Ukraine got to inventory of countries having recourse to computational propaganda

70 countries, including Ukraine, spread fake news on social networks, as it is stated in the report of the Oxford Internet Institute for 2019, cited by “Tyzhden.ua”.

As to the experts, each country has at least one political party or state agency that uses social networks to shape public opinion within the country. In Ukraine, misinformation teams have an "average potential" and consistent strategy, and about 20,000 people are involved in misinformation campaigns.

In addition, scientists have come to the conclusion that the main platform for manipulating and disseminating fakes is Facebook. Twitter came in second place, followed by Instagram, WhatApp and YouTube.

At the same time, among the countries with “high potential” in the manipulation campaigns, experts named the USA, Russia, China, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Syria. This means that a large number of staff are involved in these countries, and a significant amount of money is allocated to their operations.

In 26 countries, propaganda is used as a tool to control information by suppressing basic human rights, discrediting political opponents and suppressing conflicting opinions. This is Russia, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Venezuela, Venezuela Vietnam, Zimbabwe.

The Russian Federation has also been included in a number of countries trying to influence public opinion abroad through Facebook and Twitter. Also on this list are China, India, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

Photo credit: comprop.oii.ox.ac.uk