Russia-backed falsehoods and digital tricks related to its invasion of Ukraine are putting tech giants on the defensive over the spread of online disinformation
The world's biggest social media companies are scrambling to combat a global barrage of Kremlin-backed falsehoods …
Politico
Context & Ripple Effects
Russia's pressure on major platforms predates the invasion: Facebook, Twitter and Google had already resisted Russian takedown demands over Navalny-related rally information, while researchers later documented propaganda shifting into news-site comment sections as networks tightened enforcement. The invasion turns that long-running contest into an immediate global distribution and moderation problem.
The subsequent record shows why the initial defensive posture matters: Meta and Twitter resisted calls to remove Russian embassy accounts, and a later EU study found that Kremlin-backed accounts' reach and influence had grown despite platform efforts.
First-order effects
Social media companies must devote moderation and security resources to identifying Kremlin-backed falsehoods and digital tactics tied to the invasion, placing their enforcement decisions under immediate public and political scrutiny.
Russia's leading internet providers restricted access to Twitter and Facebook, making platform access itself part of the conflict between Russian authorities and the services.
Second-order effects
Meta and Twitter face competing pressure to remove state-linked accounts while maintaining their own account-level enforcement thresholds, a tension visible in their later refusal to fully remove Russian embassy accounts.
Efforts to remove content from major social networks push propagandists toward less directly moderated distribution surfaces, consistent with researchers' account of propaganda moving into news-site comments.
Third-order effects
Platform governance is becoming a jurisdictional product-design problem: services must simultaneously manage state demands for removal or access restrictions and outside demands to limit state-backed information operations.
The later finding that Kremlin-linked accounts expanded their reach despite enforcement points to an enduring shift from one-off takedowns toward scrutiny of how platforms govern distribution and amplification.
The trend: The invasion is accelerating a broader shift in which social platforms are judged not only on hosted content but on whether their distribution systems limit state-backed influence operations.
1/ In response to the unfolding military conflict in Ukraine, we have established a Special Operations Center to respond in real time. It is staffed by experts (including native speakers) so we can closely monitor the situation and act as fast as possible.
Facebook cutting off data access, disbanding the CrowdTangle team, and standing in the way of research now has a direct effect on the ability to uncover Russian information operating during this offensive. Researchers don't give up but we need to acknowledge this consequence.
Facebook parent Meta says it has set up a Special Operations Center “to respond to activity across our platform in real time” in light of the invasion of Ukraine. The goal is to quickly remove content that violates its standards.
YouTube continuing to allow Russia Today to monetize their channel amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine is exactly the same decision Facebook made last year when it let insurrectionists organize using Facebook Events. This is a company prioritizing profit and engagement over ethics.…
Best to turn on cable news to get information than the wasteland of social media right now. Hoaxes claiming an American journalist was killed in Ukraine are starting to scale. Old video and old images are being decontextualized and shared as evidence of ground war. Be skeptical!
This is also going to be a huge element this year. Social media will change. This is our first live war where there's broad awareness of digital disinformation and attention from the political mainstream. https://www.politico.com/...
German newspaper reports that trolls and bots are flooding their comment section and social media with pro Putin messages. They can't manage the flood, also because Facebook limits the amount of comments you can delete to 10,000 https://twitter.com/...
The way that Facebook is dealing with disinformation on their platform is getting rid of the only way to uncover disinformation on their platform. https://twitter.com/...
People from across #Europe are offering their homes to #Ukrainian people and their animals. If you are evacuating from #Ukraine join the group below on Facebook for help. If you have a spare room, please open your home. #UkraineRussiaCrisis #UkraineRussiaCrisis #RussiaInvasion ht…
PS in this category of Facebook evil, never forget Facebook cut off NYU cybersecurity researchers who were studying harmful effects from the social network. And got away with it. @LauraEdelson2 https://twitter.com/...
Successful FB efforts to combat this kind of stuff have long been routinely dependent on warnings from outside the company, whether from partners or advocacy groups or reporters. Whether in Myanmar or the US, the company's needed the help. https://twitter.com/...
Russia's top five international state-backed media outlets have used Facebook and Twitter to share debunked reports claiming that the Ukrainian military had committed unprovoked attacks on Russian-allied forces ↘️ https://www.politico.com/...
Facebook says it's set up a special ops center in response to the invasion of Ukraine, and added new security features to allow people in Ukraine to lock their profiles. (Similar to what they added during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan last year) https://twitter.com/...
Facebook seeks to help Ukrainians with online security (vital given that Russia has lists of Ukrainians it intends to hunt down). Thread https://twitter.com/...