Ukraine war: All abuzz on the propaganda front 

On February 26, news began to circulate on social media that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had fled from the capital of the country, Kyiv. For all intents and purposes, such news has the potential to collapse Ukrainian morale, while showing the world that Russia's victory in the conflict was just a matter of time. 

But the news simply was not true. Zelensky then filmed a video on his cellphone while walking on the streets of Kyiv to dispel the rumours. This has been far from an isolated incident, though. 

Ever since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of a "special military operation" in Ukraine, almost all social media platforms have been flooded with false news, misinformation and blatant propaganda.

Propaganda has always been an integral part of waging wars. From making a war look justified to destroying the reputation of one's enemies- propaganda can be wielded intently and precisely to accomplish strategic goals. 

But the advent and spread of social media have taken the usage of propaganda to a whole new level. Misinformation is now not only being generated by belligerent governments, but also by random people in faraway countries who have no stake in the conflict. 

But let us start by examining the narratives coming out of the two hostile countries, Russia and Ukraine. Vladimir Putin and his government have been reluctant to call the conflict with Ukraine a "war" so far. 

Instead, the Russian government has tried to frame the invasion as a peacekeeping force sent to protect Luhansk and Donetsk, two break-away states within Ukraine. This notion is further legitimised by emphasising Putin's previous claims about an ongoing genocide against the Russian-speaking minority within Ukraine. 

As a result, according to the Guardian, the Russian government has barred the country's media from using words such as "war", "attack" and "invasion" to describe the conflict. The government has also limited its citizens' access to social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. 

Conversely, Russia has been cleverly using social media to spread misinformation to the rest of the world. According to NBC news, a Russian propaganda campaign called "Ukraine Today" had been undertaken on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It also has a website, like any other news platform.

But all employees and writers of this agency were created by using deep fakes, an artificial face generation technology. The campaign has been linked to St Petersburg troll farm, an entity charged by Robert Muller for intervening in the 2016 US presidential election.

Other forms of misinformation are also present in the social media space. For example, Facebook posts claiming that Russian forces have offered safe evacuation passage to the residents of Mariupol began to circulate yesterday. 

But such an offer seems too good to be true as the city has already been bombed for several days. Indeed, the Mariupol City Council has denied the existence of any such offer and has labelled it as a potential "act of sabotage." 

There have also been attempts to demonise the Ukrainian military. Russian outlets like RG.ru, Rueconomics, Vnnwes.ru has claimed that the Ukrainian military has used illegal phosphorus bombs against Russian forces, but these claims seem to be based on nothing. 

In fact, the news of Zelensky's flight from the capital was also first reported by Russian media outlets. 

For its part, Ukraine has mostly been able to counter Russian propaganda with its own. President Zelensky, a former comedian, has wielded his charisma and rhetoric to describe the plight of his people to the world. 

But, he also has called on Russians to come down on the streets in millions and protest against their government, a not so subtle way to undermine the Russian government's authority. 

Heroic narratives have also been carved. At the beginning of the invasion, a pilot nicknamed the "Ghost of Kyiv" was credited to destroy six Russian fighter jets with his MiG-29. Posts in social media also credited him as the first "ace" pilot since WW2.

Even one of Ukraine's former presidents posted a photo of the extraordinary soldier.

But in reality, the footage of the heroic pilot was just simulation footage from Digital Combat Simulator, a free to play combat simulation video game. 

Illustration: TBS

Another propaganda problem has emerged for the West during this conflict, and it has to do with cyberattacks. Russia has long adopted cyberattacks as one of the legitimate sources of retribution and the US and its allies have condemned such actions fiercely. 

But now, Ukraine is organising cyberattacks on Russian websites. The "IT Army of Ukraine", a collection of hackers organised by Ukraine's Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov, has sent out an unprecedented offer for all hackers of the world. 

Anyone can now join their Telegram channel, which has over 2,70,000 subscribers and try to take down a Russian website. But with its traditional opposition to cyberattacks, the US cannot support this initiative now. 

Even though they have not condemned the attacks, the country has claimed that they are not allowing hackers to use American routers to conduct distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. But as launching such cyberattacks is a crime in the US and most Western countries, they may have to actively try to prevent them. 

Ukrainian and Belarusian cyber groups have also claimed to sabotage Russian railroads and power stations to disrupt troop transport. Even though these claims have been impossible to verify, they are unlikely as experts do not think they have the ability to conduct such cyber-physical attacks. 

Of course, people from other countries are also propagating disinformation on social media platforms. From using video game footage to demonstrate Russian bombing to using footage of military exercises to demonstrate strength, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and TikTok has been awash with false news. 

TikTok, especially, has seen a flurry of misinformation. Videos under the #RussianInvasion has received 32 million views, while videos with #RussiaUkraine has racked up 132 million views. But worryingly, many of these videos are either fabricated or misleading. 

For example, multiple videos of the Beirut explosion has been circulating around the platform as evidence of russian bombing. On the other hand, a movie's depiction of war was used as footage of a direct conflict between Russian and Ukrainian soldiers. 

Grifters and frauds on the Internet have also tried to exploit the sympathy of the world towards Ukraine. Many are opening fake fundraising websites using graphic images of previous conflicts to drive traffic and donations. Patreon has already shut down two such efforts. 

Why are people, who seemingly have nothing to do with the conflict, spreading misinformation? Many do it to seek attention, some do to monetise it, others are simply ignorant and share whatever they see on the Internet without verifying. 

Some of this false news can be hilarious, like Joe Rogan's post claiming that the American actor Steven Segal was fighting for Russia against Ukraine. But others can be extremely dangerous. 

QAnon conspiracy theorists have begun to speculate that the Russian invasion is a covert plot to destroy the US's biological weapons that are being held in Ukraine. Some have even claimed that the invasion was Putin's way of preventing Dr Anthony Fauci from creating a new version of the coronavirus. 

Wars are, above all, human stories. But misinformation, false narratives and deliberate or unintentional propaganda can obscure actual news of the suffering and plight of people and divert public attention to outlandish ridiculous claims. Such a condition will not be helpful to any party involved. 

A simple reverse image search or a quick Google inquiry before sharing any news regarding Ukraine and the invasion should be standard practice for all social media users. It is the least we can do to reduce the suffering of the people caught in this conflict.