This Week in Misinformation: Winning TikTok, Schwarzenegger Speaks, Zelenskyy Deepfake, DuckDuckOhNo, Honks in DC
17 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.
The White House and the Kremlin both agree: TikTok is a key battlespace in the information war.
On the one hand, President Biden’s press secretary hosted TikTok stars for an official U.S. Government briefing on Russia’s war in Ukraine (Washington Post, 43.30). Yes, this is an attempt to influence the influencers in favor of the U.S. point of view. But no, it isn’t at all surprising in light of the long history of administrations trying to keep up with the times.
On the other hand, Russian TikTok influencers are being paid, presumably by the Russian Government, to hammer on the messages that the Kremlin wants to prevail about its “special military operation” (VICE, 41.70). Writing for Media Matters (-), disinformation researcher and TikTok specialist Abbie Richards found that no fewer than 180 TikTok creators were involved in the campaign to promote Putin’s invasion.
After all, Gen Z isn't immune to misinformation (NBC News, 45.80), and wrong stuff about the war is running rampant on the platform (The Atlantic, 39.51). So this makes a lot of sense and everyone should take TikTok seriously.
The war took on new dimensions on Russia’s domestic airwaves, too.
The pullback by TikTok (Wall Street Journal, 45.36) and Russians’ loss of access to social generally is working in Putin’s favor (VICE, 41.70) in that he gains even more control over what his population sees about the war (@rafsanchez via Twitter). Notable in this regard: bodybuilder, movie star, and former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger made a direct appeal to Russians in a new video, in which he talks about his affinity for Russia, debunks all manner of Kremlin disinformation, and encourages Putin’s soldiers to avoid becoming a casualty of a senseless war (via Twitter).
There was also an incident. An executive at one of main Russia’s state-run television stations walked onto a live broadcast and managed to briefly transmit an anti-war, anti-propaganda message via handwritten placard before the feed cut away to prerecorded content (@KevinRothrock via Twitter). She had prepared a spoken statement in a separate video that was released after, explaining her opposition to the “fratricidal” war against Ukraine (@KevinRothrock via Twitter). The woman, Marina Osvyannikova, was briefly detained but quickly released with a fine (BBC, 46.16) and was allowed to talk to reporters outside the courtroom (@maryilyushina via Twitter).
There are reasons to be skeptical of the authenticity of this demonstration, given the realities of political expression in Russia, but Osvyannikova really did appear on air with the sign (Reuters, 48.08). Watch this space as we follow up on the story. Related, Axios (45.34) reported that other state TV journalists have been registering their frustration by simply resigning from the job.
The propaganda machine kept doing its thing against Ukraine all the while, including what might be the first confirmed deployment of a deepfake in wartime.
Maybe you’ve heard of the Uncanny Valley? Well, this manipulated video--purporting to be President Zelenskyy calling for Ukrainian soldiers to lay down arms--is deep along those creepy valley slopes. It wasn’t particularly convincing, it was quickly taken down from the website where it had been posted, and Facebook and YouTube removed it as well (CNN, 42.82). But it is important in two ways: 1) the Russians hacked a Ukrainian news website and posted the video there (NPR, 44.64), and 2) deepfakes have, to this point, not been weaponized in quite this way. We may be entering new territory, and my gut tells me we’re not ready for it.
Bioweapons labs, reprise: the thing is still 100% fake (BBC, 46.16), the Russians and conspiracy theorists in the U.S. (Institute for Strategic Dialogue, -) have continued helping one another boost it (Insider, 43.32), and the right wing of U.S. politics has been happy to amplify it to reach millions of Americans (NBC News, 45.80). After Tucker Carlson talked about it last week, Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger called his show evil and a willing participant in Russian propaganda (Newsweek, 38.40). In Russia, Mother Jones (39.14) reported that it had obtained a leaked Kremlin memo calling for more Tucker to be replayed in domestic media.
Just because it’s kind of related, there was a thing where Russia claimed the U.S. has trained birds to deliver Ukrainian bioweapons (VICE, 41.70)--creative--and Russia dropped some purported documents that, even if real, don’t substantiate the bioweapons claims being made (@joeabodnar via Twitter). Not for nothing, but a U.S. official also told ABC News (46.81) that Russia was bringing bio-chem weapon suits into Ukraine. I sincerely hope we never have to report on a WMD attack in Ukraine in this newsletter, but to be frank that might be the direction things are going.
Drumroll and… grab bag! QAnon reads all too much into Trump's strange way of pronouncing "China"; Far-right users of DuckDuckGo search are crestfallen; Russia’s infamous Internet Research Agency is behind some of the fake stuff about Ukraine; the ‘People’s Convoy’ splinters as some head into D.C. proper to honk; a large convoy chat group changes its name to “QAnon = QTruth”; and if Twitter mentions are to be believed, it has been a big two years for "misinformation."
That, and a lot more, below. This is This Week in Misinformation.
-- Kevin