Washington Post: Ukraine issues stamp commemorating sinking of Russian warship. “The previous set of six stamps featured a Ukrainian service member making a rude hand gesture at a Russian warship from the shore. The latest set includes three of those same stamps as well as three modified stamps showing the service member still standing, but not the ship.”
CyberScoop: Network of hyperlocal Russian Telegram channels spew disinformation in occupied Ukraine. “The Russian disinformation effort in Ukraine is so extensive that it now includes a hyperlocal Telegram network which spews disinformation customized to resonate in individual towns across occupied Ukraine, according to recent research published by the Ukrainian think tank Detector Media.”
The Guardian: YouTube removes more than 9,000 channels relating to Ukraine war. “YouTube has taken down more than 70,000 videos and 9,000 channels related to the war in Ukraine for violating content guidelines, including removal of videos that referred to the invasion as a ‘liberation mission’.”
WIRED: Volodymyr Zelensky and the Art of the War Story. “A culture has no budget, no government, no army. It collects no taxes; it has no CEO, bible, or headquarters. If it can’t be precisely identified, how can a nation’s whole culture, which is made up of innumerable artifacts and practices, be loathed? And yet the constant warning of the far right in Russia—and France, and the US—is that someone, somewhere, hates your culture and thus deserves to die. No one but Zelensky has ever dissolved this hollow alarmism with such dispatch.”
Gizmodo: This Russian Botnet Is Capable of Manipulating Social Media Trends on a ‘Massive Scale,’ Report Claims. “A new report claims that a subcontractor working for Russia’s intelligence service has a botnet capable of manipulating trends on social media platforms on a ‘massive scale.’ The report, published Thursday by the cybersecurity firm Nisos, alleges that the Moscow-based firm 0day Technologies can spread disinformation at a frightening rate using a customizable suite that is tied to a malicious network. The company has previously worked with the Federal Security Service, one of Russia’s primary intelligence agencies.”
Diálogo Americas: Russia Leads the Way in Disinformation Campaigns, Study Finds. “Russia is the leading promoter of disinformation, according to a report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) that analyzed public Twitter datasets. Iran, China, and Venezuela also ranked high in the March 30 report, Understanding Global Disinformation and Information Operations. The study analyzed Twitter messages sent by state actors of various countries between October 2018 and March 2021. The think tank’s researchers analyzed the activities and content of Twitter-banned accounts within 90 days of an account previous tweet.”
Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group: Russia uses abducted Ukrainians for propaganda video claiming Ukraine is bombing ‘liberated’ Melitopol. “Almost a month after Russian soldiers seized Ihor Artyomenko from his home in occupied Melitopol, he and five other abducted Ukrainians have appeared in a Russian propaganda video. It is near certain that the men gave their supposed ‘confessions’ under torture or other forms of duress, with the video yet another extraordinary attempt by Russia to try against all evidence, to blame the Ukrainian Armed Forces for its bombing and shelling of civilians.”
Associated Press: New Twitter policy aims to pierce fog of war misinformation. “Starting Thursday, the platform will no longer automatically recommend or emphasize posts that make misleading claims about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including material that mischaracterizes conditions in conflict zones or makes false allegations of war crimes or atrocities against civilians.”
Marine Corps Times: New social media, electronics policies likely on the way for Marines. “The Marine Corps is about to release a document codifying ‘information’ as a war-fighting function ― and that’s likely to have direct implications for how Marines are told to conduct themselves online. As Russia and Ukraine wage a conflict in which misinformation and disinformation play a central role, top-echelon Marine leaders want troops and commanders to be clear on how information affects every part of war-fighting and decision-making.”
National Defense: JUST IN: Marine Corps to Study Information Warfare in Ukraine. “As military operations continue in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Marine Corps officials say the conflict could be a useful case study for its modernization process. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger has asked leaders to analyze the use of drones and information warfare in the war in Ukraine to inform Force Design 2030 — the modernization strategy that was released in 2020, according to the deputy commandant for information.”
USC Center on Public Diplomacy: Why Russia Is Losing The Information War . “Given Russia’s apparent preeminence in information warfare, taking control of Ukraine seemed well within the Kremlin’s grasp. This year, as its troops massed along the Russia-Ukraine border, Russia’s information attacks were relentless, claiming that Ukraine was riddled with corruption, was run by Nazis, and was not really a nation. Once again, with this messaging as a foundation, Russia rolled into Ukraine. Despite its past successes, Russia’s information strategy did not work this time. The reason, in a word: pushback.”
StopFake: Russia-Ukraine War through the Prism of Mass Communications. “Ukraine’s struggle for independence from Russia has become truly global from the perspective of mass communications. This war is universally covered in the world media. It is extremely visible. It is a war that demands the expression of public judgment, thus becoming a point of political identification. The current confrontation between Russian and Ukrainian media discourses is not an ordinary clash of warring parties propaganda rhetoric. In this war, Western civilization is searching for an answer to a question of utmost importance: can it withstand within its own value framework – or is it no longer able to do so.”
Fulcrum: The Russia-Ukraine War: Unpacking Online Pro-Russia Narratives in Vietnam. “Pro-Russia narratives in Vietnam’s cyberspace are the result of cross-pollination between sentimental attachment since the Soviet era, psychological bias towards Russia embedded in Vietnam’s education and propaganda system, and the overriding imperative to preserve the Vietnamese state’s political and ideological interests.”
The Guardian: China’s pro-Russia propaganda exposed by online activists. “A number of Chinese government-linked media outlets and pro-Russia social media accounts are spreading pro-Kremlin sentiment on the Chinese internet by mistranslating or manipulating international news about the war in Ukraine.”
BBC: Ukraine war: The stolen faces used to promote Vladimir Putin. “Indian influencer ER Yamini has never tweeted in her life – she prefers to cultivate her big fan bases on Instagram and YouTube. But in early March, a Twitter account using her picture tweeted: ‘#IStandWithPutin. True Friendship’ accompanied by a video showing two men hugging – one representing India, the other, Russia. Yamini says she doesn’t support either country in the Russia-Ukraine war, and worries about her fans.”
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