Moscow accuses Meta and Google of distorting truth

The US social media giants are spreading disinformation and manipulating public opinion, the Russian Foreign Ministry has said

Major US and global technology companies, including Meta and Google, have become instruments in the hands of dishonest actors for distorting history and purging the truth on social media, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.  

Addressing participants of the Dialogue about Fakes 2.0 forum via video link on Wednesday, Zakharova noted that the issue of fake information has gained importance in recent years amid the rapid development of generative AI technologies and the widespread use of deepfakes.  

According to Zakharova, US-based social media giants are manipulating public opinion through the dissemination of deceptive content. 

"We are observing a gross substitution of all kinds of ideas presented on American digital platforms and fact-checking services operating under the watchful gaze of Washington, especially by Google and Meta," Zakharova said.

Zakharova said Meta had given complete control over its digital space in Eastern Europe, including the Russian-language segment, to two companies - VoxCheck and StopFake - that are associated with the "Kiev regime."  

"The leadership and employees of these structures were closely associated with far-right activists. Many of them today do not hide their openly Nazi views," the diplomat stated. These companies "are not fact-checkers but Sonderkommandos purging undesirable content," she claimed, referring to units made up of death camp prisoners who assisted the Nazis.

She also took aim at Wikipedia, claiming that historical and political articles published on the online encyclopedia are often biased and contain a one-sided interpretation of events.   

"They almost always reflect an exclusively Western-centric point of view and contain direct forgeries," Zakharova said.  

The Foreign Ministry spokeswoman added that advanced technology is being widely used to wage hybrid wars, describing the problem as an "existential threat" for the world.   

The issue of deepfakes - AI-generated images, video, or audio recordings typically used to spread disinformation - has come to prominence this year. Dubbed the year of global elections, 2024 will see around 4 billion people cast their ballots across 40 nations.   

Earlier this year, Russian lawmakers suggested preparing new legislation to tackle the issue of AI-generated content, including the use of deepfakes during election campaigns.