Tech

The spectacular collapse of Putin’s information machine


For many decades now, Vladimir Putin has managed online and offline influence networks slowly, carefully and stealthily. These efforts have paid off, making Russia far more influential than a corrupt and institutionally weak country without any rights. The Kremlin and its proxies have economic grips across Europe and Africa, which would put some of the smaller 18th-century empires to shame. It has an extensive network of helpful idiots it has helped get elected and can be trusted for support, and it controls much of the daily narrative in many countries through direct misinformation. line. And many people have no opinion.

While some major events such as the 2016 US election and the UK’s Brexit have helped bring this interference to light, many are still unaware or unwilling to accept that the disinformation machine is misinformed. Putin’s bias is affecting them in many ways. Small groups of determined activists have tried to convince the world that the Kremlin has infiltrated and manipulated the economies, politics, and psychology of much of the world; these warnings are almost always met with silence or even ridicule.

All of that changed the moment Russia’s shoes hit Ukraine. Almost overnight, the Western world became aware of many of the Kremlin’s activities in these areas, shattering the illusion of allowing Putin’s alternative, Kremlin-controlled information ecosystem to exist outside of the Kremlin. beyond its borders. As a result, the sophisticated disinformation apparatus that Putin spent decades nurturing collapsed in a matter of days.

Network of Russia The effect is as complex as it is widespread. The Kremlin has spent millions of dollars and hours in Europe alone, nurturing and promoting the populist right (Italy, Hungary, Slovenia), the far right (Austria, France, Slovakia) and even the left (Austria, France, Slovakia) Cyprus, Greece, Germany). For years, elected politicians in these and other countries have stood up to Russia’s interests and defended Russia’s transgressions, often posting stories of Putin in the process. . Meanwhile, across the globe on televisions, computers and mobile screens, Kremlin-run media such as RT, Sputnik and a host of niche “news” blogs and websites have helped spread the word. transmit one to replace real world perspective. While often low in reach at home and abroad (with a few notable exceptions, such as Sputnik Mundo), they have played an important role in spreading misinformation to audiences. inside and outside Russia.

But the digital sector is where Russia has had the most success in opening new fronts in its disinformation war. Social media, blogs are almost legit, and bots reach ordinary people constantly. With skill and care, Russian agents tested and retested the best way to polarize audiences. Using different platforms, content, and messaging, they build user profiles for their targeting and then reflect back to them on a picture of the world that might make them angry, scared, or scared. fear and despair — a picture that only exists online. For proof of this, look no further than recent discourse in the West, where the Kremlin is amplifying everything from climate denialism to the anti-vaxx movement for Qanon. All of this already exists but is under the guise of conspiracy theorists, vagabonds and pranksters – now millions of people believe, in the face of reality, that climate change created by Green extremists, that “they” (whether it’s Bill Gates, George Soros, or the World Economic Forum) are using vaccines to microchip humans, that there’s a satanic cannibals in Washington, or all of the above.

Crucially, the Kremlin seems to understand that while our online world is an important part of us, we behave differently there because of its impact on our magical thinking. It is real and unreal at the same time. We trolled each other, yelled at each other, and produced millions of hours of weird porn, all because the world was a bit surreal. Very few of us would do any of those things IRL. However, that is our real life, and the things we do online have an impact, both positive and negative, on our psyche. The same is true for misinformation. Our screens open to something akin to our spirituality and from there we can make leaps and bounds in beliefs about what is and isn’t real that can shift from direct thinking. our route to offline.

What the Kremlin didn’t anticipate, however, was that the invasion of Ukraine would be the equivalent of Putin shouting at us in the street – a brief but violent jolt in our collective online consciousness. . Not only are his claims about Ukraine strange — after all, the Kremlin has been promoting many of these stories for a long time and many in the West believe them now — but the reality is that Putin’s actions broke the truth. of online life.



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