[Actually] A war-torn Ukraine... Fake news causing confusion

War is growing in Ukraine.

Thirty years after the end of the Cold War, Europe is shaking as it recalls the faded memories of the war.

Wars are no longer just happening in front of your eyes.

In the age of SNS, another war is already taking place in the online space through 'information disturbance'.

Disinformation that fuels confusion is at the heart of it.

We took a look at the Ukrainian false information floating around on social media.

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Will the US hand over arms to Russia?

Recently, the following photos spread rapidly on social media.

"Sources: Putin to delay invasion until Biden delivers weapons to Ukraine for Russia to capture," the CNN broadcast read, "according to a source." This is a screen capture.

CNN News photo is spreading by manipulating subtitles

However, it was confirmed that it was spread by manipulating the subtitles of the CNN broadcast on March 30, 2017. 

CNN News Original

The photo quickly spread among people who hated President Biden.

When the United States withdrew from Afghanistan last year, there were rumors that a number of weapons had been handed over to the Taliban.

Former President Donald Trump also claimed that 100 trillion won worth of weapons had been handed over to the Taliban.

The SBS fact-check team also fact-checked that this claim was exaggerated through the Afghan Special Inspector General's (SIGAR) quarterly report and the US General Accounting Office (GAO) report in September of last year.

This time, as President Biden did in Afghanistan, it is interpreted that disinformation was created to attack the government, saying that he had agreed to hand over arms to Russia.

War must be a very pressing issue for the people of Ukraine, and someone is using this disinformation as a material for political attacks.

Are all Ukrainian protest signs in English?

Recently, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova appeared on a TV show and claimed that "all signs of protests in Ukraine are in English."

Faced with the threat of a Russian invasion, Ukrainian citizens are protesting against Russia's invasion and condemning Russia across the country. 

The demonstration, which Zaharova cited as an example, was a large-scale demonstration held in Kharkiv, a city in eastern Ukraine on the 5th, and he said, "Everyone knows that the official language of Kharkiv is not English." Proof that it's a protest for the press." 

It gives off the nuance that there is a Western power behind the protest, and it can be seen as an attempt to downgrade the purity of the assembly.

However, the SBS faction team looked at the pickets of foreign media videos at the time, and most of them were in Ukrainian language except for 'Stop' and 'Stop Russian Aggression', meaning to stop the Russian war.

'Stop' is also a word often used in domestic protests.

Ukraine attempted a chemical attack?

Recently, Russian media reported that Ukraine was attempting a chemical attack on the pro-Russian region of Horliuka.

Horliuka is controlled by the pro-Russian Donetsk Republic in Ukraine.

An attempt was made to blow up chlorine storage containers at the Horliuka sewage treatment plant. 

The report was on the 18th, and the US had previously expected that Russia would disseminate this information.

US Secretary of State Tony Blincol said at a UN Security Council meeting on the previous day that "Russia could pretend to have discovered bombing or genocide burials on Russian territory, or create false or real chemical weapons attacks."

Horliuka has been the site of fierce battles during the Donetsk Republic's takeover in 2014.

'Battle of Horliuka'.

At the time, the Ukrainian government bombarded the area to retake it.

Over 30 civilians were killed in the 50-day battle.

That was just a few years ago.

There are many ordinary people in Horliuka who live with the memories of war.

Beyond the question of who is right and who is wrong in Russia and the West, such false information inevitably stimulates the anxiety and fear of ordinary people. 

War is fueled by extreme hatred.

Disinformation fuels hatred.

Some people create and distribute disinformation for political reasons, and others just for fun, but in the end, ordinary people may have to pay the price.

Still, this situation has a strong proxy war character, in which the power struggle between the United States, Western countries, and Russia takes place in the space of Ukraine. 

While it may seem irrelevant to us right now, we too are paying the price of disinformation through pandemics and big elections.

I believe that the distribution, spread and consumption of disinformation originating from Ukraine is leaving important lessons for our society as well.

The SBS Facts team is aiming for fact-checking that goes beyond simply determining facts and lies, and unraveling the various layers of the world we live in.

You can request a fact check verification by typing SBS facts on the Internet.

If you request it, we will fact-check it to the best of our ability.