The FBI & a Ukrainian intelligence agency worked in tandem to stop Russian disinformation on social media but instead ended up ensnaring authentic American accounts, including a verified Russian language StateDept account, according to a new House report.
The report accuses the FBI of relying too heavily on the Ukrainian government’s assessments of the social media accounts and failing to vet them on their own. The assessments were done by one of Ukraine’s top intelligence agencies, the SBU, which at the time was infiltrated by Russian actors. This led to several American accounts being flagged as Russian disinformation, even those that were critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In March 2022 alone, the FBI, in cahoots with the SBU, flagged more than 25 social media accounts to Meta and Alphabet that were allegedly producing Russian disinformation. But at the time of the request, the SBU was being led by Ivan Bakanov, who would later be fired by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky because it had come to light that members had been collaborating with Russia. According to Zelensky at the time, more than 651 cases of alleged treason and collaboration had been opened with about 60 officials from the SBU and other agencies actively working against Ukraine.
The FBI also sought to censor Russian disinformation on Google platforms. According to a senior Google employee interviewed by the committee, the primary sources of the censorship requests were “the Ukrainian government, other Eastern European governments, the European Union, and the European Commission.” The employee testified that the Department of Justice would “route” the requests from the foreign entities to the company.
This report comes just days before the director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, is set to testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee and amid a fight about whether or not to fund the DOJ fully. Rep. Jim Jordan , the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said he is working with Sen. Rand Paul on legislation “that would give the taxpayer, the citizen, some greater rights” and hopes to have those bills ready soon.
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