An influencer boosting conspiracy theories about Ukraine signed a $6.8 mil deal with Russian state media

None of the articles had original sources for the claims about Ukraine. Although there is cause for concern related to FTX and its donations, nothing suggests it's tied to aid to Ukraine.

Nov 18, 2022

Working paper

Summary of problems with the FTX-Ukraine conspiracy theory

This report is broken into sections by topic to address the key issues and inconsistencies in popular mis- and disinformation about Ukraine, FTX, and elections. The key findings from assessing the claims, the spread of stories, and familiar faces could be boiled down to a few points. Sections can be found at the bottom of the summary.

Sections

The index leads to sections of this report, but if you want to visit the front page of the report on the Hoaxlines website, you can find it here: Report. This is a working paper, meaning that sections may be subject to change.

Sections

Read the report

Summary

Bankman-Fried donated to both parties. Billionaires donated 4x more to Republicans.

Stories ignore that Bankman-Fried donated to both political parties and that he has donated significant sums of money in the past, long before February 2022. Some have decided to return or donate the money, given the situation.

Ukraine, historically, received strong support from the Republican Party

The traditionally strong support Ukraine has received from Republicans goes unacknowledged. Although the Obama administration refused to arm and effectively support Ukraine after the 2014 invasion, the former-Vice-President-turned President is depicted as having always given Ukraine anything it needed.

A supermajority of the American public still supports sending aid to Ukraine

Although a supermajority of Americans supports aid to Ukraine, this is framed as an unpopular, corrupt practice that could only be designed to enrich political elites. Aid that was broadly supported by a bipartisan supermajority of the public and Congress is decontextualized. Real threats posed by permitting a successful illegal conquest are ignored.

Claims implying the US isn’t auditing aid to Ukraine are pants-on-fire false

The United States is heavily auditing aid to Ukraine with multiple specialized oversight responses across at least three agencies. Claims implying the US isn’t auditing aid to Ukraine are pants-on-fire false.

Authors and outlets provided no evidence to support claims

Hoaxlines attempted to find an original source for the claim that Ukraine had “invested in FTX,” which is the basis for an elaborate story currently popping up on hyperpartisan websites. Still, there doesn’t appear to be anything beyond speculation.

Russia’s use of conspiracy theories as a tool of statecraft is not new, and Russia has renewed its efforts to use sympathetic voices in Europe and the United States. This story contains common ideas and elements from previous disinformation.

The story spread by Russian and Chinese accounts in March 2022 first appeared in 2017, though a similar story about Georgia appeared earlier. A pro-Kremlin hacking collective called CyberBerkut (recognized as a GRU front organization) published the story, as did Russian state media. Later, the FSB-controlled outlet SouthFront also published this false story.
The FTX-Ukraine conspiracy theory touches on familiar themes like US government corruption, political elites lying to the public, Ukraine as a bad actor, and an element of data-void exploitation. In 2016, we saw elected officials make similar false claims about donations from Ukraine.

An influencer boosting conspiracy theories about Ukraine signed a $6.8 mil deal with Russian state media

Note: The spread of the claim got the biggest boost from people who appear to live in Western countries, so this section should not be taken to mean that most accounts driving the traffic were employed in the past or present by the Russian state. This is a working paper, and as stated, it is subject to change and incomplete.

Axios described the Swann as a “Pizzagate promoter” who “also promoted conspiracy theories surrounding the 9/11 attacks and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.”
Swann ranked in the top 5 users for “Authority” using Hyperlink-Induced Topic Search (HITS).
Other popular tweets came from users with a history of platform manipulation, who promoted “Pizzagate,” deep state conspiracy theories, Nord Stream conspiracy theories, or promoted false election claims in 2020.

Open Secrets reported Ben Swann’s $6.8 mil deal with Russian state-funded TV Novosti in August 2022.
Others who have worked for the Russian state, like Jimmy Dore, have also promoted the claims. George Galloway also appeared in the top 100 for HITS.
Zero Hedge, identified as a pro-Kremlin amplifier by multiple independent researchers and the federal government, also promoted it. The Duran, another that researchers say amplifies pro-Kremlin content, had a video in the top 25 links identified.

Also out today

Russia seeks to use the Polish border incident to erode support for Ukraine

Russian information operations seek to leverage the incident at the Polish border to erode support for Ukraine. Groups have provided prescribed memes to spread online.

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