We’re in our first major fucker of a war in the era of TikTok. My feed has been a bit more “JESUS FUCKING CHRIST ANOTHER EXPLOSION?!” than I’d ever like to get used to.
Unfortunately, the same technology that’s helping people broadcast their unedited stories from the war is also a powerful tool to spread disinformation about it.
Today’s Moment of Science… Reality in a time of active measures.
Last week, someone commented on my page that they were in Kyiv. With a Slavic name written in Cyrillic, I had little reason to doubt them. After all, why would someone lie about being in a war zone? An outpouring of well wishes and ’Glory to Ukraine’ followed in the comments.
My Spidey senses were tingling though. Something seemed off, and I had a closer look at their profile. I’m still not entirely sure it was a real person commenting.
Their sparse profile was set up within the last six months, which in and of itself doesn’t say too much. But something was off with their profile picture. When I ran a reverse image search, nothing showed up on google, but I had some luck on another search engine. I let out a small gasp when it matched several pictures that had the same distinct “off” look.
They were all computer generated faces, easily found on the Russian search engine Yandex.
Did the person say anything suspicious? Not really, and it’s possible it’s just a fake picture for a very real Ukrainian for completely legitimate purposes. Unfortunately, I can think of several deeply fucked reasons why someone would fake being in Ukraine right now.
It made me reflect on how nearly everything I read about this war takes a day or five to figure out if it tracks with known reality. Beyond the firehosing of disinformation straight from the Kremlin, it’s a chaotic situation that doesn’t lend itself well to getting fast and accurate information.
I’ve read that the Chechen fighters decided not to go to Ukraine and also that they knew about the attack a week in advance and were super fucking stoked to do a war. Head of the Chechen Republic and sentient cat turd Ramzan Kadyrov has been reported to be dead and alive. At this point, I figure nobody’s correcting the story because they’re hoping Schrodinger’s war criminal will be dead soon enough. When stories have come out that Russians have ‘taken over’ a city, there isn’t widespread agreement on what that even means. While some news outlets declared Kherson “captured” three days ago, even today there are articles discussing reasons why it’s too soon to call.
I read that Ukraine offered amnesty and five million rubles for Russians to lay down their arms. Russia countered with the most Russian offer possible: five million rubles to their soldiers if they die.
(That last bit happens to be true).
What does this all mean for you, person on the internet who’s trying really hard to understand what the fuck is going and hopefully not accidentally spread disinformation?
First, videos without context are worth dogshit. A lot of random old videos of tanks and soldiers in combat fatigues have been posted by accounts just trying to get clicks on the back of this war. Don’t assume a video is firm evidence without some confirmation.
Get your news from a variety of sources. I’ve been watching coverage from a handful of networks based in several different countries, and it’s enlightening to see how this is covered outside of the US. (On that note, my fellow Americans… please, I beg of you, watch coverage from outside the US).
Don’t hesitate to peek at someone’s profile if something feels off. If the account was opened suspiciously recently, perhaps it has a bunch of numbers in the name and there’s either a cartoon character or a sexy stock photo for a profile picture? Cast all of the doubt you can muster on whatever you’re being told.
Last, there’s no need for you, random person who’s not directly involved with this on a strategic level, to know what’s happening on the ground at every given moment. Nobody does. Resist the temptation to immediately accept every anxiety-inducing headline you stumble across in attempt to know it all and know it all now. There’s nothing to be gained by knowing the wrong thing fast.
This has been your Moment of Science, reminding you to give information a little extra time, lest it turns out to be disinformation.
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