A day after a missile hit a shopping mall in central Ukraine in June, killing at least 18 people, the Spanish-language arm of Russian global television network RT en Español took to Facebook to dispute the facts of the attack.
As such, the network is available in much of Latin America and even the United States. Posted A video statement from a military spokesman alleging that the Russian Air Force bombed an arsenal supplied by Western allies in Ukraine. It showed that it was not
When Russia’s war in Ukraine began, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media giants moved to block or limit the reach of the Kremlin’s propaganda agency accounts in the West. Efforts are limited by geography and language, creating a patchwork of restrictions rather than blanket bans.
In Spanish in Latin America and Arabic in the Middle East, a constant stream of Russian propaganda and disinformation continues to try to justify President Vladimir V. Putin’s gratuitous aggression, demonizing Ukraine. , obscuring responsibility for Russian atrocities that killed thousands of civilians.
The resulting geographic and cultural asymmetry in the information war over Ukraine has undermined US- and European-led efforts to exert broader international pressure on Putin to end the war.
“Russia’s infamous ability is not just an airtight, global suppression of the battlefield, the actual battlefield, but also its ability to fight using information and distortion of information.” wrote a study about Spreading Harmful Russian Propaganda on youtube.
The failure of Facebook, Twitter, and even the Chinese-owned app TikTok to impose stronger checks on Russian posts in languages other than English began to draw criticism as the war dragged on. I’m here.
Two weeks ago, a bipartisan group of US senators joined the criticism by accusing the platform of allowing Russia to “amplify and export its lies abroad” in Spanish. The targets of these efforts were in Latin America, but the disinformation also reached Spanish-speaking audiences in the United States, they said.
Lawmakers urge companies to do more to block Spanish outlets in Russia, especially RT en Español and Sputnik Mundo, which have spread accusations that the US is building bioweapons in Ukraine. Disinformation experts say these oversights reveal deficiencies in the platform’s international operations, which often have fewer resources than the United States.
It is difficult to accurately measure the impact of Russian wartime propaganda on public opinion abroad.to the polls Indicated Mr Putin remains the world leader under fire, suggesting the Kremlin’s efforts have yet to lead to a significant improvement in global support for the aggression.
At the same time, Russian disinformation flows freely in parts of the world where the war in Ukraine is seen less harshly than in the United States and Europe, and in terms of good versus evil.
“In these extraordinary circumstances, we must remain vigilant against Russia’s known ability to spread false information about Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, whether in Spanish or in other languages. , both Democrats, and Louisiana Republican Bill Cassidy I have written In a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
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In a written response to questions, Facebook said it had restricted access to RT and Sputnik accounts in the European Union, the UK and Ukraine following requests from government officials. (Court of Justice of the European Union dismissed the appeal By RT France to overturn the ban on network activity within the block. )
facebook also said blocked ads Posts from all Russian state media and “demotion” posts from accounts linked to them. Accounts in other languages face the same rules aimed at stopping disinformation and harmful content, the company said.
“Multiple teams are working across the company to limit the spread of misinformation in dozens of languages,” the company said in a statement.
Days after the war began, Twitter also closed Russian accounts within the EU and labeled accounts that retweeted links to them. In writing, the company announced in April that it would no longer expand such accounts, causing a drop in engagement.
TikTok recently said it removed or labeled tens of thousands of posts as part of its “continued steps to protect against fake engagement.” In May, we also added labels to Ukrainian government accounts.
The move against the Kremlin hasn’t stopped Western social media from reaching foreign audiences. The propaganda network, which has been trying for years to win an audience in many languages, has seen Russian forces massing around Ukraine last winter and in the weeks following the February 24th invasion. Overheated.
RT en Español’s Facebook page has 18 million followers, more than the English site or CNN’s Spanish channel. Posts drive traffic to the network’s main news channel, Actualidad RT.
According to analysis by Avaaz, a grassroots governing body of excellence, the Russian Post experienced a surge of engagement in the weeks following the start of the war.
Avaaz also found that engagement on RT Online, the Arabic-language page on Facebook of the television network, surged 187% during the first month of the war. Sputnik accounts in Brazil and Japan also experienced minor spikes. A similar analysis by his Zignal Labs, which tracks his social media activity, found a spike in link sharing for posts by RT and Spanish-language Sputnik his news.
On these sites, Russia’s war is falsely portrayed as a justification for the Ukrainian fascist regime. Ukraine’s fascist regime sought nuclear weapons and colluded with the United States to develop biological weapons on Russia’s doorstep. and even exaggerations and hoaxes designed to demonize Russia.
Senior Advisor Nora Benavidez free pressDigital rights and accountability advocacy group.
Although many languages are used on Facebook, more than 80% of enforcement resources are in English, she said.
“In a nutshell, I think it’s a form of prejudice that the rest of the world shouldn’t be protected from the worst and most dangerous content the way English-speaking users do,” she said. I was.
Bret Schafer, a senior fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy, said the Spanish- and Arabic-language branches of Russia’s state media are the most influential in the country on Facebook and Twitter. RT en Español, Sputnik Mundo, RT Play en Español is one of his 10 most viewed pages on Facebook in Latin America, with tens of millions of viewers.
Even after restrictions, Russia was looking for workarounds. Schaeffer’s team found that RT en Español created a new account on his Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube under the name Ahi Les Va. These accounts continue to post Russian disinformation to their ever-growing group of new followers.
“RT is just one media outlet that should be read and trusted when talking to people in Latin America,” he said. “It’s very influential.”
The failure to track Russian posts in Spanish, Arabic and other languages has prompted the Kremlin to reach an audience in parts of the world where the main villain, the United States, is viewed more ambiguously. I left the door open.
Reported by the Bertelsmann Foundation in June I got it 42% of traffic to RT’s Spanish-language network came from three countries (Argentina, Venezuela and Mexico) that either supported Russia or declared neutrality in the war with Ukraine.
Philip Kitzberger, a political scientist at the University of Torquato di Terra in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires, said, “Perhaps part of RT’s success is not in promoting the Russian version of events, but in questioning Western narratives. It depends,” he said. “And it finds resonance with certain groups in Latin America that are associated with the left, who are very critical of the United States.”
Anna Ranks contributed to the report.
