Posted on Feb 1, 2023
A pro-Russian social media campaign is trying to influence politics in Africa
276
4
1
3
3
0
https://www.npr.org/2023/02/01/ [login to see] /a-pro-russian-social-media-campaign-is-trying-to-influence-politics-in-africa
Close to a year since the invasion of Ukraine, activists aligned with Russia are pushing pro-Kremlin messages in Africa using a coordinated French-language network spanning Facebook, YouTube, Telegram and other online channels.
The network, dubbed "Russosphere," is connected to a far-right Belgian political activist who was involved in overseeing contested Russian-backed referenda in Crimea and Donbas in 2014, according to researchers at Logically, a company that tracks online misinformation and disinformation. The activist, Luc Michel, was also involved in a 2021 effort to create a breakaway "Republic of Detroit'' in the U.S., which garnered little attention but could serve as a blueprint for Russian-aligned efforts to influence American politics, Logically says.
It's the latest example of how influence campaigns connected to Russia capitalize on social and political divisions – a continuation of the tactics the Kremlin used during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. And it shows how social media remains a potent channel to spread pro-Russian messages, even as the big technology platforms have tried to crack down on manipulation and state-backed propaganda.
Close to a year since the invasion of Ukraine, activists aligned with Russia are pushing pro-Kremlin messages in Africa using a coordinated French-language network spanning Facebook, YouTube, Telegram and other online channels.
The network, dubbed "Russosphere," is connected to a far-right Belgian political activist who was involved in overseeing contested Russian-backed referenda in Crimea and Donbas in 2014, according to researchers at Logically, a company that tracks online misinformation and disinformation. The activist, Luc Michel, was also involved in a 2021 effort to create a breakaway "Republic of Detroit'' in the U.S., which garnered little attention but could serve as a blueprint for Russian-aligned efforts to influence American politics, Logically says.
It's the latest example of how influence campaigns connected to Russia capitalize on social and political divisions – a continuation of the tactics the Kremlin used during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. And it shows how social media remains a potent channel to spread pro-Russian messages, even as the big technology platforms have tried to crack down on manipulation and state-backed propaganda.
A pro-Russian social media campaign is trying to influence politics in Africa
Posted from npr.org
Russia
Africa
Propaganda
Technology
Posted 1 y ago
Responses: 1
1
1
0
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."A campaign to declare Detroit an independent republic
Logically also identified a separate campaign involving Michel and EODE targeting Americans. EODE claimed to monitor a referendum in Detroit attempting to create a breakaway republic inside the U.S., without success.
The "Republic of Detroit" movement appears to be the creation of Ramzu Yunus, an American whom Detroit's city attorney has described as a "snake oil salesman". In 2021, city officials warned Detroit residents that Yunus was pushing a hoax claiming to offer free houses.
Yunus and Michel also serve as co-chairs of the North Atlantic Peace Organization, which claims to be an alternative to the NATO military and security alliance, focused on "Afrodescendants in the United States who are asserting their right of self-determination and citizens of the Russian Federation."
Walter, of Logically, said while Yunus's separatist efforts in Detroit amounted to a "weird sideshow" that failed to have impact or influence, its message echoes the ones Michel and the Russosphere accounts have been pushing in Africa: anti-colonial narratives focused on the need to break from the West and align with Russia.
Walter described this as Russia's "firehose model" of propaganda: repackaging narratives to use over and over again. The efforts in Detroit and across Africa are likely to be used to identify and refine techniques that generate the most engagement, which will be reused in future campaigns, he said.
Russia is "looking for a subset of the global population that is receptive to these messages," Walter said."
..."A campaign to declare Detroit an independent republic
Logically also identified a separate campaign involving Michel and EODE targeting Americans. EODE claimed to monitor a referendum in Detroit attempting to create a breakaway republic inside the U.S., without success.
The "Republic of Detroit" movement appears to be the creation of Ramzu Yunus, an American whom Detroit's city attorney has described as a "snake oil salesman". In 2021, city officials warned Detroit residents that Yunus was pushing a hoax claiming to offer free houses.
Yunus and Michel also serve as co-chairs of the North Atlantic Peace Organization, which claims to be an alternative to the NATO military and security alliance, focused on "Afrodescendants in the United States who are asserting their right of self-determination and citizens of the Russian Federation."
Walter, of Logically, said while Yunus's separatist efforts in Detroit amounted to a "weird sideshow" that failed to have impact or influence, its message echoes the ones Michel and the Russosphere accounts have been pushing in Africa: anti-colonial narratives focused on the need to break from the West and align with Russia.
Walter described this as Russia's "firehose model" of propaganda: repackaging narratives to use over and over again. The efforts in Detroit and across Africa are likely to be used to identify and refine techniques that generate the most engagement, which will be reused in future campaigns, he said.
Russia is "looking for a subset of the global population that is receptive to these messages," Walter said."
(1)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google