UK Accuses Russia Of Using Trolls To Spread Disinformation

Russia accuses Britain of using a troll factory to spread disinformation about the war in Ukraine. (photo: doc. pixabay)

JAKARTA - The UK Foreign Office said on Sunday, May 1 that Russia was using a troll factory to spread disinformation about the war in Ukraine on social media and target politicians in a number of countries including the UK and South Africa.

Trolls are people who intentionally make online posts that are offensive or provocative. The UK cites the results of unpublished UK-funded expert research.

Britain says the study uncovers how the Kremlin's disinformation campaign was designed to manipulate international public opinion about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, increase support for Russia and recruit new sympathizers.

Britain said the study showed that a troll troll (Russia) used Telegram to recruit and coordinate new supporters, who then targeted the social media profiles of Kremlin critics and spammed them with comments supporting President Vladimir Putin and his war campaign.

"We cannot allow the Kremlin and its dishonest troll farm to invade our cyberspace with their lies about Putin's illegal wars," British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement.

"The UK government has warned its international partners and will continue to work with allies and media platforms to undermine Russia's information operations," Truss said.

The British government said some of the people targeted by the disinformation included senior British ministers and other world leaders. The UK also said that traces of the Russian disinformation operation had been detected on eight social media platforms including Telegram, Twitter, Facebook and TikTok.

Moscow has also denied accusations by Western countries of a disinformation campaign, such as Washington's accusations that Russia attempted to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election.

Meanwhile Russia says Western media have provided an exaggerated partial narrative about the war in Ukraine.

According to Russia, the Western narrative largely ignores Moscow's concerns about the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and what Russia sees as a persecution of Russian-speaking people in Ukraine. However, the allegations of mistreatment were denied by Kiev.

Russia has called the military action in Ukraine a "special operation" to disarm Ukraine and protect the country from fascist groups.

Ukraine and the West say the fascist accusations are baseless and the war in Ukraine is an unwarranted act of aggression on the part of Russia.