Reporters Without Borders (RSF) announced this week that it will file criminal charges against X (Twitter) in France in connection with the Kremlin’s disinformation campaign, which used the nonprofit organization as a prop to spread fake news. The group said legal action was a “last resort” in combating false articles aimed at promoting pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian sentiment that have fester on the platform. “X’s refusal to remove content it knows to be false and deceptive, as formally notified by RSF, amounts to complicity in the spread of misinformation circulating on the platform.” Antoine Bernard, RSF’s advocacy director, said in a statement.
“These legal proceedings intentionally provided powerful social media company X and its executives with a platform and tools to spread false information, identity theft, misrepresentation, and defamation. This is intended to remind you that you may be held criminally liable if you commit a crime. These crimes are punishable under the “French Criminal Code”, wrote RSF lawyer Emmanuel Daud. .
In September, RSF published an investigation detailing how Russia planted and spread fake videos on social platforms owned by Elon Musk. The fake clips were made to look like they were produced by the BBC, including the news organization’s logo. It falsely claimed that a survey conducted by RSF revealed that a large number of Ukrainian soldiers were sympathetic to Nazism.
False claims that Ukraine is a pro-Nazi state have become a common propaganda tactic used by Russia since its 2022 invasion. The story is designed to drum up support for the Kremlin-led war, which is estimated to have killed more than 1 million Ukrainians.
An RSF investigation found that an account called “Patricia” claiming to be a French translator had sowed the seeds of disinformation. However, the report found that the account’s profile photo was discovered on a Russian website that featured a photo of a blonde woman designed to “create an avatar.”
RSF says that even the account’s name appears to have been automatically generated by X. Additionally, the organization claims that Grok, X’s AI chatbot that has access to live data about the platform, claims the account “has very strong opinions and often supports Russia.” states. And President Vladimir Putin harshly criticized Ukraine and its supporters in Europe. ”
An investigation revealed that the video was then spread through a chain that included a pro-Kremlin Irish entrepreneur living in Russia, a Kremlin propagandist with a large following on Telegram, and even Russian officials. The article was also shared by “highly influential bloggers” known for their unflinching support of President Vladimir Putin.
“In this case, the Russian authorities acted as if they were laundering dirty information,” an RSF representative said in a video (translated from French) about the September investigation. “They obtained false information, laundered it through official channels, and then this information, which is not real information, was brought back into the public sphere to appear reliable. ”
The fake Russian video was widely shared on X and Telegram. Reporters Without Borders announced that the clip had been viewed 500,000 times by September 13th. The nonprofit organization cited the following quote (often attributed to Mark Twain, although its source is unknown) to express its frustration with its damaged credibility: Travel halfway around the world while Truth is still wearing shoes. ”
RSF said it had submitted 10 reports of Company X regarding illegal content through the social channel reporting system required by the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). “Following a series of refusals from wrote.
In July, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it had busted and dismantled a Russian propaganda network that used about 1,000 accounts to push pro-Kremlin posts to X. The Department of Justice claimed the accounts were created using AI, impersonating Americans. In October, the Wall Street Journal reported that Elon Musk had multiple private telephone conversations with Vladimir Putin between 2022 and this year, describing the contacts as “top secrets of the government.”
“Company He was complicit in spreading information.” “X provides powerful tools and unparalleled visibility to those who spread falsehoods and manipulate public opinion, while granting perpetrators complete impunity. It is time for X to be held accountable. Criminal prosecution is the last resort against the disinformation and war propaganda that the RSF has become a victim of and is rampant on this “Muskian” network. ”
