Fake Control site created to combat disinformation

The ducks are because the word for such apparently leaked, false rumours is "utka" [duck]

Activists have launched a blog fakecontrol.org aimed at exposing false information in the media and on social networks regarding events in Ukraine.

As reported, one of the major sources of disinformation has been the Russian media.  Fake Control picked up on an apparently alarming news item on Russia Today which, if its own claims are to be believed, broadcasts to over 644 million people in more than 100 countries.  This claimed that a draft law tabled in parliament was proposing to introduce criminal liability for holding double citizenship with the penalty a serious fine and imprisonment from 3 to 10 years.  

It is, in fact, illegal to hold double nationality in Ukraine, however many are also the nationals of another country. 

Fake Control checked out the information.  The relevant draft law concerns failure to disclose information about a second citizenship.  The penalties for this rise if the person has used their voting rights in Ukraine, or if they are a civil servant or an official in bodies of local self-government.  The only time that a sentence of up to 10 years is envisaged is if the person concealed this information while having access to Ukraine’s state secrets.

One series of fakes purports to be from relatives of Berkut riot police claiming to have been facing serious harassment over recent months from EuroMaidan supporters.  The alleged harassment includes armed men in masks near the Berkut hostel; being forced to leave ones job; children being bullied at school. The report asserts that a Berkut officer was killed in Lviv for having been on Maidan.  As reported, Berkut officers were responsible for considerable violence against peaceful protesters, including the vicious attack on Maidan Nezalezhnosti in the early morning of Nov 30 2013.

Fake Control activists phoned the hostels mentioned, ascertained that the information was false.

In this case the fake had mercenary motives.  Often, however, the disinformation is to spread false and defamatory information about the EuroMaidan movement and its participants.

The Fake Control team are hoping to clean up channels of information from obvious fakes and manipulation.  They invite others to join them, and can be contacted via  Facebook or «ВКонтакте».