Isolated Russia: the decisions of tech companies and social media

The war between Russia and Ukraine is being fought on (at least) four fronts: the first, certainly the bloodiest and most dramatic, is that of the Ukrainian cities and countryside, the second concerns politics – from relations with the US, EU and NATO to to space, as unfortunately is happening -, the third brings up the economyfourth there net. Each of these is closely linked to the others, a false step in one risks compromising everything.

And that’s why so many companies around the world are starting to adopt measures against Moscowas well as the large social platforms have taken decisions to protect users – especially those who live in countries affected by the conflict – and for prevent false news from being disseminated. Let’s see how the tech world and large companies operating on the web are reacting to the war.

Crucial point during a conflict is the dissemination of fake news. They arrived on time, published by (fake) accounts based in Russia and Ukraine – probably bots – that pretending to be journalists and experts started publishing completely unfounded news on Facebook and other platforms (including the Russian Telegram).

• The discovered network is about one forty accounts, pages and groups who had already worked in the past on issues related to Donbass. Their intent was also to create mistrust of the West, accusing it of having betrayed Ukraine.
• Another threat comes from Ghostwriteran account that attacks users, famous people and military in Ukraine through compromised emails, with the aim of stealing their social media access data and publishing fake news in their name (an example: the images – false – of a group of Ukrainian soldiers coming out of a wood with the white flag in surrender).
• Facebook recommends all users – especially those residing in Russia and Ukraine, but the warning covers the whole world – of increase the security level of your accounts.

At the request of the Ukrainian government, Meta has restricted access to various accounts, especially those of Russian state media. The control systems have been enhanced on all its platforms: in most cases the innovations concern the whole world. Between these:

• monitoring of messages in Russian and Ukrainian by mother tongue experts
• I invite you to use messages on WhatsApp that allow you to view a photo only once
• increase of the security systems of your account (Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp)
• strengthening the fight against fake news
• increase in news recommended directly from Facebook
• ban on advertising by the Russian state media (RT, Sputnik): “We prohibit Russian state media from posting ads or monetizing on our platform around the world. We also continue to apply labels to other Russian state media“
• autonomy from pressure from Russia (it really happened: the Russian authorities had asked to block the fact-checking of four state media, Meta refused to do so)

Alphabet also took the first steps against Russia. YouTubefor example, has blocked the ability for state media (such as RT) to post ads and monetize on the platform. These media are no longer featured in the recommended videos and have been completely blocked in Ukraine. In the last few days alone, the videos removed from the platform would be thousands, and hundreds of accounts banned.

In general, Google Europe has communicated that control measures have been strengthened against the spread of false news and to defend against possible hacker attacks.

Google later confirmed that from yesterday some Maps tools have been disabled in Ukraineespecially those about real-time traffic and crowding of specific areas such as restaurants and shops.

“We have temporarily suspended advertisements in Ukraine and Russia to ensure that critical public safety information is highlighted and that advertisements are not affected.“. In short:

• Tweets control level has been increased
• authoritative sources are recommended to inquire about the facts
• accounts that may be targets of attack (journalists, politicians, activists) are constantly monitored

On the other hand, Russia allegedly partially blocked access to Twitter in the country. There are several reports in this regard, including that of a BBC journalist. The platform later confirmed that many users are unable to access social media. Same thing had happened the last few days with Facebook.

One of the ways to stop the war is take away raw materials and products from Russia. And this would be the intent of reality like Intel and AMD, intent on disrupting the procurement of processors through an unprecedented technology ban. This decision would fall within the sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe. The day on which the stop to exports should be sanctioned should be March 3, but internal rumors of the companies confirm that the ban is already in place.

Attention, however: the ban will not concern consumer products intended for the population, but only those for companies – private or public – and state bodies. In this way we try not to hit the citizens but only the institutions, so that, in the medium-long term, Russia is no longer able to keep its IT systems up to date.

Let’s summarize the companies in the technology sector that have already made the decision to block exports to Russia:

• Intel
• AMD
• TSMC – “We comply with all applicable laws and regulations and are fully committed to complying with the new announced export control rules“.

We will update the article as more communications from companies and social networks arrive.

Credits opening image: Pixabay