In 2023, the founder of the factor project “verified” and the leading French TV show on the exposure of fakes was accused of creating fake materials that discredit Ukraine in order to pass this for Russia's actions, and then publish refutations. We checked whether these accusations are justified.
Warning about a possible conflict of interests. One of the central heroes of this analysis is the founder and editor -in -chief of “Verified” Ilya Ber. He did not participate in the preparation of this publication, as well as representatives of the France 24 television channel.
In the summer of 2022, covers of various foreign (most often satirical) publications began to appear on the network, which allegedly placed caricatures on Vladimir Zelensky and other drawings that make fun of Ukraine. The earliest such images represented The covers of the French magazine Charlie Hebdo. Over the next months, “tested” and factor from other countries have been “tested” dismantled Several dozen such images-in the vast majority of cases, they turned out to be fakes originally published in the pro-Russian Telegram channels.
In the fall of 2022 appeared A new type of fakes: supposedly on the streets of different cities in Europe and the USA, anonymous Polish artists began to draw 3D graphfi with Zelensky in the form of a black hole or locust eating money, as well as in the images of acne, feces, etc. We dismantled Ten cases of the appearance of such images - all photos of graffiti were imposed in a digital way. In other words, such drawings never appeared on the streets. Moreover, sometimes the authors of the fakes in signatures to the pictures were indicated by the wrong cities where the photo was taken.
In 2023, the founder and chief editor “verified” were accused of creating these fakes. Ilya Bera And a French journalist Katalina Marshan de Abreu. Below we will analyze both charges separately.
Ilya Ber and covers
On May 18, 2023, Telegram appeared reports that French journalists allegedly accused the Russian opposition of mass falsification of covers on behalf of Charlie Hebdo magazine. This news appeared in just a few relatively large channels, one of which belongs to the TV presenter Ruslan Ostashko (107,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), where there were previously published Dozens of false carications. “Journalist” Ilya Ber ordered fake covering Charlie Hebdo. This was stated by a Russian artist who complied with the orders of the "opposition". It turned out that Ben tried to make money in the investigation of the same covers supposedly Charlie Hebdo. But the artist was a fertile to pay for work. Therefore, he "handed over" his French media, and the Russian "opposition" was once again disgraced, " - It is said In the post of the host of Channel One. Similar records appeared in the channels of the radio host Roman Golovanov (15,000 views) and Belvestnik (3100).
The primary source of these messages was the Telegram channel "Before everyone else. Well, almost. Special operation"(12,000 views). Permanent readers “verified” this name should be well known, since this channel is one of the record holders in the number of fake publications, and many fake covers initially appeared It is there. May 18 at 10:45 pm Moscow time there Published Such a post: “The French learned that a certain shit-exposer Ilya Ber massively painted the non-existent covers of Charlie magazine, then to investigate them, simultaneously accusing Russian propaganda that it was producing fakes. For all the interviews and his “investigations”, he received money from understanding what sponsors, but Ilyukha burned out that he did not pay the artist and he had leaked everything in the media. Is this a bastard or just an idiot? " Video and the screenshot of Instagram*-storosis allegedly from the French newspapers 20 minute and Le Parisien, respectively, are also attached to the publication.
A two -minute video is a video sequence with cashed French credits, and in the upper right corner there is a 20 minute video logo. Among the frames used are the screenshots of the texts “Checked” and excerpts from the program on the refutation of fake france 24 television channel with Bura comments. Below are a translation.
The opposition of Russia creates fakes. The Russian opposition turned out to be the author of fake news in the world media. In 2022, false covers, including the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, began to spread on the Internet. On false covers appeared images discrediting the Ukrainian army and its president. It was believed that behind these covers there is Russian state propaganda. The sensational recognition of the Russian artist turned this performance. Alexey Sidorov (the name changed) admitted to the creation of fake news by order of the Russian opposition. The customer was Ilya Ber, a Russian journalist and creator of the project “Verified. Media”. According to Alexei Sidorov, their goal was to discredit Russian propaganda.
[Ber:] “Apparently, they have at their disposal some kind of talented artist or group of authors, including artists. And they decided to use them, so to speak, as intended. And since for some reason the Western, even satirical publications do not draw caricatures on Zelensky, so let's help them, and draw for them, and pretend that this is their caricatures. ”
Ilya Ber created precedents for his own investigations. He issued false reports for the product created by the Kremlin. As a result, the opposition in Russia receives foreign subsidies for its activities. She earns on public conferences.
[Dialogue Yuri Dudia ** with Harry Kasparov **:]
- Your fee is about $ 50,000 for such a lecture?
- Well, from $ 50,000.
- from $ 50,000.
- Yes.
- As I understand it, the former US presidents take about the same as much for a lecture.
“I think five times more, but it doesn’t matter.”
The artist made this recognition after a personal conflict with Ilya Ber. Ilya Ber refused to pay him for his work, and then began to threaten him. Ilya Ber and representatives of “Verified. Media” refused to comment.
On the official one site And in the verified social networks 20 minutes such a video is absent. On the contrary, a search on the newspaper website for Charlie Hebdo Ber issues Material with a refutation. In the analysis published on May 24, Approvedthat the graphic design of the clips of 20 minute was copied as part of a misinformation campaign carried out by Russian propaganda. At the end of a fake video (at the mark 02:01) the name of the journalist is indicated Suzana Nevenenkich. “This is my team. The video is almost identical to ours, ”Nevenkich admitted. According to her, even the most complex elements are forged - for example, the publication logo filled as you look at. At the same time, the editors of 20 minute noted that there are non -nyggovs in the fake, for example, a different font (fake authors can almost never correctly choose fonts - this can be seen by example parsing "Checked" about another fake video of 20 minute).
Your fake analysis released and a factor from the Les Observateurs project France 24, earlier dismantled Many fake covers. They also did not find a similar video from 20 minute on the resources of the publication, and Nevenkich again said that she had never made a story about the Bere. In addition, French journalists Found The text has several syntactic errors and came to the conclusion that a bad translation into French was used in the video.
As for the story, supposedly from Le Parisien, its existence cannot be accurately confirmed or refuted, since more than 24 hours have passed since its alleged placement. However, the publication allegedly had a link to the material on the newspaper’s website, but there are notes on the Bura connection with fake covers Charlie Hebdo No. In addition, the font on the storiz about the Beres also differs from what is used in real publications Le Parisien.
The words of the editor -in -chief “verified” used in a fake video (at 00:55), genuine, but were torn from the context - Ber did not make any sensational confessions. On November 26, he participated on the Rain television channel ***, where he was asked about the goals of creating fake cartoons. The next day, an excerpt Published A separate video - that is why the fake is incorrectly indicated on November 27. In addition, Ber was broadcast from Tallinn, and not from Moscow, as the signature in a fabricated video reads.
A fragment of Kasparov’s interview was also torn out of context - the authors of a fake video cut out an excerpt from the response of the chess player and the politician to the question of the fees for his lectures, silent, about which Kasparov talks about them. Right before the episode used, it ExplainsThat at first I gave lectures on how to apply the skills of playing in business and life, then about the interaction of a person and a computer, about artificial intelligence. Kasparov emphasizes that many customers at the same time demanded that he not speak out during the speeches of Russian politics.
In the spring in an interview with France 24 Explained“In that interview (“ rain ”. - Approx. Ed.) I described the strategy used by those who distribute these fake covers, as well as fake graffiti and all these fabricated videos: false narratives, their connections, etc. I gave a lot of interviews on this topic, because several dozen analysis of this analysis was published on this topic topic ". When asked why it was necessary to create a fake on behalf of 20 minute, Bere ironized: “Obviously, their strategy did not work, since very few people shared the video. Perhaps it was an initiative from below, which for some reason did not receive the support of the authorities. I also see in this a kind of wink at us, they say: "Hello, we see you, we follow your investigations." At the same time, letters were not coming to the editorial office of “verified” letters with a request to give a comment that the distributors of fake videos write about.
France 24 and graffiti
A few months later, on September 9, 2023, a new charge appeared on Telegram: supposedly the France 24 television channel ordered anti -Ukrainian graffiti to blame Russia for their creation. This time the earliest publication, which “verified” was found, was in the channel Ostashko (110,000 views at the time of writing this analysis). The post of Russian TV presenter says: “Journalist Catalina Marshaw de Abreu found a naive Ukrainian artist who painted graffiti with ugly Zelensky around three pennies around the world. And then she, along with her false colleagues, made stories on this subject, in which she exposed and resolutely condemned these graffiti as Russian propaganda. But the Ukrainian handed over to the lustful Katalina because he received a notification of eviction to his historical homeland. " The video is again attached to the recording, allegedly from the newspaper 20 minute. In the later Digest Channel Ostashko He called it This is exposure to one of the main events of the day.
Similar posts appeared on the site Eadailyas well as in other Telegram channels. For example, in the channel "Heaven is"(155,000 views) The news commented as follows:" Face technologies reached a new level. " In the channel Swiss Vatnik (12,000) wrote (spelling and punctuation of the author are preserved): “... and then the journalist, went to the place where graffiti appeared to remove the plots on the exposure of Russian propaganda. <...> I don’t know if the journalist will answer for frank lies, but she is still listed in France 24. ” The video on behalf of 20 Minutes also appeared in the channels "The thrilled kingdom"(19,000 views),"Kali South Today"(15,000) and"Long Yazyk"(12,000), on VKontakte (examples here, here And here), social networks X (former Twitter; here And here) and Facebook* (here And here).
To begin with, we note that the authors of the above publications did not fully understand what was discussed in the video they posted. As stated at the beginning of this analysis, the mentioned anti -Ukrainian graffiti never appeared on the roads of the cities of Europe and the USA, since all the photos were edited in computer programs. The distributed video even shows shots with the analysis of viral photos for digital changes (at the 00:27 and 00:41 marks). Accordingly, Marshan de Abreu did not go anywhere, but told About fakes in the studio of the TV channel as part of the program Truth or Fake (English -language version of Info OU Intox).
Below we give a translation of credits from a viral video.
France 24: Fakes to attract an audience? The France 24 television channel was caught red -handed to create fake graffiti. Last year, anti -Ukrainian graffiti appeared around the world. The France 24 TV channel actively condemned these images, claiming that Russia was standing for graffiti. It turned out that fake graffiti is a project of journalist Katalina Marshan de Abreu. She made a refutation of fakes several times. Evgeny Ivanchenko (the name changed) created images for the France 24 television channel. Catalina Marshana de Abreu used fake investigations to increase the rating of her programs. Ivanchenko decided to expose the fraud when he received a notification of deportation. Fleeing from hostilities in Ukraine, the artist found refuge in France. According to him, he personally contacted Cataline Marshan de Abreu. The journalist promised him sponsorship on behalf of the channel. But Ivanchenko was deceived.
This video is also not on the newspaper’s website 20 minute, but on September 14 there was a refutation. In it again Approvedthat the video about the involvement of the France 24 television channel to create fake graffiti only imitates the plots of 20 minute, but in fact it has nothing to do with the editorial office. “Although the style of the video [music, logo, color scheme, appearance of texts and even end credits] in everything corresponds to the news of the 20 minute, the video was not created by us,” said the main video editor Brun Dodrawhose name is indicated at the end of a fake video. “He is not in our archives, he was not mounted by the journalist mentioned in the credits at the end.” Dodra also noted the mistake made by the falsifiers: “If you carefully look at the font to which the text is typed, and at the animation with which this text appears, you can notice a small, but still difference with our graphic elements.”
Your investigation Spent And Journalists of the AFP agency. The fact that the video was not created by the 20 minute team was confirmed by Ann Baron, a manager of the publication for media relations. The factor also contacted Dodra, who said: "The final credits were taken from our other video and added to a fake video." Journalist Paul damn Kerninen, allegedly responsible for the installation of a video about the falsification of graffiti, said that he had never worked on such a topic, and clarified that music and credits from the video about the arrest of ex-president of the United States Donald Trump were used in the fake, published August 25, 2023. This explains the mention site The election campaign is a politician in the upper part of the credits (at the mark 01:08).
The fake video allegedly shows, as the photo of the Ukrainian artist under the pseudonym, Evgeny Ivanchenko (at the mark 00:30), while the person’s face in the photo is smeared. “Verified” found out that the initial picture is open in the access in VKontakte, where it was July 24, 2021 Published User by name Dima Skashilov. According to his profile, subscriptions and Some publications, he lives in Perm and works in the Ministry of Emergencies. “Checked” to the messages with a request for a commentary to haste did not respond.
Derek Thomson, editor -in -chief of Info OU Intox and Les Observateurs France 24, also categorically denies The accusation: “We did not make fake graffiti, our journalist does not know a single Ukrainian artist who had hidden in France. She never created false investigations and never paid anyone for information! It even contradicts Charter France médias monde (maternal company France 24. - Approx. Ed.). ” Refutation with links to 20 minute and AFP Published Twitter account Info OU INTOX, soon it reputed And Marshan de Abreu.
Thus, the accusations against Bera and de Abreu have no reason. The only evidence that these journalists faked anti -Ukrainian materials are videos from the publication of 20 minute, whose editors called them fakes, and a screenshot of the alleged story of the Le Parisien newspaper, on the site of which there are no similar texts. Other details indicate the disinformation nature of the video. The creation of such fakes suggests that the authors of fakes monitor refutations and, apparently, are dissatisfied with the fact that the fact of a factory indicate their numerous blunders, mistakes and oversights. The propagandists decided to deal with factskeking with verified methods - they regularly falsify the videos on behalf of authoritative and well -known foreign media, including Al jazeera, Euronews, DGP, DW**, Reuters And Fox News.
*Russian authorities They think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns social networks Facebook and Instagram, an extremist organization, its activities in Russia are prohibited.
** The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation introduced a journalist Yuri Dudia, chess player Harry Kasparova and television and radio company Deutsche Welle in the list of foreign agents.
*** The Russian authorities recognized the Rain TV channel The media is a foreign agent And undesirable organization on the territory of the Russian Federation.
Photo on the cover: collage "Checked"
- DELFI. Not only trolls. How the arsenal of Russian propagandists was replenished with fake covers and fake videos of the world media
- Les Observateurs, France 24. À quoi servent ces fausses urylie hebdo Relayées en Russian?
- Is it true that graffiti depicting Zelensky in the form of cannibal appeared in Germany and France?
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