In February 2024, news spread in the media and social networks that Ukrainians could get a job where they were required to write negative messages about the conversation between the Russian President and an American TV presenter. We checked if this is true.
February 8 American publicist Tucker Carlson published on its website a two-hour interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin. There was also a video of this conversation posted in the account of the presenter on the social network X. On the same day, reports appeared in many Russian media, Telegram channels and public pages that Ukrainian companies were looking for people who, for a fee, would leave negative comments under an interview post. “Those who profess the truth “money has no smell” have found a part-time job. Ukraine was so infuriated by the excitement around the world about the upcoming broadcast of an interview with the Russian president that they urgently began to look for provocateur commentators. For 30,000 hryvnia silver they must write negative comments. Readers told us about advertisements on job search services,” the Tsargrad TV channel said on its social networks (Telegram channel, "VKontakte", "Classmates", "Zen"). Later channel named This news is one of the main ones of the day.
As evidence, the authors cited three screenshots from foreign job search sites. Chairman of the “We are together with Russia” movement Vladimir Rogov in his Telegram channel (33,000 views at the time of writing this analysis) commented images like this: “Many vacancies have appeared on the Internet - from media strategists to copywriters, who are recruited specifically to criticize the long-awaited interview of an American journalist who dared to go against total Western censorship and lack of freedom of speech.” Similar entries appeared in the channels “Sheikh Tamir" (127,000), "Ukraine.ru"(109,000), "Metametrics"(29,000), "Baybayden" (27,000), "Zaporozhye Bulletin" (15,000), "Mariupol is ours"(13,000), "Survivor" (11,000), "Bear"(7000), etc. Among the media and news sites about vacancies for provocateurs they also reported "Pravda.ru"("VKontakte", "Classmates"), "Free press"("VKontakte"), "Kherson news feed" And etc..
In total, in the above publications there are three screenshots with different vacancies on job search sites. Let's look at each of them.
Copywriter on Jooble
The first image is a screenshot allegedly taken on the website of an international job aggregator jooble.org. It shows a copywriter job description that reads:
Project work on Carlson - Putin!!!
You need to watch the interview and write negative comments. If you know English, it will be an advantage! We send all instructions personally upon mutual agreement to work.
Requirements:
- Preferably be over 18 years of age;
- availability of a computer or laptop (not a tablet or phone);
- knowledge and proficiency in English;
- fast writing skills, creativity.
If you are interested in trying your hand at a new direction or you are already familiar with such work, but you do not have enough confidence to start from scratch, please contact me on Telegram and I will tell you more details.
“Verified” found a company page on the website Recruiting Group, which allegedly posted this ad. At the time of writing, the company’s profile contains more than 110 advertisements, several of which offer work as a copywriter. Only in one announcement the same salary is indicated (30,000 - 38,000 UAH) and place of work (Odessa). Moreover, the recording was posted more than two months ago and there is no mention of Putin’s interview with Carlson.
The job description in the original ad begins: “Congratulations! If you are looking for an opportunity to work remotely, then we have a great offer! We are looking for active and purposeful employees to join our team, ready to always strive for new heights and earn money quickly.” Next, the employer lists some of the advantages of the vacancy, including remote work, convenient schedule, as well as opportunities for salary growth and learning English. At the same time, the ending of the ad completely coincides with the one shown in the viral screenshot, only two requirements differ: the ability to quickly and efficiently respond to incoming correspondence and the skills of writing attractive letters for site visitors.
A representative of the Recruiting Group blocked the author of “Verified” after a request to comment on the viral screenshot.
Technical support employee at Work.ua
According to the second screenshot, allegedly taken on a Ukrainian job search site Work.ua, the New Media Space company is looking for an employee who will provide technical support. The image being distributed provides the following description:
The New Media Space company is a leader among reference and information resources in Western Ukraine, has been actively working and developing for more than 13 years in 50 cities.
Project work on Carlson - Putin!!! Responsibilities: fulfillment of planned indicators; writing negative comments under Putin’s interview with Carlson; maintaining reports on the work done.
The company actually places her advertisements on the Work.ua website, however, among the 20 vacancies in her “Verified” profile, she did not find a technical support employee. Moreover, there is a position in the list sales manager — candidates are offered the same salary (30,000 UAH) and the same place of work (Chernivtsi). The first sentence from the job description in the screenshot and on the website are the same, but in the original, as in the case discussed above, there is no mention of Carlson and Putin. This announcement lists the number of clients and employees of the New Media Space company, and then talks about its main product - the website List.in.ua (the logo of this project is also on the viral screenshot). Moreover, this is exactly how all 20 advertisements of this company begin.
The company’s press service, in a conversation with Verified, was unable to comment on the viral screenshot and asked to send a link to the vacancy in question.
Media strategist at Robota.ua
The last image shows a vacancy for a media strategist at Telemarketing 24 on a Ukrainian website Robota.ua. The job description for which candidates are sought reads:
“Telemarketing 24” invites a specialist to the position of media strategist (remote work is possible). Please read the vacancy carefully!
Main responsibilities:
- active viewing of the necessary content (we work based on Carlson’s interview);
- writing comments in a negative way;
- criticism of Carlson and the decline of his importance as a journalist;
- ridicule and criticism of Putin (in English as an advantage);
- collection of reports and reactions.
At the time of writing this analysis, the company profile on Robota.ua had posted only two ads - searched call center operator (the vacancy appeared on February 9) and system administrator (February 11), so it is now not possible to check whether Telemarketing 24 published an ad for a search for a media strategist on February 8 or earlier. At the same time, the system administrator vacancy, just like in the viral screenshot, is marked “hot”; the successful candidate is promised the same salary (30,000 - 35,000 UAH) and the same place of work (Kyiv, Pecherskaya metro station). In addition, the text and design of the two advertisements are partially similar.
A representative of Telemarketing 24 blocked the author of “Verified” after a request to comment on the viral screenshot.
Unlike the two screenshots discussed above, in the case of Telemarketing 24, we cannot say 100% that the viral image with a vacancy for a media strategist was faked and did not disappear from the company’s profile due to the irrelevance of the offer. However, the likelihood that the screenshot is genuine is extremely low - several indirect signs indicate this.
Firstly, all three pictures were distributed together and first appeared in Russian-language Telegram channels, which have been caught more than once spreading disinformation. The earliest publication tracked by Verified was from the Tsargrad TV channel, mentioned in more than 150 of our analyses. Secondly, the original caption to the screenshots said that they were sent by some anonymous readers - this one one of the most popular ways to spread anti-Ukrainian fakes. Thirdly, “Verified” has already dealt with a similar scheme for creating disinformation content: earlier we examined reports that schools in Ukraine had opened LGBT circles, and in Ukrainian universities appeared courses on filming pornography. In both cases, three screenshots from real websites of educational institutions were also distributed across the Internet at once, but all the images were fabricated.
Given the good quality of the three images and the fact that the fonts on them are exactly the same as those used on the corresponding sites, unknown persons could probably change the original advertisements through the site's page code and then take screenshots of their versions. Fact checkers from projects came to similar conclusions regarding viral vacancies StopFake And Ukrinform.
*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social network Facebook, is an extremist organization; its activities in Russia are prohibited.
Cover photo: press service of the President of the Russian Federation
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