Popular Russian fact checkers “don’t do politics” but push Kremlin propaganda
As a young Russian freelance journalist who has gone into exile, I have recently become alarmed by an insidious form of Kremlin-backed disinformation. Among my friends still in Russia — skeptical, reasonable people who have plenty of doubts about an unjust war of attrition being fought in their name in Ukraine — several have forwarded posts from “War on Fakes,” a “fact checking” site that claims to be restoring balance to a western media narrative that seeks to demonize Russia and Russians.
These friends of mine often use verbal constructs like: “Yes, I'm against this war, but.” And then they point me to a War on Fakes fact check.
War on Fakes has been around since February 24, simultaneously with the invasion of Ukraine as if it was already ready to be a combatant in the inevitable information war. Their Telegram channel has steadily gained hundreds of thousands of followers (over 700,000 at last count). And the site’s anonymous fact-checkers have published dozens of "verifications" about the actions of Russian troops in Ukraine.
Independent Russian and international media connect War on Fakes to the Kremlin, mainly because the channel’s fact-checks mostly back up the narrative claims and concerns of official Russian propaganda. A lengthy recent investigation published on the Poynter website shows that many, if not most, War on Fakes fact checks are themselves full of fabrications and errors.