As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, the Russian government is starting to spread propaganda through popular platforms like video games.
On the game Minecraft, owned by Microsoft, some Russian players create a reenactment of the Russian capture of Soledar that is posted on a popular Youtube channel in Russia. In the game world of Tanks, Russians recreate the parade in Moscow celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945. On Roblox a player emulated the array of Interior Ministry soldiers to celebrate Russia day. These are just a few examples of the spread of Russian propaganda on certain platforms. This won’t affect too many people as Russian propaganda is contained to almost entirely Russia.
Sites like Discord and Steam have become a source of a lot of Russian propaganda. A video tutorial showed how to create a Russian flag in minecraft and it was shown over a city named Luhansk, one of the Oblasts illegally annexed by Russia.”The gaming world is really a platform that can impact public opinion, to reach an audience, especially young populations,” said Tanya Bekker, a researcher at ActiveFence, a cybersecurity company that identified several examples of Russian propaganda on Minecraft for The New York Times.” (NewYorkTimes) This shows how effective the propaganda can be.
The President of Microsoft says ““In truth, it’s not the No. 1 thing we should worry about,” Mr. Smith said at an economic conference in Washington organized by Semafor, the news site. “They’re going to publish information somewhere. You know, it just happens to be a good place for them to get the information into circulation.”” This explains how this is to be expected because Russia already spreads State propaganda in other ways so this is not much different.
On the game Minecraft, owned by Microsoft, some Russian players create a reenactment of the Russian capture of Soledar that is posted on a popular Youtube channel in Russia. In the game world of Tanks, Russians recreate the parade in Moscow celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945. On Roblox a player emulated the array of Interior Ministry soldiers to celebrate Russia day. These are just a few examples of the spread of Russian propaganda on certain platforms. This won’t affect too many people as Russian propaganda is contained to almost entirely Russia.
Sites like Discord and Steam have become a source of a lot of Russian propaganda. A video tutorial showed how to create a Russian flag in minecraft and it was shown over a city named Luhansk, one of the Oblasts illegally annexed by Russia.”The gaming world is really a platform that can impact public opinion, to reach an audience, especially young populations,” said Tanya Bekker, a researcher at ActiveFence, a cybersecurity company that identified several examples of Russian propaganda on Minecraft for The New York Times.” (NewYorkTimes) This shows how effective the propaganda can be.
The President of Microsoft says ““In truth, it’s not the No. 1 thing we should worry about,” Mr. Smith said at an economic conference in Washington organized by Semafor, the news site. “They’re going to publish information somewhere. You know, it just happens to be a good place for them to get the information into circulation.”” This explains how this is to be expected because Russia already spreads State propaganda in other ways so this is not much different.
