(Source: Wikimedia Commons - Public Domain, Published by US Department of State)
Introduction
While both Ukraine and Russia have manipulated information during the war in an effort to achieve a strategic advantage, it is widely acknowledged that Russia has consistently employed disinformation to promote false narratives and wage warfare.
"The Russia-Ukraine Conflict dashboard is developed by the Social Media Lab at Ted Rogers School of Management in Toronto as part of our ongoing research on the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories. The ConflictMisinfo Dashboard is an information management tool for monitoring online misinformation and disinformation about the Russia-Ukraine war. It tracks and visualizes debunked claims from hundreds of trusted fact-checkers based around the world, such as AFP, Reuters, and others. The dashboard is available in English, Ukrainian and Russian."
"EUvsDisinfo is the flagship project of the European External Action Service’ East StratCom Task Force. It was established in 2015 to better forecast, address, and respond to the Russian Federation’s ongoing disinformation campaigns affecting the European Union, its Member States, and countries in the shared neighbourhood. EUvsDisinfo’s core objective is to increase public awareness and understanding of the Kremlin’s disinformation operations, and to help citizens in Europe and beyond develop resistance to digital information and media manipulation."
Eyes on Russia (Centre for Information Resilience)
The Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) is an independent, non-profit social enterprise dedicated to countering disinformation, exposing human rights abuses, and combating online behaviour harmful to women and minorities. The Eyes on Russia project is an open source project to map, document and verify significant incidents during the conflict in Ukraine. The aim of the project is to provide reliable information on the conflict through verified open source evidence. The lead resource of the Eyes on Russia project is the Russia-Ukraine Monitor Map.
"'StopFake' is an initiative of the nongovernmental organization Media Reforms Center, an educational platform, founded by Mohyla School of Journalism at National University of ‘KyivMohyla Academy’, which aims to implement high standards of journalism education in Ukraine, raise the level of media literacy, inform about the danger of propaganda and dissemination of fake information in the media. Initially the goal of the project was to verify and refute disinformation and propaganda about events in Ukraine being circulated in the media. Eventually the project grew into an information hub where we examine and analyze all aspects of Kremlin propaganda. We not only look at how propaganda influences Ukraine, we also try to investigate how propaganda impacts on other countries and regions, from the European Union to countries which once made up the Soviet Union."
Map produced by the International Fact-checking Network Signatories which “shows where disinformation about Ukraine's invasion has circulated and has been debunked by IFCN Signatories. When you click on a country you can see which disinformation has been identified and fact-checked in that country and access the national fact-checker’s articles in their language.”
CIUS Media Monitoring Service (Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS), University of Alberta
The Media Monitoring Service (MMS) was launched to “identify and critically assess dominant narratives, including a special focus on disinformation, in selected key Canadian and US publications regarding contemporary Ukraine. The purpose of MMS is to inform experts and the general public about how Ukraine and Ukraine-related events are covered and reported on and to alert them to contentious ideas and claims that may be perpetuated in the media to Ukraine’s detriment.”
An investigative journalism group based in the Netherlands that specializes in fact-checking and open source intelligence.
Berkeley Protocol on Digital Open Source Investigations
"The Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, spearheaded a collaborative effort in partnership with the UN Human Rights Office to develop an international protocol that articulates professionals standards and guidelines for the identification, collection, preservation, verification, and analysis of digital open source information with an aim toward improving its effective use in international criminal and human rights investigations. Establishing legal and ethical norms for open source investigations will professionalize the field and, in doing so, increase the likelihood that such information will be useful for justice and accountability purposes."
Balancing Act: Countering Digital Disinformation while Respecting Freedom of Expression
Launched by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and the ITU (International Telecommunication Union). A comprehensive study “with targeted analyses and recommendations that address the life cycle of online disinformation: from production to transmission, reception and reproduction.”
“The war launched by Russia on 24 February 2022 threatens the survival of the Ukrainian media. In this “information war”, Ukraine stands at the front line of resistance against the expansion of the Kremlin’s propaganda system.”
“On April 20th 2022, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova announced that the Russian Investigative Committee would be working with the International Public Tribunal on Ukraine to gather “information on the Kiev [sic] regime’s crimes.”…To date the primary role of the Tribunal appears to be to generate propaganda and serve as a counter-narrative to emerging evidence of probable Russian war crimes such as the events in Bucha. It also serves as a vehicle for reaffirming core Russian disinformation narratives about the invasion of Ukraine, in particular the false claims that the Ukrainian government and military are overrun by neo-Nazis. This propaganda appears to be intended for both domestic and international audiences, and may be gaining traction with Western conspiracy theory communities who have already proven receptive to Russian propaganda about the invasion of Ukraine.”
“The analysis presented in this report offers unique insights into the effectiveness of measures taken by Big Tech in response to requests by the Ukrainian Government.”
Countering Disinformation with Facts – Russian Invasion of Ukraine (Government of Canada)
“A sample of the many lies by the Russian regime about its invasion of Ukraine, along with the truth. This information is based on Government of Canada intelligence.”
“In the months since President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia called the invasion of Ukraine a “denazification” mission, the lie that the government and culture of Ukraine are filled with dangerous “Nazis” has become a central theme of Kremlin propaganda about the war.”
“The Kremlin’s explanations have sometimes satisfied the Russian people, but they fall apart under closer scrutiny abroad.”
.jpg){kind=link}