Hoaxlines Lab • Aug 3, 2022 :::spoiler ::: Findings We examined the surge in content discussing "Ukraine" and "Nazi" in far-left, far-right, hyperpartisan, and conspiracy theory websites during the Russian invasions of Ukraine in 2014 and 2022. The findings suggest that the increased coverage of Ukraine-Nazi stories coincided with key events in the Kremlin-orchestrated invasions in both years, including protests, escalations, and strategic maneuvers. These media outlets amplified false Kremlin narratives that likely sought to justify Russia's actions in Ukraine. In both 2014 and 2022, the surge in Ukraine-Nazi content coincided with key events related to Russian invasions and actions in Ukraine. The false narratives seemingly aimed to justify Russia's aggression and actions in the region.

Making it official Mar 3, 2022 - Hoaxlines shifts to help Ukraine Case Studies Aug 3, 2022 - Stories about "Ukrainian Nazis" surged when Russia's 2014 plans faltered Nov 11, 2022 - Putin's approval rating and aggression abroad Before the renewed invasion Nov 19, 2021 - Belarusian resistance may forever change how revolutions happen Feb 12, 2022 - How to add a Russian keyboard to your computer

Hoaxlines Lab • May 11 to 17, 2023 :::spoiler Definitions and sourcing information for data can be found in the appendix section. ::: Influential Posts About Vaccines One article that received over 17,000 shares on Twitter and over 800 on Facebook is incredibly named 100% of COVID Deaths in Canada Now Due to mRNA Vaccine, New Data Shows.

Hoaxlines • Aug 3, 2022 :::spoiler ::: Summary Pro-Kremlin media used the firing of an official to discredit Ukrainian rape victims, even though this official was not the only source of information. Two pieces of content that cited the same article were republished on many other websites. Russian intelligence controls at least one of the republishing websites. After articles from RT and Moon of Alabama came out on May 31, 2022, English-language websites started to publish content claiming Ukrainian reports of rape were not valid. Outlets backlinking to this story included those that Miburo, a malign influence research group, and the federal government have identified as part of the Russian propaganda and disinformation ecosystem. The Moon of Alabama article was linked to and mentioned significantly more often than the one from RT. The dismissive stories came out after the Ukrainian government let go of Lyudmila Denisova, a human rights official. Denisova “did not set up humanitarian corridors and the exchange of prisoners,” the Ukrainian government said. Instead, she focused on sharing stories about sexual assaults, for which she could not share evidence. This performance was unacceptable to the Ukrainian government.

image The chief message from 1918, uttered through anguish and brokenheartedness, teaches a simple yet perilous if forgotten lesson: Tell the truth. Do that — and you just might live. July 1, 2020 E. Rosalie Li, interdisciplinary public health Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health In the spring of 1918, a strange illness began claiming people in their prime. The world held just 1.7 billion people back then. No less than 675 thousand Americans and 50 million people worldwide perished as a virus prowled through one-third of the entire human population. Outbreaks often catch humanity unaware, bringing societies to their knees. They require us to respond with a multipronged offense and defense that must happen at breakneck speed.

--- title: Feedback loop of Russian aggression abroad ---  ###### tags: `Hoaxlines` `Russia` `autocracy` `timeline` <br/> <br/>

Russia-linked Twitter account posted 'StoptheSteal' 102 times starting in April 2016 Hoaxlines • Nov 11, 2021 :::spoiler ::: :::warning The Information Operation Archive (IOA) contains records for Twitter user CathyTo47590555, a prolific account attributed to Russia. A search for the username in the IOA turns up 313,065 results. That matches the number of tweets listed in the account’s Twitter profile because the listed number is based on the IOA’s datasets. It’s possible there are more tweets that were lost when the account was banned. 

Hoaxlines supports Ukraine as the front-line in the battle between democracy and autocracy globally. Hoaxlines • Mar 3, 2022 :::spoiler [toc] ::: Dear readers, Hoaxlines supports Ukraine as the front-line in the battle between democracy and autocracy globally. While we continue to monitor vaccine disinformation, we are diverting significant resources into doing whatever we can to help Ukraine. This includes disinformation monitoring, assessing social media platform responses, and supporting OSINT research.

Hoaxlines • Oct 21, 2022 :::spoiler [toc] ::: Ukraine and many other countries have negotiated with Russia has repeatedly and Russia repeatedly violated these agreements. Conversations that shift blame to Ukraine for not negotiating again deflect from Russia’s unilateral role in its conflict with Ukraine. It also ignores the false claims Russia makes (see over 6,000 misleading stories about Ukraine) to justify its illegal conquest. Even the embarrassing defeat in Chechnya in 1996 did not prevent Russia from leveling Chechen cities in 1999, and doing so dramatically increased Putin’s popularity in the lead-up to his 2000 election. Claims that the US is “obstructing negotiations” are misleading and ignore that Ukraine does not currently wish to negotiate.

Hoaxlines • Oct 14, 2022 :::spoiler [toc] ::: What to know about Putin’s false claim that Russia had to prevent the West from arming Ukraine with nukes Vladimir Putin claimed the US would arm Ukraine with nuclear missiles in a speech before Russia invaded in February 2022, but the evidence doesn’t support his claim. The United States actively worked to denuclearize Ukraine in an agreement with Ukraine and Russia. The Budapest Memorandum is one of many treaties Russia violated over the past two decades.

Hoaxlines • Oct 7, 2022 :::spoiler [toc] ::: In June 2022, Putin stated the mission in Ukraine was about returning Ukraine to Russia. Putin made no mention of NATO or a threat from NATO, nor any other false claims about the reasons for the invasion. An article that was published early in the war, when Russia had yet to realize it would fail to take Kyiv in three days, was filled with grandiose imperialist visions. This article also lacked any mention of NATO and makes clear the invasion was one of choice:

Russia stepped up its censorship in response to public protest against the war. Here's the websites and platforms Russians can still access. Hoaxlines • Mar 4, 2022 (updated Mar 5) :::spoiler [toc] ::: This graphic shows which websites remain accessible in Russia and which are blocked. The BBC, Facebook, Line[.]me, LinkedIn, and Twitter are not accessible in Russia at this time. Still, a range of websites remains accessible including YouTube and Reddit. Russians can also still access Archive[.]is and the Wayback Internet Archive, meaning they may be able to access archived versions of blocked content.

Hoaxlines • Mar 1, 2022 :::spoiler [TOC] ::: Twitter is allowing the Russian government to cover its war crimes through accounts for its outlets around the world. Hoaxlines found no fewer than 26 posts on Twitter in multiple languages where Russia denied it has killed civilians, told civilians they were free to leave, or where the Russian account cited fake events to justify its actions. Although the Ukrainian spirit won’t soon break, Russians have been bombing, shooting, and killing everything else. Most worrisome of all, several posts promise that Ukrainian civilians may leave their cities safely, but videos and calls from people in multiple cities in Ukraine say that civilians are being killed indiscriminately. One caller today, stated that the civilian killings were intentional. Targets of Russian aggression have included children who died, civilians taken hostage, schools, a maternity hospital, apartments, town squares, private homes, and communications infrastructure like the TV Tower.

An article celebrating Putin's invasion reads like a new world order manifesto, complete with the restoration of the Soviet Union, ran on Ria.ru. Then, it disappeared. You can read it here. Hoaxlines • Feb 28, 2022 (published on Mar 3) :::spoiler [toc] ::: An article published on RIA NOVOSTI, Russian state-controlled media, assumed a world where Putin’s invasion and attack on Ukraine went differently—one where he took the country in mere days. Instead, the Russian military has suffered heavy losses, performed poorly according to military experts with its elementary failures, although it continues to advance at a high price.

Tucker Carlson falsely claimed that Ukraine is an autocracy. Ukraine is a democracy that has struggled but a democracy nonetheless. Hoaxlines • Feb 22, 2022 :::spoiler [toc] ::: Russian propaganda featured Tucker Carlson

An article in fondsk.ru, an outlet recently tied to Russian intelligence-operated outlet Strategic Culture Foundation, claims mercenaries in Ukraine ready "for war with Russia." Hoaxlines • Feb 21, 2022 :::spoiler [toc] ::: An article intended for the domestic Russian audience attempted to associate Ukraine with the Islamic State and Neo-Nazi fringe groups using years-old articles and pictures. It claims that “high-ranking” American and Canadian Military officials have been seen on the ground in Ukraine. Neither country has sent troops to fight in Ukraine, and US President Biden addressed US involvement on February 15:

Some malware will not run on computers that have a Russian-language keyboard Hoaxlines • Feb 12, 2022 :::spoiler [toc] ::: At the request of friends and not-so-tech-savvy readers whom I appreciate, this tutorial has been created. It is not a comprehensive review of the issue and will not be particularly enlightening to a tech doyen or doyenne.

Hoaxlines • Nov 19, 2021 :::spoiler [toc] ::: Cyber-Partisans :::info NOTE

Explainers addressing common misleading or false claims related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Nov - Why Putin invaded in his own words Nov - Putin falsely claims Russia had to stop the west from arming Ukraine with nukes Nov - Saying the US obstructed negotiations deflects from Russia violating five prior agreements Nov - Accepting Russia’s illegal conquest is a recipe for much more war Nov - Russia's history of coopting peace movements Hoaxlines reports Nov - Claims the US isn’t auditing aid to Ukraine are pants-on-fire false

Timeline of Putin's approval and aggression abroad Sept 1999 Chechnya "Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin refused Wednesday to rule out a possible ground war against the rebellious southern province. Bombs destroy apartment blocks in Moscow, Buynaksk and Volgodonsk. More than 200 people are killed. Moscow blames Chechens who in turn blame Russian secret services." Russian Prime Minister Refuses to Rule Out New Chechen War Chechnya