Disclosure How dubious communities with the names “Military speaks” play along with Russian propaganda
Communities with names like “Military speaks” or “Voice of the common people of Ukraine” have become more active in social networks, spreading pro-Russian manipulative rhetoric. Analysts of the project “Beyond the News” drew attention to this.
They analyzed the creation and content history of four Facebook groups, namely “Military speaks”, “Military says”, “Military truthfully”, and “Automechanic says”. They were created on March 14 and 21 this year. In the description of the communities there is also a link to a telegram channel with a similar name, created on March 17th. To these pages, analysts also add the pages “Military speaks (CrazyNews)” and “Voice of the common people of Ukraine”, despite the fact that they were created several years ago. At first, these two groups published information about employment in Poland, but in February of this year they changed the appearance of their messages to republish videos from TikTok and Telegram.
The message of these messages is the same: “do not trust the Ukrainian authorities”. The administrators of these pages actively use information guides, distorting the message of the authors of the primary sources published on the pages. To do this, they add emotional titles or video comments. In addition, publications of other well-known fake makers are distributed on these pages.
The administrator of the telegram channel mentioned in the description of the pages is an account under the nickname Serhii Pekh. His video message can also be found on some of the communities mentioned. Analysts of the project “Beyond the News” found out that this person has nothing to do with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He positions himself as an expert on the legalization of Ukrainians in Poland and an influencer. According to analysts, these communities were probably created for their further resale and monetization of content in general, using an increased level of trust in the military.
Thus, for the sake of profit, administrators play along with one of the goals of Russian propagandists - to cause distrust in the Ukrainian authorities and destabilize the situation in society by creating panic.