Big Tech platforms have aggressively restricted Russian government accounts, state media, and those trying to spread Russian disinformation in response to President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Under pressure from their users and government officials, Facebook, Google, YouTube, and Twitter have all announced efforts to block Russian state media from running ads and monetizing content on their platforms and are also trying to reduce the spread of Russian disinformation about what is happening in Ukraine. Some of the platforms have even restricted access to Russian government accounts altogether.
Ukraine’s vice prime minister and digital czar, Mykhailo Fedorov, said Saturday that he had asked the CEOs of Google, YouTube, Apple, and Netflix to block or limit their platforms in Russia in an effort to anger young Russians and put pressure on Putin to end the war.
“I asked YouTube to block the Russian propaganda media, which call us Nazis and drug addicts, lie and promote war. Asked Meta to block Facebook and Instagram. I asked Netflix to block the service in Russia,” Fedorov said in a statement on Facebook.
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Two anti-Ukraine disinformation operations that were taken down by Facebook over the weekend were tied to Ukraine Today, a Russian propaganda news outfit created to make Ukraine look like a failed state by using fake profiles on Facebook. Russian state media last week also falsely reported a Ukrainian civilian genocide as a way to justify the Russian invasion.
On Sunday, Facebook said it had removed and blocked a total of 48 fake accounts, pages, and groups aimed at spreading disinformation to Ukrainians on Facebook and Instagram.
Facebook and Twitter also announced recently that they will place special labels on content from Russian state media and have expanded their Russian- and Ukrainian-language fact-checking operations.
U.S. government officials are also pressuring the tech giants to take more steps to hurt Russia.
“Your platforms continue to be key vectors for malign actors — including, notably, those affiliated with the Russian government — to not only spread disinformation, but to profit from it,” Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, wrote to Google and YouTube CEO Sundar Pichai in a letter late last week.
“We can expect to see an escalation in Russia’s use of both overt and covert means to sow confusion about the conflict and promote disinformation narratives that weaken the global response to these illegal acts,” Warner added.
Warner also sent separate letters to the heads of Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Telegram, and TikTok, asking them to increase staffing and resources related to the Ukraine crisis.
Russia, on the other hand, has partially restricted local access to some of the social media giants, such as Facebook and Twitter, as protesters have used the platforms to organize and voice opposition to the war.
Thousands of Russian tech workers have also signed a petition opposing their government’s invasion of Ukraine.
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As Ukraine faces disruptions to the internet due to the war, Elon Musk said Saturday that he had deployed satellite broadband to Ukraine through his company SpaceX’s Starlink program to ensure that Ukrainians could remain online.
