Slashdot Mirror
Ukraine Asks Zuckerberg to Discipline Kremlin Facebook Bots
mi writes "Ukrainian media is reporting (link in Ukrainian), that Facebook is getting increasingly heavy-handed blocking Ukrainian bloggers. The likely explanation for the observed phenomenon is that Facebook's Ukrainian office is located in Russia and is headed by a Russian citizen (Catherine Skorobogatov). For example, a post calling on Russian mothers to not let their sons go to war was blocked "Due to multiple complaints". Fed up, Ukrainian users are writing directly to Zukerberg to ask him to replace Catherine with someone, who would not be quite as swayed by the "complaints" generated by Russian bots.
There's definitely a potential problem there, and one that will probably be repeated in similar circumstances in the future. Seems to me that the best thing FB (or anyone else) can do in this situation is to remove oversight for posts made by both sides from regional offices in the area in question and hand them off to more neutral offices, at least for posts concerning the conflict.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
It *is* a military assault, and it is orchestrated by Russia... but it is still a game. For example, Russia is not attempting to gain control of the airspace over Ukraine (heaven forbid they try, there are NATO air resources all around the place and those might get involved, resulting in a far larger-scale war).
It is just that for politicians to play "chicken", thousands of soldiers have to die.
On this level of the game, Russia intensively re-supplies and re-mans rebel fighters, hoping that the Ukraininan government grows desperate and starts negotiations on very favourable terms. (It pays to remember that the Ukraininan government previously proposed negotiations, during a ceasefire, but rebels rejected this.) Meanwhile, the Ukraininan government is trying to solicit foreign financial and military aid, to outlast and push back the offensive and negotiate when very serious economic sanctions have been enacted against Russia.
For the soldiers who die, and the civilians who die from collateral damage, rest assured, this is not a game, and I (as an anarchist) would very much prefer if some helpful person would take out the trash that is called Vladimir Putin (and if it's necessary, then also Petro Poroshenko, though it must be said that he did't start this - he was hired when shit was alreadu spinning with the fan).
Get a perspective or something.
When the "local militias" chose to take over Donetsk International Airport in June, and were ousted by Ukrainian marines, the coffins were sent mostly to Russia and Chechnia. Yeah right, locals took up arms to defend themselves.
Yes, there are some locals fighting. They are not the most agressive, and their numbers are dropping. There is scarecely any equipment seized by locals left. Nearly all of the heavy equipment has been deliberately supplied by Russian state.
...Why should FB care whether Ukraine or Russia is winning the media war?...
I hate to be the one to break it to you, but Russia and Ukraine are engaged in a little bit more than a media war.
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Last I checked, Russia was invading eastern Ukraine.
I suspect that may bode poorly for a FB office in Russia to properly handle Ukrainian Facebook business.
(heaven forbid they try, there are NATO air resources all around the place and those might get involved, resulting in a far larger-scale war).
NATO will not go to war with Russia over Ukraine. None of the members of NATO have that obligation since Ukraine is not a member, and moreover, none of them want to risk lives to defend Ukraine. It's a similar situation to Hungary in the 50s......did anyone help them? Of that situation, Krushkev said:
"In a newspaper interview in 1957, Khrushchev commented "support by United States ... is rather in the nature of the support that the rope gives to a hanged man."
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."