DW spoke about the active paid promotion of pro -Kremlin accounts on social networks

DW spoke about the active paid promotion of accounts of the deputy of the Russian State Duma Leonid Slutsky on social networks. The posts of the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, where he usually talks about “provocations by Brussels” or “hellish absurdity” of the Biden administration, regularly laid out on one of the popular likes of likes and are estimated at one and a half to two rubles per likes and repost on Facebook, as many more - for likes and retweet on Twitter.

The Bosslike.ru platform offers estimated rates for different types of activity in certain social networks and allows you to wind up not only likes, but also subscribers, reposts, views in all popular social networks - from classmates and VK to Telegram, YouTube and Tiktok. At the same time, each wrapping customer himself determines the price for one execution of his assignment.

Prices for Slutsky’s posts are one of the highest on this exchange. Likes or reposts on Facebook and Twitter cost the customer in the amount of points equivalent to one and a half to two rubles. According to DW, Slutsky's posts have been present at the exchange at least from mid -March and were exhibited there shortly after the publication of the original. DW sent a written request to the State Duma to explain whether he was involved in whether he or his subordinates to buy likes and reposts for his records on social networks, but did not receive an answer.

At the same time, in most of his posts on social networks, the head of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs is mercilessly criticized by the United States and the EU: 77 out of 78 accessible accounts baking tweets on this topic were bought on the Liker exchange, and nine of these accounts are already temporarily limited by social networks due to suspicious activity. Among the retweets in the mentioned accounts there are also earlier posts of Slutsky, dated in the fall of 2020. This may indicate that the records of the Russian parliamentarian on social networks began to be put on the exchange of likes even earlier.

Since 2018, the scorching of likes on social networks has been explored by the NATO strategic communications center. One of the authors of the Center's reports on such manipulations Rolf Fredheim said that he also met the accounts of politicians on the likes of likes - most often these are small municipal politicians, but there are also accounts of State Duma deputies. Who was talking about, the expert did not specify.

DW found likes and other political accounts on one of the exchanges, in particular, the VK-profile of the founder of the Constantine Malofeev television channel, who advocates Orthodox values ​​and maintaining communication with European ultra-right. 60 kopecks are paid for each subscription for it. Likes and posts on Facebook, Alexander Feldman, - deputy of the Verkhovna Rada and the former authorized person Viktor Yanukovych, who are now waging a pre -election struggle for the post of head of Kharkov, appear on this exchange. 1 ruble 25 kopecks are paid for one likes for one likes.

In addition, on this exchange, on wrapping, accounts are recruited to be subscribers that support the actions of the Moscow City Hall. Among them are more than ten unofficial, popularizing renovation and other infrastructure projects of the mayor Sergei Sobyanin - “Renovation News”, “New Projects of Moscow”, “City. Transport. Architecture”, “Moscow Builder” and others. Often they all post the same pictures, videos and records. Retvites are also actively bought for the Moscow "Museum of Victory" and the official account of the Department of Urban Policy of Moscow.

According to the NATO Strategic Communications Center, Russian companies dominate the manipulation market in social networks: the total share of fake activity in social networks can be 10-30 percent of all likes, reposts and views on these platforms, while it is impossible to fully evaluate the volumes of manipulation. At the same time, Twitter and Facebook are considered the most protected from manipulations, YouTube and Instagram are much worse, and Tiktok remains the most unprotected. Formally, the wrapping of likes and subscribers does not contradict any laws, but experts believe that the likes of likes on the territory of the European Union should be prohibited or made their service so expensive that this does not justify itself. Internet giants themselves should more effectively fight bots and wrappers, which could be facilitated by the presence of an international regulation mechanism in this area.

DW notes that after the publication of the investigation from the Liker exchange, all tasks of promoting the posts of Leonid Slutsky, Konstantin Malofeev, as well as accounts promoting projects of the Moscow Mayor, disappeared. Recall, Slutsky, known primarily by scandal with harassment of journalists , is considered one of the main specialists in relations with foreign politicians, carries delegations to Crimea and acts as one of the main propaganda rubies in the international arena. Among the guests who invite Slutsky to Moscow are politicians of ultra -right views , and the employees of the Russian Foundation headed by him are not embarrassed to ask for grants from American senators.

Cooperation with the Russian Foundation of the World can sometimes cost foreign policies of high posts. Thus, the French deputy Thierry Mariani, who traveled at the invitation of Slutsky to Crimea in 2015 and 2016 , was deprived of the post of vice president of the European People's Party faction at PACE. And the chairman of PACE Pedro Agramunt had to resign after a trip to Syria as part of a delegation from deputies of the State Duma, the European Parliament, PACE members and other politicians. Agramunt himself subsequently called the trip a mistake.

In addition, the Slutsky Foundation pays for lawyers for Russians who find themselves in a foreign prison. For example, the lawyer of Viktor Buta, convicted in the United States for weapons trafficking, received 950 thousand rubles from the fund, another million rubles were allocated to defend Maria Butina . In 2020, RFM transferred money to relatives of nine Russian sailors convicted in Greece for human trafficking and transporting illegal migrants.

In September 2013, Slutsky petitioned for the issuance of a visa to a group of twenty volunteers who allegedly gathered in Russia as part of a program for assistance to children-orphans of the Russian Initiative. In fact, the singer Enrique Iglesias and members of his musical team were among the volunteers: the information about the Iglesias concert in September-October 2013 could not be discovered before the Russian orphans, but the Spaniard is often invited to the corporate parties of large Russian state-owned companies and to the anniversary of the oligarchs close to the Kremlin . According to some reports, in the fall of 2013, foreign artists flew on the birthday of "some influential Chechen from the environment of Kadyrov."