THE official Twitter account of Ukraine has published advice on how to avoid falling for Russian disinformation on social media.
The tweet said: "Russia's war against Ukraine is taking place in social media too. Don’t fall for major trends of Russian disinformation! Use official sources: @MFA_Ukraine, @APUkraine, @GeneralStaffUA. P.S. sorry the team is exhausted without sleep, we make mistakes in tweets & tweet them again."
Alongside the tweet is a poster, titled "Key Trends in Russian Information Attacks", which contains a bullet point list of common themes to watch out for in false propaganda spread by the Russian government.
Russia's war against Ukraine is taking place in social media too.
— Ukraine / Україна (@Ukraine) February 26, 2022
Don’t fall for major trends of Russian disinformation!
Use official sources: @MFA_Ukraine, @APUkraine @GeneralStaffUA
P.S. sorry the team is exhausted without sleep, we make mistakes in tweets & tweet them again pic.twitter.com/OknbqLoetU
It includes:
- The spreading of false information about "heavy losses" incurred in the Armed Forces
- Manipulated content that attempts to convince people that Russian troops have seized certain strategic objects and cities, for example, the photos of the Kharkiv administration with a Russian flag, which is actually from 2014.
It also includes the mention of a network of covert Russian sources posing as Ukrainian to push the message that "defeat is inevitable" and using bots and trolls to spread panic that the Ukrainian leadership has abandoned its position.
Additionally, the spreading of information that the Ukrainian military has attacked its own civilians and/or its own units, the sending of threats to Ukrainian activists, researchers and journalists, and encouraging Ukrainians to flee to the occupied territories.
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