The fight against misinformation in Russia has led to a rise in restaurant reviews on the internet.
Get involved: find a random shop/cafe/restaurant in Russia in a big city on a map and write a review about what's happening in Ukraine. The post was tagged by an account belonging to the hacktivist group, who then shared it with 273,000 followers. The idea received hundreds of upvotes in less than 48 hours after it was shared on the r/Ukraine subreddit.
The post was soon retweeted by hacktivist group Anonymous Credit: Screenshot: Twitter / @LiteMods
The tactic is to communicate directly with Russian civilians who might be unaware or unable to access independent or credible news reports. Russian media is being used to spread misinformation to justify the invasion and to undermine those who are in solidarity with Ukraine.
Users on social media have continued to post comments and reviews on the websites of restaurants, hotels, shopping malls, businesses and government buildings.
A translated review was shared to the social networking site.
"The food was great! Unfortunately, Putin spoiled our appetites by invading Ukraine. Stand up to your dictator, stop killing innocent people! Your government is lying to you. Get up! google "Kyiv" and putler [sic] and share it with all people in Russia."
For the idea. One user said that he did just 60 random places in Moscow. In a thread on the r/Ukraine subreddit, Veets_Drops commented that they just added over 50 reviews and asked for their message to be translated into Russian.
Tweet may have been deleted
The Romantic restaurant in Moscow had the top reviews on Tuesday.
Louise wrote in English.
"5800 Russian Soldiers died today 4500 yesterday Stop your agression [sic] dont let your kids suffer if you go to war you will not come back
Another review was posted by Karolina.
"Food is great, but your leader is killing innocent people in Ukraine!!! Stop this war."
Reviews showing up on Tuesday morning. Credit: Screenshot / Google
Users have encouraged each other not to hurt businesses, which resulted in the restaurant getting five stars from both reviewers. It is 5 to the local businesses or owned privately, and 1 to the Government buildings and facilities. The majority of Russian's don't want this war, but can't speak out against Putin. They aren't our enemy. Putin is our enemy.
Users are suggesting different rhetoric in an attempt to appeal to Russians. The idea is to help them understand and empathise.
Some of the reviews were offensive.
The movement is running into problems as some reviews on the internet are disappearing. The reviews for the restaurant Romantic are no longer visible, and the most recent one was three months ago. The missing reviews still contain the phrases "kids," "soldiers," and "invasion."
Some users on the site say their reviews were deleted or not accepted. Changing the messaging, including images, and reviewing lesser-known places are some of the ways that the comments to a post about the deletion of their posts offer.
Later in the day, the reviews were gone, but the keywords remained. Credit: Screenshot: Google Maps
It is not clear who is removing the reviews. It could be that the posts violate the terms of service. The story will be updated with a response from the company.
Even before reviews stopped showing up, several users on the internet recommended that they switch to Yandex Maps, which is a Russian equivalent of Google Maps. Users said that it is more widely used in Russia than in the US.
Will a post for a cafe convince Russians to condemn Putin? It remains to be seen. The internet has never been more motivating to write a review.
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