We have trained a large language model to detect the most common manipulation techniques in Telegram channel posts.Читати українською

The scandal surrounding the Russians at War documentary has once again reminded Ukrainians of having to defend not only Ukraine from the Russian army but also the world from Russian propaganda.Читати українською

At the end of July, the TikTok Creative Center website (an analytical dashboard with the latest trends on the platform) showed the most popular hashtags in Ukraine and the number of views each has received. These statistics revealed that the network of artificial Russian bots had amassed 10 million views in just one week, indicating significant success. However, six months later, the view statistics vanished from the platform without a trace, suspiciously coinciding with the moment TikTok became aware of our investigation We know for sure that government agencies used the social network to block the bot farm after our article was published.Читати українською

On his YouTube channel, Timur can sometimes even criticise the local or Russian authorities, but in a kind way. This is similar to how a resident of a European colony who was educated in a colonial school might lament that "white masters" should visit their colony more often to restore order. We have investigated how Russian propaganda uses bloggers, both local and foreign, to absolve themselves of responsibility for the destruction of Mariupol and the killed citizens.Читати українською

On May 23, TikTok announced an update to its policy against targeted influence campaigns: from now on, all channels labeled as “state-controlled media” will not appear in recommended videos outside their country of origin. Thus, Spanish-speaking RT will not appear in the recommendation feed for the Spanish-speaking audience, and Sputnik Brasil will not appear for the Brazilian audience. But does this restriction work effectively? We decided to check the data.Читати українською

From Trumpists to Communists. The forces in the U.S. impeding aid to Ukraine and how they do it

Last week, Russian propagandists tried to take full advantage of the capture of Avdiivka. Among other things, they reported on shocking “discoveries” of secret torture chambers allegedly used to hold Zelensky’s political opponents.Читати українською The Russian Ministry of Defense also claimed that the AFU was planning to build a “chemical defensive perimeter” and had already purchased the necessary components from Western partners that endorse such methods of warfare. Meanwhile, the disinformers have redoubled their efforts to expose US and British agents in mother Russia.

Last week, the Russian media continued to insist that Ukraine was suffering defeat after defeat in the battlefield. However, the front line dynamic — or rather a lack thereof — suggests otherwise. The propagandists are trying to show that Russia is retaliating for the attack on Belgorod.Читати українською

Putin's “Direct Line” forum played a key role in the dictator’s election campaign. Last week, Russian media produced a flurry of news reports on its results. The propagandists once again reminded their readers who is to blame for the war against Ukraine, predicted the egg prices to go down and addressed the timeless question “which is the ultimate New Year’s dish: Olivier salad or dressed herring?”.Read this article in Ukrainian

We have investigated the non-political segment of TikTok to understand whether Russian influences are penetrating through the entertainment content of this network. The weakest link is humor.TikTok shows Ukrainians videos of Russian stand-up comedians, and often it's "Zadornov-style" humor, mocking the West.Читати українською