The Meta group announced the implementation of a tool to protect its Ukrainian users, modeled on an initiative launched in Afghanistan. Facebook Instagram and WhatsApp
On Thursday, February 24, when the world was reeling from the start of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, Meta (parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) and Twitter disseminated a set of security tips for citizens, but also journalists and human rights activists on the ground. “When using Twitter in conflict zones or high-risk regions, it is important to know how to control your account and digital information,” explained an official Twitter account, in a thread in English and Ukrainian. The company recalls in particular the procedure to follow to avoid leaking geolocation data by publishing on the social network.
The latest information live: the Russian offensive is entering its second day, explosions heard in Kiev
For its part, Meta announced the establishment of an internal operations center to analyze the evolution of the crisis in real time. The company has also deployed, for its users present in Ukraine, a tool to instantly lock their account: this allows in one click to prevent users with whom they are not friends from seeing their profile information (photos, personal data, publications). This initiative had already been put in place in Afghanistan after the Taliban took power in order to protect the inhabitants there. The goal, at the time, was to protect Afghans who had worked with U.S. authorities or the toppled government, as well as human rights activists, and anyone who might be wanted by the Taliban.
The thorny problem of moderation
The other aspect that occupies the main social networks is that of content moderation, and in particular attempts to manipulate information. Facebook posted numerous disinformation videos on Thursday, including one on Facebook Gaming, a video platform of the social network, according to Bloomberg. Screenshots of war games, such as the title Arma 3, were shown to thousands of viewers, presented as images of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, before being deleted by Meta. Many misleading images are also circulating on Telegram messaging, which is extremely popular in Russia and Ukraine, and where very rudimentary moderation is applied.
Some Internet users and journalists, like the teams of the investigative site Bellingcat or the video service of the World, have organized to fight against this flood of images and videos faked, seeking to verify live their provenance and authenticity. At the same time, platforms are trying to block accounts spreading this false information, even if sometimes with zeal: on Wednesday, on the eve of the launch of the Russian operation, Twitter acknowledged that it had mistakenly suspended a dozen accounts that published information and images about Russian troop movements.
Read also War in Ukraine: beware of these old recycled videos online
More than ever necessary in such a context, however, is the systematic deletion of images and false information not likely to be a problem in the future, since some photos and videos may constitute evidence, for example of war crimes? The question is all the more thorny because, if Russia achieved its goal, there would be a great temptation to make such coins disappear, or even a whole part of the Ukrainian Web.
This is the reason why some are already trying to archive as many elements as possible: the start-up Arweave has thus called for collecting as many elements related to the conflict as possible and storing them on the blockchain, while the Archive Team group, as noted by the specialized site Input, encourages Internet users to download their ArchiveTeam Warrior application. The latter, already used in the past to preserve remnants of certain corners of the Internet destined for destruction, allows people who install it on their computers to participate in a collective effort to systematically archive Ukrainian Internet sites.
Delicate choices
Social networks will also face complex decisions on the nature of content to be left online or not, especially since the major American platforms are a political battleground.
On Thursday, on its Twitter account, the Ukrainian government called on the social network to ban Russia’s official account, believing that there was “no place for an aggressor like Russia on Western social networks”. In France, Sleeping Giants activists have also asked Google to affix a warning banner when articles from the RT France and Sputnik media appear in the “news” tab of the search engine, in a context where the Elysée Palace is closely monitoring these media accused of relaying the propaganda of the Russian authorities.
According to internal documents consulted by The Intercept, Facebook has also decided, following the Russian military invasion in Ukraine, to allow speeches in favor of the Azov Battalion, an ultranationalist Ukrainian militia, as long as these words are limited to describing their military action against Russian forces. This armed group, with an openly neo-Nazi ideology, had nevertheless been banned in 2019.
Our selection of articles on the war in Ukraine
Find all our articles on the Ukrainian crisis in our section.
Portrait Volodymyr Zelensky, the face of the resistance of an entire people Chronicle “Putin’s record at the head of Russia is a long descent into hell of a country of which he made an aggressor” Glossary Donbass, Minsk agreements, “finlandization” … The words to understand Seen from France Fifteen years of political complacency towards Vladimir Putin Editorial Facing Russia, the surge of the European Union Video What does Russia want from Vladimir Putin, thirty years after the end of the Cold War? View more View less
The contributions area is reserved for subscribers. Subscribe to access this space and contribute to the discussion. Subscribe Already subscribed? Log in
Contribute
Share Share disabled Share disabled share Disabled Send by e-mail Share disabled share disabled share Disabled share Disabled
