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groundloop

(12,262 posts)
Fri Oct 18, 2024, 07:32 AM Oct 18

Right-wing influencers hyped anti-Ukraine videos made by producer funded by Russia

Source: ABC News

The Kremlin could not have asked for better publicity at a better time when Ben Swann, a self-described independent journalist who promotes conspiracy theories, released a 12-part video series he promised would reveal dark truths about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Swann’s flashy documentary-style videos were filled with innuendo, attacks on Zelenskyy’s character and commentary from guests sympathetic to Russia in its two-year war with Ukraine.

The series, titled “Zelenskyy Unmasked,” launched in April as Congress was debating increasing military assistance to Ukraine, and it quickly caught the attention of conservative social media influencers who hyped the project to their millions of followers.

[.......]

Unlike other conservative media personalities who last month expressed shock upon learning they may have been secretly financed by the Kremlin, Swann has no such qualms. He's worked for Russia’s state-owned media empire for years, with one of his companies earning millions of dollars for producing Kremlin-friendly shows.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/wing-influencers-hyped-anti-ukraine-videos-made-tv-114917476

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Right-wing influencers hyped anti-Ukraine videos made by producer funded by Russia (Original Post) groundloop Oct 18 OP
Gee why am I not surprised? mdbl Oct 18 #1
For all the blame being placed on Traditional Media... TomCADem Oct 18 #2

TomCADem

(17,760 posts)
2. For all the blame being placed on Traditional Media...
Fri Oct 18, 2024, 11:12 AM
Oct 18

…the truth is that it has diminished in importance as more Americans rely on social media sources for their news and information. Social media recommendation and ranking algorithms also mislead millions of people since the methodology is secret and there is no warning that the recommendations are not based on accuracy or even that any type of journalistic standards are being applied.

With Amazon or Yelp, we expect that the products or restaurants with numerous top ratings are going to be pretty good and folks will tend not to buy a product that is low rated or has very few ratings.

However, this does not really apply to social media, but people dont’t know that, thus a clickbait story filled with lies about immigrants eating pets can go viral.

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