Tutorial for the Russian flag, battle reconstruction, government speeches… Video games are also a vector of influence, especially among the youngest and most vulnerable populations.
Online video game platforms have become a new playground for Russian propaganda. On the construction game Minecraft, Russian users have reproduced the battle of Soledar, a Ukrainian city captured by Russian forces last January, explains for example the American daily New York Times. The video of this reconstruction was published on VKontakte, a Russian social network.
In an investigation, the American daily revealed the extent of Russian propaganda networks on online platforms. In addition to Minecraft, other games, such as World of Tanks or Roblox are thus taken by storm by reproductions of battles or Russian strongholds, to the glory of Moscow.
“Propaganda Torrent”
On YouTube, the NYT mentions a tutorial video for building a Russian flag in Minecraft. The video shows the flag raised in the city of Luhansk, a city illegally annexed by Russia, all to the sound of “glory to Russia”.
Implicitly, these users are also active on messaging applications, such as Discord, popular with players. The New York Times also speaks of a “torrent of propaganda” on the Steam video game platform, aimed at younger audiences. To distinguish themselves, players sport the letter Z specific to the Russian army.
Finally, while some of the speeches in question aren’t particularly shocking, the NYT says a number of them make no attempt to hide government involvement.
The youngest targeted
“The world of video games is a platform that can really have an impact on public opinion, reach an audience and in particular the youngest populations”, explains Tanya Bekker to the newspaper. The latter is a researcher at ActiveFence, a cybersecurity company that unearthed numerous examples of Russian propaganda for the New York Times.
In recent months, the group of Russian mercenaries Wagner had already jostled on Discord to echo the words of the Kremlin. “The purpose of this propaganda is to make the Russian military and Wagner look cool and threatening,” said Clint Watts, director of Microsoft’s threat analysis team, at the time.
And Vladimir Poutine, the Russian president, is not left out in the situation. During this month of July, he affirmed that video games “must be at the crossroads between art and education”. According to a Deputy Prime Minister who spoke on the same occasion as Vladimir Putin, and relayed by le New York Timesin Russia, “one in four citizens plays video games online”.
Russian propaganda has many faces. On social networks, the existence of pro-Russian, organized and rigorous “troll farms”, for example, have been commonplace for years.
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2023-07-31 14:05:43
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