The study identified 12 fairly common advertised topics, but four or five can be considered key.
Researchers have identified twelve topics that Russians are spreading due to paid advertising on Facebook with the aim of destabilizing the situation in Ukraine. They spoke about this during a press conference, writes Ukrinform.
The results of the research were discussed by analyst of the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security Sergei Zhukov, deputy director of the Center for Democracy and the Rule of Law, chief expert on media law and content moderation on social networks Igor Raskladai, media expert, author of the anti-fake project NotaEnota Alena Romanyuk, Lab (DFRLab) Roman Osadchuk and Deputy Head of the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security Nikolai Balaban.
Zhukov said that the study of Russian advertising messages on the social network Facebook was conducted from March to November last year and was aimed at identifying the most common Russian narratives regarding Ukraine.
It is reported that 400 Facebook pages were processed and 600 Russian advertising messages were discovered.
“As a result, we discovered 12 topics that they regularly work on,” Zhukov said.
In his opinion, four or five topics that relate to the situation at the front, discrediting the West and international cooperation of Ukraine, the topic of mobilization and corruption of the Ukrainian government can be considered key.
According to the expert, Russians also actively paid for messages that “Ukrainian society is moving in the wrong direction.”
Alena Romanyuk added that the Russians are still using the narrative launched by their political strategists back in 2004 about Ukrainians of the first, second and third class, only changing it slightly.
Igor Raskladai said that a common method of disinformation on social networks is the creation of clone pages of famous people. The most popular are the pages of the President, First Lady and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Fake clone pages are regularly closed, but Russians immediately create new ones.
In addition, clone pages of famous military personnel and volunteers often appear on Facebook: messages about fundraising are published there. Russian disinformers also create fakes of well-known Ukrainian media.
But, as Rasklady emphasized, the main points of application for the enemy’s disinformation efforts were and remain the situation at the front.