What logics guide the work of partisan factchecking in non-democratic states? A content analysis of the Russian fact-checking project “War on Fakes”

Abstract

Abstract Despite a growing tendency of the fact-checking industry, the research within this field has been largely focused on studying the practice of organizations from Europe and the USA, leaving non-Western initiatives severely underexplored. In addition, fact-checking is rapidly developing in countries with non-democratic regimes and has become an effective tool for silencing opposing voices and spreading propaganda. Although the cases of using fact checking not for verification, but for manipulation of facts are being recorded more and more often, we know very little about what principles guide such activity. This thesis is aimed at filling this research gap by studying the work of the Russian fact-checking project “War on Fakes” (“Война с фейками”). “War on Fakes” was founded on February 24th, 2022 – the day of Russia’s fullscale invasion of Ukraine, and has been debunking allegedly fake news around it. Since then, the project has been subject to criticism from various institutions, media, and fact-checking projects for its one-sided approach and spreading of Russian propaganda narratives. Through the theoretical framework of logics, I conducted a content analysis of 379 Telegram posts from the “War on Fakes” channel, published in three different timeframes: February 24th, 2022 – March 3rd, 2022; February 24th, 2023 – March 3rd, 2023; February 24th, 2024 – March 2nd, 2024. The feature of this research is that, in addition to professional and social media logics, I analyzed the “War on Fakes” content for visual logics, which, in addition to “truth” / ”false” labels, can be present in the structure of visual content, branding elements (for example, logo), and other details. Findings reveal that in its fact-checking work “War on Fakes” is mostly guided by visual logics and the logics of popularity, whereas other logics, especially professional, are neglected. Visual logics are manifested in the entire structure of the “War on Fakes” identity, starting from recognizable visual aesthetics (logo, signature colors) to the design of the visual content accompanying text publications. I highlight that in many ways the project is trying to imitate professional fact-checking organizations, like signatories of the International Fact-Checking Network Code of Principles. In a sense, “War on Fakes” even outperforms them in terms of the striking nature and recognizability of the design, which can be an advantage when it comes to promotion on social media platforms, and a disadvantage in terms of making publications more complicated for understanding. Overall, the results of the analysis are in line with recent research concerning similar projects that operate in China and Southeast Asian countries, which may potentially indicate a growing tendency to adopt fact-checking tools by authoritarian regimes for battling opposing opinions and labeling them as fake.