France and Germany are openly talking about recruiting social media influencers to brainwash Russians into hating Vladimir Putin and the Russian government.
RT:
TikTokers and YouTubers could help the EU drive a wedge between the Russian government and the people, Germany and France have reportedly told other members of the bloc.
Ideas on how its members could influence Russian citizens were formulated in a document circulated ahead of this week’s high-level EU meeting in Prague, Bloomberg reported on Monday. The plan is meant for discussion behind closed doors, but the news agency said it had studied the document.
Berlin and Paris suggested enrolling popular video bloggers on platforms including YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Telegram, and VK to help disseminate EU-funded teaching courses on “media literacy,” according to Bloomberg. The courses will supposedly explain to Russians why they should dismiss “Russian propaganda” and trust “independent information” that counters what the Russian government says.
The EU should also target Russian-speaking minorities in other nations with content that serves the same goal, the report says. There is also a proposal for an “Internet Censorship Circumvention Hub” for Russians.
Maybe this would have been a viable strategy had they not already declared that every Russian person was inherently evil. The West implemented a number of policies that openly discriminated against Russians even if they had no connection or link to the Russian government. This effectively increased support for Putin among all Russians.
Now that this ship has sailed, it is very unlikely that recruiting social media influencers to push propaganda on Russians could have any meaningful impact. Russia’s economy is strong while Western economies are plunging into turmoil. The Russian government has also taken a variety of actions against Western social media companies, so the ability for these paid propagandists to reach Russians with their lies would be limited.
Putin’s special military operation in the Ukraine is also supported by most Russians. They correctly view Putin as someone who has taken action to defend their country. He is just a very popular figure at the moment and convincing Russians to hate him via a foreign propaganda campaign has a very low chance of success.
What’s funny is seeing these people openly talk about the very thing that they have accused Russia of doing. Specifically, Russia was accused of interfering in the 2016 United States election because some Russians posted things on Facebook. Despite these claims, there was never any evidence of a serious organized Russian campaign to brainwash Americans into voting for Donald Trump. Truth be told, Russia actually hasn’t really involved themselves in this particular sphere. They also might not even need to get involved considering that the West is in the process of imploding.
