ST Explains: Fake news, hoax videos as weapons in the Russia-Ukraine information war

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Think Quote: 'Data is the new oil'

In Russia, unfounded claims were made that Ukraine was engaged in state-sponsored violence, supposedly by a neo-Nazi regime, and was planning to attack some separatist-held territories using chemical weapons. Some of these messages were sent in large Telegram group chats with thousands of users, which were then repeated on Russia's mainstream media.

On Feb 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed in a televised speech that a “genocide” of nearly four million people in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine had been occurring. 

Since the conflict broke out, Kremlin-backed news outlet Russia Today has portrayed the invasion as a liberation of eastern Ukraine, and that Moscow is using force in the interests of peace

a wide variety of real and fake news has been involved - from outdated videos and information to deliberate attempts to paint one side as an aggressor over the other.

The independently funded website is among others online that have been publishing articles countering fake news about the invasion. But the task is a tough one, with the explosion of mediums for distributing such propaganda, and not enough resources to check whether the content is real.

the ongoing conflict is testament to the importance of soft power in a technological age, alongside the traditional use of hard power.

the situation in Ukraine shows how information can be weaponised at low cost and at scale.

the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act (Fica), passed in Parliament last October, bolsters Singapore's ability to prevent, detect and disrupt foreign interference in Singapore's politics conducted through hostile information campaigns (HICs) or the use of local proxies.

Foreign interference can indeed undermine our political sovereignty, national security and social cohesion. Singaporeans should exercise discretion when consuming and spreading information, to avoid becoming unwitting tools of foreign actors.