‘Inauthentic’ anti-Ukraine hashtags are trending in Poland, says report

Bot-like social media accounts have amplified anti-Ukraine hashtags on social media in Poland, a report has discovered.

Hashtags reminiscent of#StopUkrainizacjiPolski (#StopUkrainisationOfPoland) have just lately been trending within the nation, with practically 50,000 retweets.

Far-right politicians have claimed that the hashtags show widespread opposition to Ukrainian refugees and Polish help for Kyiv.

However a research by the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Analysis Lab (DFRLab) discovered that the web marketing campaign is “inauthentic”.

In response to the report, a small variety of extremely energetic Twitter accounts — together with some that behaved like bots — have promoted the hashtag by tweeting it as much as 200 instances every day.

In a way often known as “astroturfing,” the covert group of customers had been in a position to create the misunderstanding that the hashtag had been shared by hundreds of actual Polish customers.

 “A small variety of persons are making an attempt to bolster the motion and fake as if it has grassroots help which it would not,” mentioned Givi Gigitashvili, a Analysis Affiliate for the Caucasus at DFRLab.

In response to DFRLab, the hashtag #StopUkrainisationOfPoland had not been picked up by a broader viewers of actual Twitter customers in Poland, although it had been a trending matter on the platform. 

“Any such anti-Ukraine sentiments aren’t gaining floor that simply as a result of society has a distinct angle in direction of Ukrainians,” mentioned Gigitashvili.

A current survey by the Polish Financial Institute (PIE) discovered that 77% of residents have supported Ukrainian refugees ultimately for the reason that warfare started.

In the meantime, the far-right Confederation get together has been the one Polish political group that has opposed the federal government’s stance on the Ukraine warfare.

In July, members of the get together proposed an anti-immigration invoice, arguing that Warsaw has given unfair “privileges” to Ukrainian refugees on the expense of Polish residents.

The anti-Ukraine on-line motion used the identical title because the proposed legislation, however there isn’t a proof of any direct hyperlink between the get together and the bot-like accounts.