A worrying trend is the widespread distribution of misleading content on Twitter by followers with verified blue tick accounts who pay to promote their content to a wider audience. Such posts gained considerable popularity, contributing to the spread of false narratives surrounding the war.

Examples of false propaganda statements

Ukrainian weapons in France

A recent example of such disinformation concerns the riots in France, where a viral post claimed that American rifles supplied to Ukraine were used against French police. The post included a screenshot similar to the news headline and pictures of two rifles.

Fake post from a “verified” account / BBC photo

But an investigation by BBC Verify revealed that the image was taken from a 2012 Russian military blog showing a shooting contest outside of Moscow. There is also no evidence to support the claim that the weapons supplied by the US to Ukraine were used during the uprisings in France.

children’s factories

Another example of misinformation spread by Twitter Blue accounts is the alleged discovery of “doll factories” in Ukraine where children are allegedly raised for illegal purposes. BBC Verify based this claim on an article published by Voice of the People, which is known for producing fake news. Russian government-backed media outlets have a history of spreading false allegations of illegal organ harvesting in Ukraine, further fueling war-related misinformation.

Lies about bombing Kramatorsk

At the end of June, the Blue Twitter account, which appears to be a legitimate news source, mistakenly linked a missile attack on Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine to Ukrainian forces. The post claimed that Ukraine had inadvertently carried out an attack targeting military barracks housing NATO troops and foreign mercenaries.

“Verified” Twitter accounts are also responsible for spreading false information that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi canceled the country’s elections. The posts went viral after users misinterpreted Zelensky’s words in an interview with the BBC that elections can only be held in peacetime, in accordance with the law.

Critics such as former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson have misinterpreted the words to indicate the end of democracy in Ukraine. In fact, the Constitution of Ukraine prohibits the dissolution of parliament and holding national elections during martial law, and elections will be held after the end of the martial law period.

deception by Elon

It’s impossible not to mention that at the time of the launch of the Twitter Blue subscription, the company’s new head, Elon Musk, claimed that it would help fight bots, especially those engaged in spreading fraud. In practice, it happened exactly as several experts predicted. There’s nothing stopping the governments of countries like Russia from creating a huge bot farm with “verified” Twitter Blue accounts pretending to be verified users and spreading fakes and lies about the war in Ukraine.

It is hard to believe that Elon Musk did not foresee such a development. Most likely, he ignored the problem. The thing is, Musk has a strange and distorted concept of freedom of speech that he’s trying to implement on Twitter. This works very well for Russia, because it allows Russia to use various means to spread fakes.

Twitter takes no action

Moreover, even when contacted by BBC Verify reporters about the false and misleading messages spread by Twitter Blue accounts, Twitter representatives refused to comment on the situation.

The spread of such misinformation points to a strong need for increased vigilance and fact-checking measures on social media platforms to combat the spread of false war narratives.

As the war in Ukraine continues, it is crucial for users to think critically and verify information from reliable sources before sharing or interacting with content on social media platforms.