In the second month of the war unfolding in Ukraine, the narrative gap widens as Russia promulgates disinformation. Information about how the war began, the scale of the conflict, the arrow of causation, and the war’s justifications varies widely according to different sources. Proof of this disparity is apparent in the vertiginous rise of Putin’s approval rating among his countrymen. The News with Shepard Smith reports that Putin’s ratings have risen to 83% this month, up from 63% in November of 2021. While this and other evidence is a testament to the success of Russia’s manipulation of the war to create a tide of pro-nationalist sentiment, Russia’s propaganda machine has also found external outlets.
Facebook and Twitter accounts of Russian diplomats are being used as platforms for the spread of false claims: “Accounts are still active and are disseminating disinformation and propaganda in nearly every nation,” the Associated Press reports. “With hundreds of social media accounts on every continent,” the report continues, “Russia’s diplomatic corps acts as a global network for propaganda, in which the same claims can be recycled and tweaked for different audiences in different nations.” Diplomats from inside the Kremlin have stepped up to fill the gaps where Russian state media has been increasingly blocked from social media platforms and otherwise censored. “But the same tactics that have sustained such propaganda for years are running into a far more complex reality...
A video shows the Green Party celebrating an election win in a foreign language. False. This video was posted before the election. It is a Bengali language campaign video posted by the Green Party ...