Ukraine Says Big Tech has Dropped the Ball on Russian Propaganda (msn.com) 150
The Washington Post reports:
In the frantic first weeks of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. tech companies that control the world's largest information hubs sprang into action. Responding to pressure from Western governments, social media apps such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube banned or throttled Russian state media accounts, beefed up their fact-checking operations, curtailed ad sales in Russia and opened direct lines to Ukrainian officials, inviting them to flag Russian disinformation and propaganda to be taken down.
As the war grinds toward its sixth month, however, Russian propaganda techniques have evolved — and the tech firms haven't kept up.
Ukrainian officials who have flagged thousands of tweets, YouTube videos and other social media posts as Russian propaganda or anti-Ukrainian hate speech say the companies have grown less responsive to their requests to remove such content. New research shared with The Washington Post by a Europe-based nonprofit initiative confirms that many of those requests seem to be going unheeded, with accounts parroting Kremlin talking points, spewing anti-Ukrainian slurs or even impersonating Ukrainian officials remaining active on major social networks. As a result, researchers say, Kremlin-backed narratives are once again propagating across Europe, threatening to undermine popular support for Ukraine in countries that it views as critical to its defense....
With big state media accounts suspended or muffled, researchers say Russian leaders and influencers have shifted to the semiprivate messaging app Telegram to direct information campaigns via swarms of smaller accounts.
The Post reports that Google-owned YouTube hasn't returned emails for almost two months, according to the deputy head of the Ukrainian government's Strategic Communications and Information Security center. And the Post notes that researchers found LinkedIn "removed fewer than half of the posts that Ukrainian officials flagged as examples of Russian propaganda justifying the war....
"On the positive side, the researchers found that Facebook had removed all 98 of the posts the Ukrainian government and its partners flagged as containing anti-Ukrainian hate speech, though many of the accounts responsible remained active."
As the war grinds toward its sixth month, however, Russian propaganda techniques have evolved — and the tech firms haven't kept up.
Ukrainian officials who have flagged thousands of tweets, YouTube videos and other social media posts as Russian propaganda or anti-Ukrainian hate speech say the companies have grown less responsive to their requests to remove such content. New research shared with The Washington Post by a Europe-based nonprofit initiative confirms that many of those requests seem to be going unheeded, with accounts parroting Kremlin talking points, spewing anti-Ukrainian slurs or even impersonating Ukrainian officials remaining active on major social networks. As a result, researchers say, Kremlin-backed narratives are once again propagating across Europe, threatening to undermine popular support for Ukraine in countries that it views as critical to its defense....
With big state media accounts suspended or muffled, researchers say Russian leaders and influencers have shifted to the semiprivate messaging app Telegram to direct information campaigns via swarms of smaller accounts.
The Post reports that Google-owned YouTube hasn't returned emails for almost two months, according to the deputy head of the Ukrainian government's Strategic Communications and Information Security center. And the Post notes that researchers found LinkedIn "removed fewer than half of the posts that Ukrainian officials flagged as examples of Russian propaganda justifying the war....
"On the positive side, the researchers found that Facebook had removed all 98 of the posts the Ukrainian government and its partners flagged as containing anti-Ukrainian hate speech, though many of the accounts responsible remained active."
They didn't drop the ball (Score:5, Insightful)
I've said this before but what makes corporations so terrifying is how corporate bureaucracy creates a whole bunch of little evil decisions that individually don't seem that bad which add up to utterly horrifying decisions.
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The whole problem in the end is that in corporations no one's actually practically responsible for "the end product". CEOs technically should be, but really really aren't.
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The key problem is that corporations are intelligence without any kind of conscience. You can outsource your conscience because "if I don't do it, someone else does" plus "I have to do it, I have a responsibility". At the same time, acting without any sense of responsibilty beyond the bottom line is considered a good thing and leads to promotions and bonuses.
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They have any aside of that? Outside of those that are forced upon them by the law, that is.
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Nah, it's just business as usual for modern media. They exploit and plaster everything with news about a topic for a while then it just seem like everybody forgot about it. Then they just move to the next big thing.
How many times have you seen the same thing over and over for a week or a month on news platforms without ever seeing a follow up afterwards?
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kinda like how those "migrant caravans" seem to only start travelling when we get close to november every 2 years...
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How many times have you seen the same thing over and over for a week or a month on news platforms without ever seeing a follow up afterwards?
Not often since Paul Harvey's show. P.T Barnum said "You can fool some of the People all of the time, all of the People some of the time, but you can't fool all of the People all of the time"; seems to me that the news media has figured out you just have to fool enough of the People, enough of the time and shout squirrel if they start thinking too much. Often it's not what they publish as much as it's what they don't that tells you the most.
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When you hear "the media isn't talking about x" you can all but guarantee that x is a load of horse shit. What they don't publish, they don't publish because it's not worth publishing.
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And Hunter Biden's laptop was nothing. Just like the Venezuelan connection to voting machines was nothing. Just like Pizzagate was nothing.
At some point, you have to stop believing your own fever dreams and listen to people who know what they're talking about.
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There's not much to cover in a grinding war of attrition. The biggest win for Russia so far is that all of the "never
Re: They didn't drop the ball (Score:2)
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Nice try defending Russia invading and screwing over what was a promising up-and-coming country just because the little sawed-off runt running the joint wanted be known as Asshole the Great.
I presume the picture of the little girl with Down's Syndrome blasted by a Russian cruise missile fired on a defenseless city civilians is something you can use to damn the West.
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Where was the OP defending Russia?
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Very sorry to hear of your and your sister's loss.
Thoughts and prayers.
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Sending them money and weapons is the only way to help them. Sending soldiers over won't help.
br/. Dipshit.
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Were those who opposed US involvement in Vietnam Pro-Pol pot?
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Pol-Pot is Cambodian.
,,, and his regime was overthrown by Vietnam.
Re: Or in other words (Score:2)
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That is a better way to help Ukraine than going over there. Why the hell would I choose the LESS EFFECTIVE option?
Fucking hell you're retarded.
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You're arguing with rsilvergun's stalker. He's a known right-wing troll. Just ignore him.
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Please go kill yourself. You can end your obvious depression. Go free.
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Another day, another shill account. I was already worried about you, didn't see you for a while.
Re: Or in other words (Score:2)
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Ever occur to you that there may be no good guys in this conflict?
Yes, Putin is a thug, nobody has denied that. But Zelensky is not exactly Winston Churchill. Zelensky eliminated all political parties except his own. Zelensky also eliminated all news agencies, except the one controlled by his government. Zelensky is also far more wealthy than his meager salary would justify. Ukrain is also filled with true Nazis.
Are there US funded biolabs in Ukraine?
Re: Or in other words (Score:1)
Winston Churchill was no saint either. He is personally responsible for death of millions and stomped on the opposition by calling them sociolists who want to squander Britain's plunder received as inheritance.
Zelensky is an idiot. The only reason we hear about Ukraine is because the people are "white skinned blue eyed". The only justice for USA is if some Nazi leader like Osama comes and trains some Ukrainians to suicide bomb some other tower.
What a sad and hateful world.
Re: Or in other words (Score:2)
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Yes, with the end of the Cold War in the 90s, the USA has spent more and more time making rules for the rest of the world to follow: Such as pharmaceuticals (Pseudoephedrine as a controlled substance), child sexual-abuse(re-defining 'kiddie porn'), international aviation (winning the war on 'terror'). Yes, there needs to be rules but the US policy of "my culture is right and you're culture is wrong" is imperialism and authoritarianism.
private wealth != government (Score:3)
Don't like the decisions private wealth makes? Stop electing people who believe business should control government and not the other way around.
Re:private wealth != government (Score:5, Informative)
It sounds like someone's complaining that big tech is acting like a business.
Nah, more like calling out companies on their bullshit pretending to care.
Big Tech: "We stand with Ukraine!"
Ukraine: "Block these guys spreading propaganda and hate:"
Big Tech: "We... err... will... are... experiencing technical difficulties updating our filters right now but we'll get onto it soon our dearest Ukrainian friends with whom we stand!"
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Honest question: has Ukraine been 100% honest since the beginning of the hostilities? If Ukraine is allowed to spew BS, then why not Russia?
Also, honest question, how do you know what is true, and what is not? How do you know anything more than what Russian/Ukrainian/USA sources tell you?
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Honest question: has Ukraine been 100% honest since the beginning of the hostilities?
Of course not.
If Ukraine is allowed to spew BS, then why not Russia?
I think you don't understand the nature of propaganda or geopolitical politics. There is no such thing as neutral in the eyes of anyone. Neutral means you support someone else enough not to care about our cause. In war and politics a side is chosen and the message is supported. This isn't new to tech, this is how things have happened for well over 100 years.
If you want to claim you support Ukraine but then don't carry their messages, then you're a hypocrite, the honesty of the message is irrel
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What you have there in terms of logic is a failure of relevance. Pick some conflict of the world not concerning the U.S., and then accuse the U.S. of supporting it. Do you think before you write this crap?
Seriously government censorship? (Score:2)
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This wouldn’t be okay for even the US government to do
The US government works closely with social media to get certain posts removed.
What is okay or not is entirely up to the social media owners themselves to decide. Not for you. If you support freedom of speech then you have to support the freedom of Youtube to take down anything anyone regardless of who they may be based on Youtube's own judgement.
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Truth isn't their model. (Score:2)
Ukraine is finding out that the truth is not what "Big Tech" strives for, it's engagement at any cost. Engagement translates into more advertisements served which translates into profit. All the large tech companies are yoked themselves to be slaves to the whims of shareholders and as a result, nothing is more important than profit. Seriously, they would be pushing Russian propaganda themselves if they thought it would increase profits.
Publicly traded corporations embody many of the Rules of Acquisition [fandom.com].
Blame the people (Score:2)
Was it the big tech/media or was it that people in general stopped giving a shit? The next shiny thing distracted everyone and now they are like, we don't give a shit. It's not big tech, it's not media. Big tech and media are vultures, if the general public wanted to be hammered daily with Ukraine v. Russia .. they'd gladly oblige. At this point though, humans with their intrinsic ADHD have moved on to the next shiny thing.
Next Shiny Thing (Score:1)
At this point though, humans with their intrinsic ADHD have moved on to the next shiny thing.
It's not that people have ADHD. It's that government manufactures the next shiny thing to be distracted by, and then has big tech push the hell out of it, including how you should think about it. You can't really blame the majority of the populace for falling prey to what is essentially a giant refined group mind control system.
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Because conquering democracies so that you can recreate an empire is bad. And when countries do so, they make life here in America worse, because the world got all connected starting in the 1950s.
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Because if China sees that Russia gets away with this shit, Taiwan is next. And that means that China then controls microcontroller tech to about 100%. Plus, the US will not stand by and let that happen because right now, they can still control China's access to the Pacific, something that's history after they cash in Taiwan.
And then it IS your problem, GI boy.
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Our leaders? Please, don't attribute to politics that can be accomplished by the economy. It's not like congress told US corporations that they should ship manufacturing overseas.
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The "why should I give a shit" argument could apply to being a bystander. Remember, the cops in Uvalde were like "why should I give a shit, none of mines is in there."
I am not saying we should be involved in Ukraine, I am saying "I lack empathy" is not a good argument.
Even /. is not free of Russian propaganda: (Score:1)
Some, but not all moderated down to -1:
https://slashdot.org/comments.... [slashdot.org]
https://slashdot.org/comments.... [slashdot.org]
https://slashdot.org/comments.... [slashdot.org]
https://slashdot.org/comments.... [slashdot.org]
https://slashdot.org/comments.... [slashdot.org]
Re: Even /. is not free of Russian propaganda: (Score:2)
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Started 2011 when hillary clinton began Ukraine destabilisation operation.
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Re: Even /. is not free of Russian propaganda: (Score:2)
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But it's not rsilvergun, though, is it.
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Anon is strawpuppet account eh
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dude literally says stop buying Russian stuff and you call him Ivan... *smh*
Russian propaganda (Score:2)
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While I can understand Ukrainian position - they are at war with Russia and fighting for survival - the same is not true for the rest of the West. As such, censoring of Russian propaganda is simply incompatible with our values - key one is being freedom of speech.
You might be surprised to find out that most if not all of the EU has nothing like the American freedom of speech protection. I think the UK does but that's about it. They also are no longer in the EU. In France, for example, people are always facing serious criminal charges and time in prison for saying things like they don't like Muslims very much.
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And for general info on hate speech see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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Russia Today, the Russian TV propaganda channel has been removed from Australia and banned by EU, Canada, Germany, Gibraltar, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, and UK but not the US. The reason for EU's ban is "They are not independent media, they are assets, they are weapons, in the Kremlin's manipulation ecosystem,"
Re: Russian propaganda (Score:2)
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People who state the facts about the situation are called "Russian trolls" even here, the USA government and media made a propaganda blitz to garner support for tens of billions in aide. Such people are ignorant of all the western failures that lead to this disaster. But let's skip all that and go to the present:
The truth is after the attempt to take whole country, Russia is succeeding in its original goal to get the remaining two out of three territories in east Ukraine. With that Russia gets the resour
Only one side's propaganda allowed (Score:2)
let's face it - what we have is not stopping of propaganda, just ensuring that we ONLY get to hear one side, propaganda or not.
Playing both sides (Score:2)
But you know, in the past the USA has certainly taken stronger action when others were oppressed.
Making deals as we watch Ukraine slowly die.
In recent history, a lot of people worldwide have criticized the USA's over the top involvement in "disputes". How do you like us now? I guess we're "winning"?
The Russians don't need access... (Score:1)
But (Score:2)
Big tech companies pulled into... (Score:2)
Big tech companies pulled into the wars in which the United States is neutral. With a more wired world it seems all wars are now local, not some war afar. And as a previous comment said, big tech companies (surprise, surprise) acting like a corporation only in the news media business.
An interesting, if morbid thought, is if big tech had been around in World War 2, before the United States got involved: Would the Americans be as neutral and isolationist?
Josh K.
social media (Score:1)
Bus Rental Dubai (Score:1)
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with accounts parroting Kremlin talking points,
... er, and? In the freedom loving world, that should be permitted.
What a mistake then to make these social media platforms off limits to ISIS and Al Quaeda to incessantly brag about their terror attacks and post images of hostages being burned alive. Yeesh, did the doctor drop you on the floor when you were born?
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with accounts parroting Kremlin talking points,
... er, and? In the freedom loving world, that should be permitted.
What a mistake then to make these social media platforms off limits to ISIS and Al Quaeda to incessantly brag about their terror attacks and post images of hostages being burned alive. Yeesh, did the doctor drop you on the floor when you were born?
Seriously? You want to forbid "parroting talking points"?
Did nazis give you a totalitarian implant when you were born?
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Russia can make its own propaganda medium. With blackjack and hookers, if they so please.
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I'm sorry, when did Ukraine invade another country again?
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I'm sorry, when did Ukraine invade another country again?
To summarize your position - pushing out propaganda is only acceptable unless you happen to invade other countries. Then it is moral imperative to censor such propaganda. Do I understand you correctly?
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Because profit comes before morals. Duh.
And yeah, the US has invaded a couple countries itself, allright, but there's still a bit of a difference. Wanton shelling of civilian dwellings for the sake of depopulating the area, hijacking kids and general plundering by the average GI is not exactly the staple of US warfare.
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So Ukraine blew up its own shopping malls?
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If you're deliberately using unguided missile systems with a spread that makes the average artillery look like pinpoint sniping, and you target civilian infrastructure, you pretty much know that you will hit civilians.
But hey, if you want to hang Dubja next to Putin, you sure won't hear any complaints from me.
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If you're deliberately using unguided missile systems with a spread that makes the average artillery look like pinpoint sniping, and you target civilian infrastructure, you pretty much know that you will hit civilians.
That doesn't mean that their goal was to hit civilians. And I hope you are not going to tell me the Americans didn't know that some number of civilians would die because of American artillery and air strikes and chemical spraying? Look at the results of American air strikes on Raqqa while civilians were still there. 80% of the city was destroyed
https://www.newyorker.com/maga... [newyorker.com]
all is collateral damage according to the US
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Whataboutism, really?
But hey, as far as I am concerned, like I said, hang them next to each other. As long as you string them up.
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the first one is atrocity propaganda by Ukraine
the second one is untrue
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If you really can't see any difference between the US and Russia invading a country, I wish you a Russian invasion so you finally know it.
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We can't even clamp down on ANTIFA at home.
No one gives a shit about ANTIFA. It's just another Fox distraction. Replace the word "can't" with the word "won't".
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ANTIFA is about 100 guys with black clothes.
According to Andy Ngo, there are less than 1000 Antifa members in total. Yet, they have disproportionate influence on the Left.
Re:We're busy (Score:4, Informative)
They have NO influence on the left. The left never, ever talks about them. Only the right ever talks about them.
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They have NO influence on the left. The left never, ever talks about them. Only the right ever talks about them.
This is outright bullshit. Even middling careerist liberals have gone to great lengths to shield Antifa from any consequences of their actions ("Antifa isn't people, it's an ideal!"- Nancy Pelosi)
Antifa are shock troops, and while the majority of the Left wouldn't do what they do, it's pretty obvious they're sympathetic to their aims.
Re: We're busy (Score:3)
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well yeah, we don't have "liberals" we have a weird "progressive liberal" aka libtard. They are pro war, pro big corporation of their lobbies, against free speech and questioning of their ideas, pro hive mind, racist and bigoted against certain demographics, live a life of affluence while getting donations from supporters told to live in austerity, pro lawlessness by certain demographics since it bolsters their voter base.
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but these politicians and bureaucrats going along with Biden identify as such, and and make token gestures and noises about being progressive and liberal. Hence the label "libtard" is good for them.
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Andy Ngo is the worst fiction writer in Portland.
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> Right wing terrorists kill people regularly.
Examples?
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