Fake social media profiles of Ukrainian news outlets advertise anonymous Telegram channels
Fake social media profiles of Ukrainian news outlets were discovered advertising anonymous regional Telegram channels, reports the fact-checking project "Nota Yenota".
"They used a fake Ukrinform page to create an ad with screenshots from UNIAN and TSN and are promoting a network of anonymous regional Telegram channels. There are definitely channels for Novolynsk, Kovel, Kamyanske, Irpin, Pobuzhzhya (Pobuzke village). Mostly these are small villages and towns, but there are also ads of Telegram channels for Zhytomyr, Rivne and other oblast centers," the fact-checkers note.
Photos by Nota Yenota
"Nota Yenota" gave their readers advice on how to check the owners or admins of a Telegram channel.
"Click on the Telegram channel's icon and look at the description to see if there is any information about who runs it: other social media, websites, any details. If the description only contains the contacts for advertising or submitting news, it is anonymous," the fact-checkers note.
They also advise to unfollow such Telegram channels. "You never know who is running them and for what purpose. 90% might be true information with citations, but 10% will be dupes that ordinary subscribers will not recognise. Anonymous Telegram channels mostly post advertisements, but almost none label it as 'sponsored' – so a user does not know whether they are reading real news or commissioned content," the post says.
It also often happens that pages that share ads with odd names on social media are empty and have no information on them.
As IMI reported, a fake article by Chernihiv journalist Iryna Synelnyk, who works with the news agency UNIAN, has been circulated on Facebook. The article was posted by a clone of the news outlet's page. It is being spread on the social media platform through advertising. According to Iryna, the article is signed with her name and talks about the heavy losses of the Ukrainian army and the need to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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