A warm hello from the Detector Media analytics team!
We trust you are doing well. If you've been missing Russian fakes, our team has some fresh updates for you.
We're going to kick things off with a recent comprehensive study we've conducted, which delves into Russian disinformation targeting religious communities in Ukraine. Our analysis examined tens of thousands of posts from four social networks, examining Russian narratives about Orthodox Christians, Catholics, and other religious groups. Propaganda against religious communities disseminates biased or misleading information that fuels negative sentiment, perpetuates stereotypes about different faiths, and justifies discrimination against them. It paints religious communities as potentially harmful or extremist, capitalizing on stereotypes and falsehoods to instill fear within society. For further insights on Russia's methods, you can read more here.
Recall the intriguing events in Russia about a week ago, ambiguously referred to as a 'rebellion'? Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the organization within the Russian army that is considered criminal both in Ukraine and internationally, the Wagner terrorist group, denounced the Russian Ministry of Defense on the evening of June 23 for allegedly attacking his group's base camps. He vowed that his mercenaries would probe into the reasons behind the country's turmoil and threatened to blockade Rostov-on-Don and march on Moscow with a "March of Justice" if they didn't meet with the Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Army. The Wagnerites did march, but the protests didn't even last a day. Our own Lesia Bidochko has compiled a comprehensive analysis of their propaganda.
Our analytics team is also dedicated to explicating the mechanisms of various propaganda tactics and tools. For instance, we've elucidated how Russians are rewriting history and why Ancient Rus is no longer linked with Kyiv. We've examined Russia's promotion of the alleged global impoverishment in Ukraine — a read that is as intriguing as it is disappointing. We've also looked at how Russia operates in temporarily occupied territories, pressuring residents to accept Russian passports through predominantly brutal methods. This text is worth reading if only never to forget who the real aggressor is and what it is doing on Ukrainian soil.
Lastly, "Detector Media has partnered with Asia Fact Check Lab, Detector Media, Doublethink Lab, and IRI Beacon Project in analyzing and comparing Russian and Chinese disinformation. The report outlines parallels between Chinese and Russian-language information spaces to further study and contrast Russian and Chinese narratives, given the constant operation of both countries' propaganda machines. Broadly, our data analysis reveals that Chinese narratives somewhat echo Russian ones, particularly those concerning the 2022 Ukraine invasion. Chinese-language articles often cite Russian media or officials when discussing the Russian invasion of Ukraine, thereby proliferating Russian disinformation.
Thank you for your time and attention!
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Find our highlights for May here.
