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WASHINGTON – Aspect Russiawar in Ukraine Major tech platforms are moving to restrict Russian state media from using their platforms to spread propaganda and misinformation.
After the head of the European Union called for a ban on Russian state media, a wave of tech companies blocked channels from their platforms.
Google announced on Tuesday that these outlets in Europe are blocking YouTube channels “with immediate effect”, but acknowledged that “it will take time for our systems to fully get up to speed.” RussiaRT and Sputnik accounts in China were also disabled in Europe. TikTok, a video sharing platform, a company spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. The actions come after Meta announced that it will ban government media from its platforms, Instagram and Facebook.
Tech companies have also proposed more modest changes so far in other parts of the world: limiting Kremlin access, tagging more of this content so people know that the content belongs to the Russian government, and cutting Russian government bodies from advertising revenues regardless. doing it beforehand.
Katie Harbath, a former director of public policy, said the changes were a careful balancing act aimed at slowing the Kremlin’s pumping of propaganda into social media feeds, without angering Russian officials to the point where they blocked their citizens’ access to the platforms during the war. for Facebook.
“They are 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 up Russia, but we don’t want to be locked inside the country either. How far can we take this?”
Banning RT and Sputnik will not close the well of war-related disinformation. Ukraine This flows into social media feeds from casual users, experts, or the Kremlin’s vast network of Facebook pages, trolls and reporters.
But unlike the EU, the US government has not cut back on one of the most obvious sources of wartime propaganda, by imposing sanctions on Russian state media or calling for a ban on tech companies, leaving American tech companies to grapple with themselves.
The results have been mixed.
RT and other Russian state media accounts are still active on Facebook in the US Twitter announced on Monday that the Kremlin will add hashtags to content from its websites, after seeing more than 45,000 tweets per day from users sharing Russian state-linked media links in recent days. . The company also said it would not recommend or redirect users to Russian-linked websites in its search function.
Over the weekend, California-based company Menlo Park announced it was banning ads from Russian state media and removing a network of 40 fake accounts, pages, and groups that posted pro-Russian talking points. The network used fictitious people posing as journalists and experts, but did not have a large audience.
Facebook began tagging state-controlled media outlets in 2020.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has 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 has restricted Russian state media from monetizing the site through ads, but outlets continue to upload videos to the site every few minutes.
Open TikTok, a Chinese platform popular in the US for short, funny videos, state media is not labeled as such. And pro-Russian propaganda and misinformation about the war flourished on his site.
A new video posted to RTs TikTok The channel, still active in the US, features a clip of Steve Bannon, a former senior adviser to former President Donald Trump, and currently hosts a podcast prone to misinformation and conspiracy theories.
“Ukraine is not even a country. It’s kind of a concept,” Bannon said in the clip, echoing an assertion by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Already, Facebook’s efforts to limit the access of Russian state media have drawn backlash from Russia. Russia. Last week, Meta officials said they were turned down RussiaA request by Russian state media to stop verifying or tagging posts. Kremlin officials responded by restricting access to Facebook.
The company also denied requests from Ukrainian officials who asked Meta to remove access to their platform. Russia. According to Nick Clegg, who was recently appointed the company’s vice president of global affairs, this will prevent ordinary Russians from using platforms to learn about the war, voice their opinions or organize protests.
“We believe shutting down our services will silence important statements at an important time,” Clegg said on Twitter on Sunday.
Alexandra Givens, CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology, said moves to more aggressively label government media and de-emphasize their online content could help reduce the spread of harmful material without cutting off an important source of information. Washington non-profit
“These platforms are a way for dissidents to organize and take a step back,” Givens said. The clearest indication of this is that the regime is trying to shut down access to Facebook and Twitter.”
Russia He spent years building the spreading propaganda apparatus that had dozens of sites targeting millions of people in different languages. Graham Shellenberger of Miburo Solutions, which tracks misinformation and influences campaigns, said this preparation makes it difficult for any tech company to respond quickly.
“This is a system that has been built for over 10 years, especially when it comes to it. Ukraine” said Shellenberger. “They created the channels, they created the messengers. And now all of a sudden we are starting to take action against it.”
Redfish, a Facebook page labeled as Russian state-controlled media, has built a mostly US and liberal-leaning audience of over 800,000 followers over the years.
The page has posted anti-US sentiments in recent days and tried to downplay it. Russiainvasion UkraineHe calls it a “military operation” and has dedicated many posts to highlighting anti-war protests around the world. Russia.
A Facebook post also used an image of a map to highlight airstrikes in other parts of the world.
“Don’t let the Eurocentrism of the mainstream media dictate your moral support to the victims of war,” the post said.
Last week, US Senator Mark Warner from Virginia sent letters to Google, Meta, Reddit, Telegram, TikTok and Twitter urges them to block such campaigns of Russian influence on their websites.
“In addition Russia“The established use of influence operations as a means of strategic influence is an integral part of Russian military doctrine of information warfare,” Warner said.
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Kelvin Chan, UR AP Business Writer in London, contributed to this report, as Klepper of Providence reports.
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