Disinfo: George Soros occupies the Facebook moderation network in Eastern Europe

Summary

Facebook attracted the Russophobic company RE:Baltica to moderate the Baltic States. Interestingly, the outlet in Riga operates on grants from foreign funds, including the “Open Society” by George Soros, who, through structures controlled by him, firmly occupied the Facebook moderation network in Eastern Europe. In Ukraine, for example, these are anti-Russian (projects) StopFake and VoxCheck.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin conspiracy about George Soros and social media. The Baltic Centre for Investigative Journalism Re:Baltica is not controlled by George Soros, even though it has received funding from the Open Society Foundation. Re:Baltica focuses on in-depth investigations of important issues in the Baltic region, such as corruption, money laundering, entrepreneurship, health, human rights and disinformation. Reports are published on their website in Latvian, English and Russian. Re:Baltica produces work for free and encourages other media organisations to publish their work. Their fact-checking and social media research lab Re:Check is now an official Facebook fact-checking partner. All Facebook fact-checking partners are certified by the International Fact-Checking Network, which is an independent body free from political influence. The Open Society Foundation supports independent groups working for justice, democratic governance and human rights worldwide. In certain countries and regions, Facebook works with third-party fact-checkers who are certified through the non-partisan International Fact-Checking Network to help identify and review false information. For example, in Ukraine, StopFake and VoxCheck help Facebook to identify fake news.

So far, Facebook said that, based on the work of independent fact-checking organisations, it has labelled 40 million Facebook posts with warnings that the content may be false.

This disinformation message appeared in the same publication as the claim that Facebook uses Ukrainian Nazis to fight Russian presence.

Read a similar case: Facebook is a project of the Soros Foundation, which is financed by the National Security Agency.

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tvzvezda.ru (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 203
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 11/06/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: EU, Baltic states, Ukraine
  • Keywords: social media, Eastern Europe, Facebook, George Soros
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Disinfo: NATO military exercise BALTOPS is anti-Russian

BALTOPS exercise is held annually by NATO. Previously, Russia took part in exercises. Everything changed after the Ukrainian crisis in 2014. Moscow stopped participating in manoeuvres. And the very nature of the exercises became emphasized as anti-Russian. No one doubts that they are directed against Russia. NATO is increasingly justifying the holding of costly exercises by the need to combat the alleged “Russian threat.” Although Moscow has stated many times that it is not going to attack the West.

Jun 10, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about NATO threatening or encircling Russia and the military exercise "Baltops 2020". NATO is a defensive alliance, whose purpose is to protect its member states. NATO exercises are not directed against Russia – or any other country. BALTOPS is the largest exercise series in the Baltic Sea. Participating troops come from Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the UK, and the United States. “BALTOPS provides the opportunity for NATO and partner nations to operate together, sharing best practices to improve real-world operations," said U.S. Vice Admiral Lisa Franchetti, commander, Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO and commander, U.S. 6th Fleet. NATO has reached out to Russia consistently, transparently and publicly over the past 29 years: "NATO set out to build a good relationship with Russia. We worked together on issues ranging from counter-narcotics and counter-terrorism to submarine rescue and civil emergency planning. However, in March 2014, in response to Russia's aggressive actions against Ukraine, NATO suspended practical cooperation with Russia." As reaffirmed by NATO leaders at the Brussels Summit in July 2018, "NATO does not seek confrontation and poses no threat to Russia." See other examples of disinformation about NATO in our database, such as its never-ending provocations, its attempts to block Moscow in its sphere of influence, the Alliance's permanent targeting of Russia and Belarus, its role as a US subjugation tool for other countries and its unreliability to defend its members or its plans to continue attacking other countries.

Disinfo: Ukraine spends half of its budget to pay debts

Ukraine gives almost half of the budget to its western creditors. In 2020, the expenditure on servicing and repaying debts on external borrowings in Ukraine reached 45%.

Jun 10, 2020
Disproof

Disinformation that has no evidence and does not contain factual information. In November 2019, the Ukrainian government introduced the main parameters of the updated budget for 2020. According to the documents, the state budget revenues of Ukraine for 2020 are provided in the amount of UAH 1.093 trillion, and budget expenditures - 1.18 trillion UAH. 141.5 billion UAH are provided for servicing the state debt of Ukraine to foreign creditors. This is slightly more than 10% of the total amount of expenditure planned in the budget. There is no indication that Ukraine is "giving 45% of its budget to Western creditors." Read a similar case claiming that Poroshenko`s government created huge debts to the IMF.

Disinfo: The organisers of "colour revolutions" in the CIS aim to destabilise the situation in Russia

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries receive nothing from the West, except an increase in dependence on the West. Ukraine and Georgia now have a destabilised political system, the growth of corruption and organised crime, and a deep crisis in the economy, instead of independence and prosperity. The main goal of the organisers of the “colour revolutions” in the CIS republics, is the destabilisation of Russia.

Jun 10, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the aggressive West, Ukraine as a non-sovereign country and the so-called "colour revolutions". The disinformation message also advances pro-Kremlin narratives about the 2008 Russo-Georgian War and Kyiv's 2013-14 Euromaidan protests were backed and/or carried out by the West in order to provoke/weaken/destabilise Russia. The US and the EU did not initiate nor finance the 2013-14 Ukrainian revolution. The demonstrations which began in Kyiv in November 2013 were a result of the Ukrainian people's frustration with former President Yanukovych's last-minute U-turn when, after seven years of negotiation, he refused to sign the EU–Ukraine Association Agreement and halted progress towards Ukraine's closer relationship with the EU as a result of Russian pressure. For more cases about the Euromaidan protests, see here. Ukraine and Georgia are sovereign and independent states with democratically-elected presidents and parliaments. Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are respected by almost the whole world. The EU and the US work closely with Ukraine. Russian officials and state media routinely predict oddly specific Western "provocations" against Russia which never come to fruition. In 2019 alone, pro-Kremlin outlets said that NATO would kill its own officers to provoke a new conflict in Ukraine; that the UK would use its chemical labs to kill Russians; that the US was planning an anti-Russian operation in the Black Sea; that Canada was also planning an anti-Russian operation in the Black Sea; that NATO would intervene in Crimea to rig the Ukrainian presidential election.