From a global database against disinformation to investigate with the OSINT community: eleven ways to fight against Maldita.es disinformation in a month of Russian invasion of Ukraine*

3. Team O is born: community and OSINT to fight disinformation after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Geolocate images, look for signs that a video is manipulated or not, check what time a shooting took place… Sometimes it is necessary to resort to one of these tools – or all of them – to resolve the queries you ask us on WhatsApp (+34 644 229 319) and the volume of hoaxes is such that we only have one option left: turn to our community of malditos and malditas.

Thus ‘The O Team‘ was born. O for OSINT: a volunteer anti-hoax brigade to combat disinformation about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This team, made up of malditos and malditas who have lent us their OSINT-related superpowers, has been helping us for several weeks now to give context to videos and images related to the Russian attack on Ukraine. These are some of the articles they have helped us with.

Thanks to them we have been able, for example, to geolocate the photo of the military armored vehicles next to a building that they claimed was the children’s hospital in the city of Mariupol or we have been able to tell the story of the shootout between an alleged agent of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) and the Ukrainian police.

With all the tools to verify, we have also tried to explain what we could know thanks to open intelligence sources, such as the bombing of a shopping center in Kyiv/Kiev on March 22. And to address other events such as, for example, the seizure of the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant on February 24, and its consequences on the variation in radiation, we have had tools such as the bot that monitors environmental data in Ukraine, SaveEcoBot, as well as with the help of experts and malditos’ superpowers.

4. We are analyzing the formats of disinformation and how they circulate

As we have told you, the manipulated content that we have found is presented in the form of images and videos already used in other contexts, such as the explosion of a petrochemical plant in Tarragona; fake magazine covers; tweets that impersonate media outlets like CNN; video game simulations or fake subtitles.

The Maldito Bulo and Maldita Educa teams are alert to identify the formats of disinformation about the war in Ukraine and are collecting them in a compilation. In recent weeks, deepfakes or ultra-realistic computer-generated videos have been detected to impersonate public figures. However, in the cases detected, of Zelensky and Putin, the poor quality of the assembly was very evident.

Another strategy identified is a campaign to misinform through false denial or false flag verification, which the Media Forensics Hub team at Clemson University and the organization ProPublica documented in an investigation published on March 8, and which also identified Maldita.es in Spain. Another focus of our work is the denialist disinformation accounts and groups that spread this content and have been active before, especially since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis. 

5. From COVID-19 denialism to pro-Kremlin disinformers: the evolution of denier groups and their lies

The same groups that spread false information about the COVID-19 during the pandemic have now become disinformers regarding the invasion of Ukraine. These conspiracy circles have managed to gain thousands of followers thanks to the spread of hoaxes and fake news.

Many of them were previously known for sharing manipulated information and hoaxes related to the coronavirus, but many others have seen their influence increase thanks to the Ukrainian crisis. Among their hoaxes are, in addition to those previously mentioned in the article, disinformation about Zelensky, the current president of Ukraine.

He has been accused of being a Satanist, but also of being a cocaine addict and of having fled Ukraine when the conflict broke out. However, Zelensky himself has not stopped uploading images and videos from his office or even from the streets of Kiev.

He has also been accused of manipulating the information in one of his videos, specifically the one in which he visits a hospital, ensuring that the woman accompanying him is the deceased lieutenant Inna Derusova. At Maldita.es we deny this hoax: Zelensky’s companion is Tatiana Ostashchenko, commander of the Medical Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

6. We have told you how we use verification tools

At Maldita.es we are using a series of tools to fight disinformation and we have told you how we use them so that you can also verify on your own. Some of them are tools such as InVid,  Google Images reverse search or WayBack Machine, although we have also used geolocation maps such as Google Earth and even Wolfram Alpha Weather to determine the veracity of information. In addition to offering you our toolbox, Maldita Educa explains how each and every one of them is used with practical examples.

7. Updated panel of international sanctions against Russia in figures, affected and evolution by country

One of the first responses of the international community was to support Ukraine and try to pressure Russia through economic sanctions against the State and Russian companies. At Maldita.es we have created a monitor with graphics on the figures, those affected and the evolution of international sanctions  against Russia by country that you can consult here. This information will be updated daily based on Correctiv’s analysis of OpenSanctions data. 

8. ‘Malditas Twitcherías’ on mental health, technological measures…

@malditobulo En situaciones crisis, no compartas si no estás seguro y mándanos todo lo que te llegue al +34 644 229 319 ⚠️ #QueNoTeLaCuelen #Rusia #Ucrania ♬ Bamboo Jack-JP – Orin Thatcher

*Article updated on March 29, 2022 with a review of the TikTok videos that have been published about misinformation related to the Russian invasion on the  @malditobulo account .