Export lies: How Russian propaganda about Bucha is spreading on Facebook, which is banned in Russia

In early April, one of the largest state news agencies of the Russian Federation, RIA Novosti, published the article "What should Russia do with Ukraine?".

In it, the author (Timofey Sergeytsev - Russian political scientist, former adviser to Viktor Yanukovych) finally explained one of the main mysteries of the Russian invasion of Ukraine - what is "denazification":

"The Nazis who took up arms must be destroyed as much as possible on the battlefield. However, in addition to the top, a large part of society is guilty of being passive Nazis and allies of Nazism. They supported and promoted Nazi rule."

It is quite cynical that Sergejcev's text appeared on April 3, the day after the world saw photos of the terrible tragedy committed by the Russian army in the city of Bucha.

According to locals, the occupiers accused Ukrainians of supporting Nazi rule and questioned them "where the Nazis are", and when they did not receive an answer, they killed them. Probably, these crimes in Bucha were the beginning of the so-called "denazification" in Ukraine.

Today, in fact, the whole world is watching the events in Bucha through the cameras of Ukrainian TV channels. However, Russia is constantly trying to attract as many social media users around the world.

This text talks about how the Russian propaganda machine is trying to influence the citizens of other countries via Facebook.

- Russian version

- To begin with, it is worth saying a few words about how Russian officials assess the Bucha massacre. On April 3, the Russian Ministry of Defense issued a statement stating:

- - during the stay of Russian soldiers in Bucha, no locals were injured;

- - local residents were able to move freely around the city, leave it and use mobile communication;

- all Russian units left the city on March 30, on March 31 the mayor of Bucha Anatoly Fedoruk said that there were no Russian troops, and evidence of crimes appeared only on the fourth day, when the Security Service of Ukraine and Ukrainian television arrived in the city;

- all the bodies of people whose photos and videos were published by official Kyiv are not dead, they do not have corpse stains, the blood did not clot, so these people are actors, and their deaths were staged by the Ukrainian government or are the result of crimes committed by Ukrainian "Nazis".

On April 6, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the participants in this "production" were paid $ 25 each.

Russia is actively trying to spread its lies. All the false information, which will be discussed below, was found in foreign media and on social networks.

Spreading Russian misinformation on Facebook

In order to expose Russian propaganda, about 10,000 posts with the keywords "Bucha" and "Bucha", published on Facebook between April 2 and 4, 2022, were viewed using the CrowdTangle service.

Most publications convey the Ukrainian view of events. However, 509 posts were found promoting the pro-Russian position in various countries around the world.

The Russian propaganda machine is most active in countries that use Russian in communication or are under the direct influence of Russia: 446 posts out of 509 were written in Russian, Bulgarian or other Slavic languages.

A total of 72 posts were found in foreign languages promoting Russian disinformation about the Bucha massacre.

There are various countries where pro-Russian disinformation about the Bucha massacre has been published, with the most recorded in Bulgaria (210), Russia (74), Italy (24), Slovakia (12) and Ukraine (11).

Who broadcasts Russian disinformation?

Most of the posts are shared on Facebook groups. The analysis included only Russian / Ukrainian-speaking groups, and the real picture of the spread of misinformation in the foreign segment of the social network is even more difficult.

The official strongholds of Russian diplomatic missions have become the second most active stronghold of Russian disinformation. Disinformation was spread by the media, as well as pages that are positioned as news, but also public figures and political parties.

According to CrowdTangle, a total of users have interacted with Russian disinformation almost 25,000 times - by liking, commenting and spreading.

In almost half of the posts, the page and the group copied or republished the position of the Russian Ministry of Defense, without adding any other comments. Such announcements as the rebroadcasting of Russian disinformation were taken into account, if the position of the Russian Federation is the only announcement about the massacre in Bucha on the relevant page.

Instead, other publications broadcast certain fragments of Russia's position on the tragedy, or all messages at once.

Facebook labels some of these posts as fake or misleading, but only a small fraction of them.

Since the beginning of the complete Russian invasion, Meta has announced increased protection of Ukrainian Facebook and Instagram, including the spread of Russian disinformation. Since the full invasion, Russia's Defense Ministry has issued more than 500 statements actively accusing Ukrainians of Nazism, shelling Ukrainian cities and killing Ukrainian compatriots by Ukrainian soldiers - and none of them have been labeled as disinformation.

In addition, the rhetorical question remains, which is the target audience of the Facebook page of the Russian Ministry of Defense, because on March 4, Roskomnadzor blocked the social network in Russia. However, the activity of the Russian Ministry of Defense on Facebook has not stopped (of course, while VPN is still not banned).

The analysis showed that the official pages of Russian governmental and diplomatic institutions are apologists for Russian disinformation and justification of Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

In other words, if the official website of a country that is banned broadcasts a misleading publication, for some reason the rules of the community do not apply to them. Thus, Russia maintains propaganda channels on social networks not only for its citizens (whose ban on the use of Facebook does not stop), but also for the international audience and the Russian diaspora, which continues to support Russia abroad.

Therefore, despite the official support of Ukraine, Meta continues to legitimize the official position of Russia and allows it to be promoted on its platforms. Apparently, in almost a month and a half of the war, Meta did not manage to decide on her attitude towards Russia, while the entire civilized world is severing ties with Russia.