in for the same (Wall Street Journal, 46.01). YouTube banned Russian media outlets across Europe (Politico, 43.33) and blocked advertising from Russian state-owned media (New York Times, 44.37). DirecTV dropped RT America (Axios, 45.61), and perhaps not by coincidence RT laid off almost all its workforce producing content for the American audience (CNN, 42.93).
After losing an ultimatum with the tech giant, Russia retaliated by restricting Facebook access within its borders (Reuters, 48.12). Meanwhile Facebook and Twitter removed disinformation accounts targeting Ukrainians (NBC News, 45.79).
An interesting thing happened with Twitter, too. Yes, Russia blocked Twitter (VICE, 41.49), and Twitter began marking tweets with links to Russian state-backed media and limiting their reach (TechCrunch, 46.27). But some on Twitter felt that U.S. moves to freeze Russian assets had noticeably changed the tone of the platform, while others were skeptical because the change was not quantified and could be explained in other ways.
Finally, what a splendid grab bag we’ve got for you folks: AOC dunks a NYT fact check on Biden’s SOTU speech; the Kennedy clan is getting sick of RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine bit; Arizona Senate censures Wendy Rogers; court filing released on QAnon Surfer Dad; media run with, then correct, a wrong translation of Russia’s UN ambassador; January 6th Committee subpoenas Trump lawyers, Trump’s son’s fiancée; one Oath Keeper pleads guilty to sedition; Trump broke the law by attempting to obstruct Congress; trucker convoy seems jealous (?) of Russia’s Ukraine war; and a warmup trucker event in D.C. is a bust.
That, and a lot more, below. This is This Week in Misinformation.
-- Kevin