The State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications analyzed social networks and found more than 50 widely replicated examples of falsification of facts related to unauthorized rallies. The chairman of the committee, deputy Alexander Khinshtein told RT about the main trends in the field of online campaigning of protesters.
- Alexander Evseevich, what is the technology of protest agitation today? Are modern fakes with a call to take to the streets different from those that spread a year, two, five years ago?
- Now there are new fakes that have not been encountered before in Russia. These are stories with fake law enforcement officers. They rip off themselves as a sign of protest the allegedly deserved shoulder straps and tokens.
Such technologies were used in other countries of the post-Soviet space, but not yet in Russia. We have recorded 13 such examples. All 13 people have nothing to do with the service (in law enforcement agencies - RT), and only one of them had previously served on conscription.
There were also very active fakes that the security forces were armed and that they were ordered to use firearms to kill.
At the same time, the topic of sacred victims was promoted, that is, they posted photographs of people who were allegedly killed in the course of suppressing the riots.
- What technology was used to distribute fakes - a classic repost or massive publications of the same type from different accounts?
- Both options. There were cases when similar texts appeared in different accounts, there were cases when there was a massive repost.
- Which Internet site ended up as the leader in the intensity of distribution of fakes related to protests?
- The maximum concentration of fakes was detected on the TikTok platform, the target audience of which is children and adolescents. This is a very bad trend. Here they tried to use the maximalist psychology inherent in youth. After all, young people are always revolutionary in their essence.
- Did the campaigning on TikTok have any specific features?
- There was a fake with a video in which a riot police officer provides first aid to a protester, bent over him. This footage was circulated with an explanation that riot policemen were beating a man.
- Do you expect new fakes and new waves of agitation to appear in the near future?
- There is no doubt that she will. The activity will obviously increase on the eve and on the day of the unauthorized actions.
- Do you have an idea how to deal with this phenomenon?
- This is a complex problem - not prohibitive measures and not only the improvement of the law.
Today we are concerned that the younger generation is not being taught the basics of digital security.
Fact-checking is extremely difficult for a young person, that is, it is quite difficult to verify the authenticity of the information.
A teenager perceives any news emotionally, as something that affects him.
- Is this a worldwide problem? No one has come up with a cure for this virus yet?
There is a positive experience in China, where children are immersed in a digital environment from preschool age. They attend digital security lessons.
We plan to discuss this issue with relevant departments in order to think about introducing digital security lessons in our schools.
