Why one should not use place names artificially created by russian propaganda “in Western Ukraine”, “in Eastern Ukraine”, “Southeastern Ukraine”, “Donbas”… With these and similar artificially created place names, russian propagandists try to expand the territorial perception of the war, as well as to oppose different parts of Ukraine. It is better to use “in…
What is wrong with the term “armed formations of Ukraine”? “Armed formations of Ukraine”, “punishers”, “Kyiv army” are propaganda terms used to discredit the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The correct term is the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Ukrainian military, Ukrainian security forces, and participants in the Joint Forces Operation (JFO/ATO). russian propaganda deliberately distorts and uses…
Signs of a “fake clickbait”: the text of the message title may contain the words “shock”, “sensation”, “urgent”; it causes surprise or indignation; most often the headline itself does not reflect the text of the message. The term “clickbait” comes from the English words click + bait. The purpose of a fake is to get…
“Substitution of definitions” is a psychological technique based on a logical mistake. It involves presenting an object or phenomenon to the audience as something it is not. Over time, this substituted statement takes root and begins to work in society as the only true one. Example: Putin’s statement that the growth of GDP is the…
This is the ability to identify manipulation and fake news, assess their level of danger and how to prevent them. Otherwise, the reader/viewer consumes all the information and acts on it. Immunity can only be developed by improving media literacy and adhering to the rules of information hygiene, in particular get information only from official…
A pseudo-evacuation is an information and psychological operation aimed at imitating the withdrawal of civilians from the territory where a military conflict is taking place. Such evacuation is considered a violation of the laws and customs of war. Ukraine has repeatedly stated that evacuations are possible only under the auspices of the UN and the…
Account duplication is the creation of accounts that completely copy the information content of real user accounts, which are then used for fraud, spreading disinformation, etc. The difference between the name of a real and a cloned account can be as small as one character, which is immediately noticeable First of all, attackers clone the…
Manipulating public opinion polls, or the principle of the “spiral of silence,” is the selection of comments that are intended to convince citizens that the majority of society supports a particular point of view or position. The German political scientist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann proposed the definition of the “spiral of silence” to explain how people prefer…
Shifting responsibility as a mechanism of disinformation campaign The easiest way to avoid negative consequences is to shift responsibility to someone else. Therefore, propagandists often use this technique to prevent the international community from condemning their actions. Example: Russian troops use a missile attack to destroy a shopping center in Kremenchuk, where a large number…
How the “preemptive strike” mechanism works in disinformation A “preemptive strike” is a preemptive disinformation campaign. Its task is to provoke a counter-reaction from the “enemy” in order to use it in a more favorable context. This technique is used by russian propagandists to accelerate the escalation of the conflict and to create a provocation…
The “primacy effect”: the success of propaganda lies in the fact that disinformation reaches the audience before the truth When conflicting information is received that can’t be quickly verified, a person tends to give preference to the information that came first. Example: A video of a military unit of the TD forces allegedly deployed from…
“Classifiers” is a system for categorizing disinformation messages into groups according to predefined characteristics. The classifiers are “key” words to which variants of disinformation messages (narratives) are matched. Examples: “Caliber” classifier. Typical variants of messages in russian news: high-precision weapon; cruise missile, which has no analogues; weapon of victory. “Ukrainian authorities”: Kyiv regime; Zelenskyy’s government;…
