A social data science perspective on the war in Ukraine

DISTRACT Assistant Professor Kristoffer Albris has contributed to the Faculty of Social Science's page on the war in Ukraine. On the page, researchers from the Faculty of Social Science shed light on the war in Ukraine based on their research, and provide suggestions for comments, analyzes, and scientific articles that can give answers to the many questions raised by the conflict.

From a social data science perspective, Kristoffer Albris writes: 

In times of crises, control over population data is a top priority for states. Both information flows and the underlying infrastructure. Therefore, it is interesting to follow the tech giants' response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Russia's reaction to their actions. YouTube has announced a global blockade of Russian state channels and videos, Facebook has blocked the advertising activities of Russian state media, and Twitter has reduced the visibility of media controlled or indirectly controlled by the Russian state. In response, Putin and his state apparatus have instead rolled out so-called copies of the platforms. By launching similar platforms with the same interactive capabilities as "the real-deal", the Russian state can control the actual programming of the digital infrastructure, thereby turning the platforms into comprehensive monitoring devices of the country's citizens. The tech giants - and social media platforms more generally - have thus become part of the geopolitical battlefield, not only in terms of spreading disinformation and cyber attacks, but to a large extent also in terms of who decides where the platforms should operate, who and what to block, as well as what they can and should be used for as part of a policy strategy.

Read the entire contribution in Danish and view links to more material on the Faculty of Social Science's page on the war in Ukraine.