Disinformation and war. Verification of false images about the Russian-Ukrainian conflict

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine the visual disinformation produced in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war, analyze its international scope, study the reaction of fact-checking journalism and compare the disinformation strategies adopted by both contenders. A descriptive and inferential statistical quantitative research of the fake visual content verified by fact-checkers between January and April 2022 was conducted. The results confirm the dominance of the strategy based on false context, the relevance of Facebook and Twitter in the distribution of fake news, and the production of an increased number of fake images during the two weeks following the invasion. The most frequent narratives are those consisting of false decisions and military attacks that seek to impute atrocities and war crimes to the opposing side. Pro-Russian visual disinformation makes greater use of fabricated content. If the concentration of messages on a few platforms is the logic that characterizes the Ukrainian disinformation, Russia utilizes a more expansive strategy by using a greater variety of media to spread their narratives. Stories about fake attacks are more usual in Ukrainian visual disinformation. Fake news stories about the international community's reaction to the Russian attack are more prevalent in pro-Kremlin disinformation. It is also observed that as the conflict progresses, fake content from the Ukrainian side is less frequent, while Russian disinformation increases in proportion.