On March 11, Kremlin bots launched another wave of Russian propaganda on Facebook. This time, it is aimed at making Ukrainians lose faith in victory because of the allegedly lost battle for Bakhmut.
Source. This was reported by the Center for Strategic Communications.
In particular, in their messages, propagandists are trying to claim that
- the battle for Bakhmut was lost by Ukraine (photos 1,2);
- the West does not believe in Ukraine;
- the command of the Defense Forces has already fled, and "the guys are fighting back on their own."
- The United States is reducing arms supplies because it has allegedly caught the Ukrainian government stealing supplies.
According to the JCC, in this way, the Russians want to undermine the trust of Ukrainian society in the government and Western partners, manipulating the allegedly lost battle for Bakhmut.
"In fact, this is not the case: The defense forces are firmly in place in Bakhmut, and Army Commander Syrsky is constantly visiting the positions. The West continues to supply us with weapons and equipment in large volumes, and they will soon be used during the counteroffensive," the statement said.
Experts explain that such lies are easy to expose. For example, it is noticeable that the translation from Russian into Ukrainian was done with mistakes, such as "Westerners" and "defeatist sentiment."
Fakes are spread through newly created pages, without description or content, usually with neutral names. This allows them to avoid additional attention from Meta during moderation, as the first step is verification by automated systems.
The Center explained how to block such ads:
- Open the post and click more in its upper right corner;
- Click "Report more" and choose the option that most accurately describes the violation of the Community Guidelines.
Background. As a reminder, a series of videos will be launched in Germany to combat disinformation about refugees from Ukraine.