As Russia’s war in Ukraine plays out for the world on social media, big tech platforms are facing increased calls to stop Russian state media from using their platforms to spread propaganda and misinformation. No US-owned tech company has responded to an outright ban on those outlets. Instead they have offered more modest changes: limiting access to the Kremlin, labeling the material more so people know it originated from the Russian government, and giving Russian state organs whatever advertising revenue they can. Earlier they were earning, they were deducting from them.
A former public policy nerd, Katie Harbath, said the change is a careful balancing act, aimed at slowing propaganda in social media feeds to the Kremlin to anger Russian officials that they were trying to protect their lives during a critical time of the war. reduce the access of citizens to the platform. Director for Facebook.
They’re trying to walk this very fine line, they’re doing this dance, said Harbath, who now serves as director of technology and democracy at the International Republican Institute. We want to stand before Russia but we don’t want to be locked in the country. How far can we take this?
meta, who owns Facebook And instagramannounced on Monday that it would restrict access to Russia’s RT and Sputnik services in Europe, following a statement over the weekend from EU President Ursula von der Leyen that officials were working to ban sites across the European Union. are.
The US has not taken similar action or imposed sanctions on Russian state media, which has left US-owned tech companies struggling to blunt access to the Kremlin on their own. The results have been mixed.
RT and other Russian-state media accounts still active on Facebook in the US Twitter announced on Monday that it would add labels to content from Kremlins websites, after seeing more than 45,000 tweets daily from users who shared Russian state-affiliated media links in recent days. The company also said that it would not recommend or direct users to Russian-affiliated websites in its search function.
Read also: Internet blackouts in Ukraine and Russia increase demand for VPN services
Over the weekend, California-based company Menlo Park announced it was banning ads from Russian state media and removed a network of 40 fake accounts, pages and groups that publish pro-Russian talking points. The network presented fictional individuals as journalists and experts, but they did not have much of an audience.
Facebook began labeling state-controlled media outlets in 2020.
Meanwhile, Microsoft announced that it will not display content or ads from RT and Sputnik, or include RT’s apps in its App Store. And Google’s YouTube banned Russian-state media from monetizing the site through ads, though outlets are still uploading videos to the site every few minutes.
By comparison, the pragmatic approach adopted by TikTok, a Chinese platform popular in the US for short, funny videos, has allowed pro-Russian propaganda to flourish on its site. The company did not respond to messages seeking comment.
A recent video posted on RT’s TikTok channel features a clip of former top adviser to former President Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, who now hosts a podcast for misinformation and conspiracy theories.
Ukraine is not even a country. Such a concept, Bannon said in the clip, echoing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim. So when we talk about sovereignty and self-determination it’s just a corrupt area where Clinton has become a colony where they can steal money.
Already, Facebook’s efforts to limit the access of Russian state media have angered Russian officials. Last week, Meta officials said they had rejected Russia’s request to stop fact-checking or labeling posts made by Russian state media. Kremlin officials responded by restricting access to Facebook.
The company has also declined requests from Ukrainian authorities who have asked Meta to remove access to its platforms in Russia. The move will prevent everyday Russians from using the platforms to learn about the war, express their views or organize protests, according to Nick Clegg, the company’s recently named vice president of global affairs.
Read also: War in Ukraine: Microsoft removes Russian state-owned media apps and ads from its platform
Clegg wrote on Twitter on Sunday, “We believe the closure of our services will silence critical expression at a critical time.”
Alexandra Givens, CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based non-democratic organization, said more aggressive labeling of state media and moves to reduce their content online could help reduce the spread of harmful content without cutting off a vital information source. can help. Benefit.
Givens said the platform is a way to organize and push back dissidents. The most obvious sign of this is that the regime is trying to block access to Facebook and Twitter.
Russia has spent years building up its vast propaganda apparatus, which consists of dozens of sites targeting millions of people in different languages. This preparation is making it difficult for any tech company to respond rapidly, said Graham Schellenberger of Miburo Solutions, a firm that stokes misinformation and campaigns.
It is a system that has been built over 10 years, especially when it comes to Ukraine, Schellenberger said. They made channels, they made messengers. And now suddenly action has been started against it.
Redfish, a Facebook page labeled as Russian-state-controlled media, has built up a mostly American and liberal-leaning audience of more than 800,000 followers over the years.
Page has posted anti-US sentiment in recent days and called for a downplay of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling it a military campaign and dedicating several posts to highlighting anti-war protests across Russia.
A Facebook post also used a picture of a map to highlight airstrikes in other parts of the world.
Don’t let mainstream media Eurocentrism dictate your moral support for the victims of the war, the post read.
Last week, US Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia sent letters to Google, Meta, Reddit, Telegram, TikTok and Twitter urging them to stop such Russian influence campaigns on their websites.
In addition to Russia establishing the use of influence operations as a tool of strategic influence, information warfare is an integral part of Russian military doctrine,” Warner wrote.
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