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Josh wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:12 am A lot of information is flowing out via telegram, bypassing the biased news media. Telegram is controlled by an anti-Putin Russian man who is exiled from Russia. Can’t blame bias there.

On February 28, the Russian-born entrepreneur revealed he was thinking about restricting his platform in Ukraine and Russia. Posting on his public Russian-language channel, which has 650,000 subscribers, he wrote of his concern that Telegram was “increasingly becoming a source of unverified information.” He urged users from Russia and Ukraine to be suspicious of any information they came across on the platform and noted he did not want Telegram to be used to aggravate conflict or “incite ethnic hatred.”

The pivotal statement came at the end: “In the event of an escalation of the situation, we will consider the possibility of partially or completely restricting the operation of Telegram channels in the countries involved for the duration of the conflict.”

Durov’s words quickly attracted a deluge of negative comments and “dislikes” on his channel — a space where likes from adoring fans normally far outweigh any negativity — with some channels in Ukraine criticizing the mooted “censorship.” Little more than a half hour later, Durov backtracked. But the damage was already done. The original post had been seen 6 million times in the span of a day, amassing more than 50,000 dislikes.

As the invasion has progressed, Twitter, Facebook and traditional news sites have tried to clamp down on Russian state media and misinformation. But on Telegram, which boasts a global user base of at least 500 million, and remains what almost all people in Ukraine and Russia are looking at, misinformation continues to spread freely — with Durov admitting the company doesn’t have the capacity to stop it.

Many pro-Kremlin channels, masquerading as open-source intelligence, have added “Z” to their names — the same mark seen on some Russian military vehicles — and misinformation from Kremlin-linked channels are being shared onto other platforms and disseminated around the world. And while Telegram has now joined other platforms in banning Russia Today’s channels in Europe, in compliance with European Union sanctions, it has not done so in Russia or Ukraine, the two territories that matter in this war.

information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.

Soloist wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:12 pm

information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.

Can you name a single source that has no propaganda? outside of the Bible that is?

Ken wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 10:34 pm

Soloist wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:12 pm

information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.

Can you name a single source that has no propaganda? outside of the Bible that is?

Oh, but the Bible itself has been employed as propaganda for political causes since the dawn of Christianity.

Soloist wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 10:42 pm

Ken wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 10:34 pm

Soloist wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:12 pm


Can you name a single source that has no propaganda? outside of the Bible that is?

Oh, but the Bible itself has been employed as propaganda for political causes since the dawn of Christianity.

People can misuse anything. You know what I mean though, don't be difficult.

Soloist wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:12 pm

information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.

Can you name a single source that has no propaganda? outside of the Bible that is?

On 7th April 2018, a chemical attack in the Syrian city of Douma, on the periphery of Damascus, reportedly killed at least 70 people. The attack sparked indignation from the international community and caused American, French and British air strikes a week later, as it was attributed to the Syrian Army by these countries and non-governmental workers in Syria.

But these attacks also led to a full-scale Russian informational strategy aimed at confusing Western public opinion and dividing their leaders so as to sow doubt on what actually happened on the ground. The stories broadcast on TV and disseminated through social media ranged from outright denial (claims that there were no chemical attacks, no patients in hospitals, and that photos and testimonies were fake) to conspiracy theories (that this was a scheme by the White Helmets or Westerners to divert attention from the Skripal affair), to defending the regime (by arguing that “everyone knows” that Syria does not have chemical weapons) and finally comparisons with Nazi propaganda methods.

This example – among many others – has confirmed Russia’s uninhibited approach when it comes to asserting its own narrative on key strategic matters. “Information warfare” has been conceived of by the Russian leadership as a particularly potent instrument to achieve its foreign policy objectives.

On February 23, 2022, the Telegram channel Война с фейками (“War on Fakes”) first appeared online, ending its first day with a modest 161 subscribers. It quickly skyrocketed; within two weeks, War on Fakes grew to over 625,000 subscribers and is now one of the top Telegram channels in Russia, with a reach of more than 30 million daily views. The channel, which presents itself as debunking the “information war against Russia,” spreads disinformation and propaganda under the façade of a fact-checking service. Its staggering growth since its inception indicates it may be gaining traction more broadly, including through the publishing of an English-language website.

A scan of the channel’s posts makes it clear that War on Fakes is not objective, instead pushing content to support narratives echoed by Russian state media and the Kremlin. Its commentary refers to the war in Ukraine exclusively as the “special operation in Ukraine” (“спецоперация в Украине”), following Kremlin policy to not refer to the situation as a “war” or “invasion.” Although not all of its posts are completely falsified, they use alternative explanations to spin context, question facts, and promote wild suggestions of hired actors and staged atrocities — all common tactics in Russian influence operations and propaganda.

Josh wrote: ↑Mon Mar 14, 2022 8:53 am Part of the problem here is that the west is pretending that anything not anti-Russia is “misinformation”.