In a recent tweet, Warner said he is “concerned” that “Russian disinformation” will spread unless the CEOs of all the major tech companies “restrict the spread of Russian propaganda.”
YouTube responded to Warner’s tweet by suppressing all videos from Russian state media channels so that they will be seen by fewer people in accordance with Google’s openly acknowledged policy of algorithmically censoring “unauthorized content.” All such videos have also been demonetized on the Google-owned video platform.
Over at Facebook and Instagram (Meta), Russian state media outlets are now prohibited from running ads and monetizing on their platforms. Twitter similarly announced a pause on all ads in both Russia and Ukraine.
“Glad to see action from tech companies to reign in Russian propaganda and disinformation after my letter to their CEOs yesterday,” Warner tweeted after that. “These are important first steps, but I’ll keep pushing for more.”
Now, that censorship agenda has expanded to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with Washington, D.C., of course taking the side of Ukraine.
“Articles and news segments warning of the sinister threat posed by Russian propaganda to misinform and divide western populations using the internet are being churned out at a rate that’s only likely to increase as this latest narrative management campaign gets into full gear,” Zero Hedge reported.
“The Associated Press has a new article out, for example, titled ‘War via TikTok: Russia’s new tool for propaganda machine.'”
In that article, the AP claimed that “[a]rmies of trolls and bots stir up anti-Ukrainian sentiment,” and that “[s]tate-controlled media outlets look to divide Western audiences.”
“Clever TikTok videos serve up Russian nationalism with a side of humor,” the article added.
The same article goes on to claim that analysts at “several different research organizations” contacted the AP to report a “sharp increase in online activity by groups affiliated with the Russian state.”
“That’s in keeping with Russia’s strategy of using social media and state-run outlets to galvanize domestic support while seeking to destabilize the Western alliance,” the AP alleges...<<<Read More>>>...
