In mid-August 2023, posts circulated on social networks that after the registration of a bill on the legalization of porn in Ukraine, local universities began to teach the creation of films for adults. We checked the authenticity of viral screenshots from the websites of three universities.
On August 18, three screenshots were distributed across the RuNet, allegedly taken on the pages of different Ukrainian higher educational institutions: the Kyiv University of Culture (KUC), the Kyiv International University (KiMU) and the Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts (KNUKiI). Judging by the images, students of these institutions have the opportunity to learn how to shoot porn content and erotic videos as part of master classes, additional classes and elective disciplines. According to numerous posts, universities introduced such training against the backdrop of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine considering a bill on the legalization (in other sources - decriminalization) of porn.
Publicist Dmitry Vasilets (the post on his Telegram channel has 195,000 views at the time of writing this analysis) commented viral screenshots: “Zelensky’s Ukraine has not needed engineers and scientists for a long time, but operators for filming porn are needed in large quantities.” Blogger Alexander Semchenko (95,000 views), wrote, that “Zelensky will teach directors how to shoot porn correctly” and “women will now be able to earn money on their own while their husband is at the front.” Internet publication “Ukraina.ru” (87,000 views) clarifiedthat the news is not a joke, but the Telegram channel “Kot Kostyan - official channel” (93,000) added: “Ukraine, due to its mentality, is preparing to become the leading porn power in the world.” Similar posts appeared in the channels “Truthfulness"(189,000 views), "Uncle Slava"(179,000), "Sheikh Tamir"(116,000), "Gossip"(69,000), "Sexton" (50,000), "Mriya"(41,000), "Before everyone else. Well almost. Special operation" (11,000), "First Kharkovsky" (8200) and "Shaman Rahu"(3400), as well as on VKontakte (examples here And here) and on the website "Morning south"
First, let’s define the difference between the terms “decriminalization” and “legalization,” since in many Ukrainian And Russian The media uses these two words as synonyms. Under decriminalization understand reclassification of a criminal offense into an administrative or disciplinary offense. The implication is that by committing such an act, the person will still be breaking the law and will be held accountable, but will not be prosecuted. Although legalization is a similar process, in this case it implies complete waiver of any liability, since the previously illegal action ceases to be so.
On August 14, 2023, in a comment to the UNIAN news agency, People's Deputy of Ukraine Maxim Buzhansky toldthat a bill on the decriminalization of pornography will be submitted to the Verkhovna Rada. According to the politician, the working group prepared the corresponding proposal for more than six months. The bill is indeed official registered It’s already August 18, about which in the morning of the same day wrote one of its authors, people's deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak.
"Verified" got acquainted with text the bill on the Verkhovna Rada website. According to the document, the authors propose to completely exclude from the Criminal Code of Ukraine article 302 (“Creation or maintenance of places of debauchery and pimping”), as well as change article 301 (“Importation, production, sale and distribution of pornographic items”). Current version of Article 301 provides punishment for creating pornographic content (photos, videos, movies, computer programs) and storing it for the purpose of sale or distribution. In his Telegram channel, the author of the new bill explainedthat criminal liability will remain exclusively for porn filmed and distributed without obtaining consent from a person, extreme porn (violence, bestiality and necrophilia) and porn with children and distributed among children. "All. For everything else from Art. 301 and 302 we remove criminal liability. So that the imagination of law enforcement officers does not generate 1000+ cases a year. So that there is no temptation to manipulate: pimping, involvement in prostitution and human trafficking also remain criminal offenses (these are separate articles),” wrote Zheleznyak on Telegram.
Thus, despite the fact that in the explanatory note and in Zheleznyak’s Telegram channel, the proposed change to the Criminal Code is more than once called the decriminalization of porn; in essence, if adopted, the bill will mean the partial legalization of pornographic content.
Below we will look at three viral screenshots separately.
Kyiv University of Culture (KUK)
On first The screenshot allegedly shows a page describing the specialty “film and television directing” on the KUK website. The text on the viral screenshot reads: “The film and television director is, of course, the boss on the set! <...> A director can not only generate creative ideas and bring them to life, but also produce them - from his own YouTube show to a world-famous film or a video for a show business star. We are also launching an additional block of items related to the art of erotic videography. If you wish, you can learn the basics of producing pornographic content that will always be relevant!”
“Verified” studied the university’s website and found that it actually has a Faculty of Film and Television Arts, where they conduct training in such specialties. However, we did not find any mention of erotica and porn in the program description. In fact, the official text ends like this: “In the digital era, when media content surrounds us everywhere, a director-producer is always worth his weight in gold!” We also did not find any mention of a block of items related to adult content on KUK social networks (Facebook*, Instagram* And Telegram). “Verified” contacted the admissions committee of Kyiv University with a request to comment on the viral image and received the following response: “Go to our official website and read the official information. And trust only trusted sources!”
Kyiv International University (KIMU)
On second The screenshot supposedly shows a list of elective disciplines on the KiMU website. In the left column, between “fact-checking and information verification” and “strategic communications in conditions of information-psychological warfare,” is the discipline “cultural studies of erotica.” In the column on the right you can find the phrase “The subtleties of producing adult content.”
“Verified” found out that a similar list of subjects is, indeed, on the website of this university - in the description of the master’s program “Audiovisual Arts and Production” at page Institute of Journalism, Film and Television. However, there, as in Facebook University, again there are no mentions of erotica and content with an age rating of 18+. In fact, in their place on the list are “applied social communication technologies” and “media technologies”. A representative of KiMU, in communication with “Verified”, also did not directly answer our question about the authenticity of the screenshot, but recommended going to the official website of the university.
Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts (KNUKiI)
On third The screenshot allegedly shows the page of the Institute of Cinema and Television (IKiT) on the KNUKiI website. At the same time, the image shows a note under the heading “Master class on the art of videography 18+” in the “News” section, which is dated August 17 last year. The text reads: “To participate, you must already have basic video production and cinematography skills. The speaker will talk about the intricacies and nuances of filming adult content, highlight aspects of the market and business sphere of sexualized content, and also show in practice the main features of the work of the film crew when creating explicit nude scenes containing footage of copulation.”
Website design in screenshot corresponds educational institution page. However, this time “Verified” was unable to find such text on the website of the Ukrainian university. It is noteworthy that the news was allegedly published a year ago. At the same time, the viral screenshot indicates that August 17, 2022 was Friday, although in fact this date corresponds environment. In addition, ICT news come out twice a day - at 11:00 and 17:00 local time, and the viral screenshot indicates 09:00. Find mentions of such a master class in ICT social networks (Instagram And Facebook) it didn’t work out for us either.
Thus, we can confidently say that all three distributed screenshots are fakes. The earliest post with fabricated images that Verified was able to find is appeared in the Telegram channel “Zloy Proof️” on August 18, 2023 at 13:31 Moscow time. Taking into account all the reposts, the original post received more than 373,000 views. Previously, this channel due to the distribution of fake magazine covers, photos and videos mentioned ten times in our analyses.
*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social networks Facebook and Instagram, is an extremist organization; its activities in Russia are prohibited.
Cover photo: Film and Television Institute
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