Social media & cyberwar as an answer to Putin’s war
Hacking group Anonymous has announced a cyber war against Russia, and has already claimed an attack on the state-controlled TV network Russia Today, where they projected Ukrainian President’s appeal towards the Russian people instead. Social media companies under pressure to find policies for the war rushed to make statements making it more clear how they handle information about the war.
JUST IN: Hacking group #Anonymous launches ‘full-scale’ cyberattacks on Russian government websites in retaliation for #Russia‘s invasion of #Ukraine. #OpRussia #StandwithUkraine pic.twitter.com/1dxVMKNolK
— Anonymous TV ? (@YourAnonTV) February 24, 2022
Facebook’s head of security Nathaniel Gleicher said: “We are now prohibiting Russian state media from running ads or monetizing on our platform anywhere in the world. We also continue to apply labels to additional Russian state media.
When Russia was reported to limit Russians’ access to some social media, Meta’s director of policy and international relations, Nick Clegg, tweeted that the company “want them to continue to make their voices heard, share what’s happening, and organize through Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.”
Clegg wrote:
“Yesterday, Russian authorities ordered us to stop the independent fact-checking and labelling of content posted on Facebook by four Russian state-owned media organizations. We refused. As a result, they have announced they will be restricting the use of our services.”
“Ordinary Russians are using our apps to express themselves and organize for action. We want them to continue to make their voices heard, share what’s happening, and organize through Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger”, Clegg wrote in his announcement.
1/ We are now prohibiting Russian state media from running ads or monetizing on our platform anywhere in the world. We also continue to apply labels to additional Russian state media. These changes have already begun rolling out and will continue into the weekend.
— Nathaniel Gleicher (@ngleicher) February 26, 2022
Twitter said:” We’re proactively reviewing Tweets to detect platform manipulation (or other inauthentic behavior) and taking enforcement action against synthetic and manipulated media that presents a false or misleading depiction of what’s happening.”
“We’re actively monitoring vulnerable high-profile accounts, including journalists, activists, and government officials and agencies to mitigate any attempts at a targeted takeover or manipulation”, Twitter said adding:
“We’re temporarily pausing advertisements in Ukraine and Russia to ensure critical public safety information is elevated and ads don’t detract from it.”
YouTube shut down the accounts used by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, the platform has confirmed. A number of channels linked to the separatists were inaccessible with YouTube saying this is “due to non-compliance with YouTube community rules”.
YouTube also announced that it is suspending ad monetization of several Russian state media channels including RT. The company is also limiting recommendations to those channels and blocking them entirely in Ukraine at the request of the Ukrainian government.
“We are actively monitoring new developments and we take further steps if necessary”, Google spokesman Michael Aciman said.
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