Studying the materials of publications based on the results of the listing and videos of Belarusian YouTube channels in the second quarter of 2024, a decision was made to analyze the largest channels of Belarusian state-owned media for June 2024.
The following channels were selected:
- BelTA News Agency – 1,670,000 subscribers;
- ATN: News of Belarus and the World – 1,240,000 subscribers;
- SB TV – 1,170,000 subscribers;
- ONT TV Channel – 1,130,000 subscribers;
- CTVBY – 1,080,000 subscribers.
All channels have more than one million subscribers, which means they have received the YouTube Gold Button.
Results of these channels’ activities for June 2024:
The five channels uploaded 1,401 videos in June 2024. Three channels (SB TV, CTVBY, ATN) posted on average more than ten videos daily. The most posts were made on the CTVBY channel – 371. The total number of views of the videos posted in June 2024 amounted to 132,355,921 views. The leader was the SB TV YouTube channel with over 64 million views. This channel gathered the most likes and comments.
Daily distribution of the number of views and posts throughout the month:
It can be noted that the lowest total number of posts was made on Saturdays (June 1, June 8, June 15, June 22, June 29). In terms of views, there were only a couple of spikes on several channels – June 14, June 18, June 21, and June 27.
Dependency of post duration (X-axis) and number of views (Y-axis):
Several important conclusions can be drawn from this graph. Most of the videos posted on the studied channels were short videos, so-called shorts, with a duration of less than one minute. No video longer than an hour garnered over a million views. Only three videos on the BelTA channel had more than half a million views:
- SPITSYN: He’s a useful idiot! // About propaganda, modern political scientists and historical lies – 779,334 views;
- Platoshkin: The Belated Revenge of the Soviet Union! // Where is Zelensky LYING? | About Biden, Stalin and Europe – 731,196 views;
- “A warning has been sounded!” // Vajra on Putin, a trained zoo, F16, Ukraine, and Washington – 531,664 views.
These were extensive interviews with notorious Russian public figures. Yevgeny Spitsyn is a member of the Expert Council of the Committee of the State Duma of the Russian Federation on Security and Anti-Corruption. As part of the Unified Concept of Historical Education, he wrote “The Complete Course of Russian History for Teachers”. It is worth noting that historical science, especially in its basic, school variant, is the first to be revised in authoritarian aggressor countries to justify the current political regime.
Nikolai Platoshkin, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Head of the Department of International Relations and Diplomacy at the Moscow Humanitarian University, and leader of the unregistered movement “For New Socialism”. In 2020, Platoshkin was charged with inciting riots, including an article on spreading fake news about the coronavirus. On June 15, 2020, Amnesty International recognized Platoshkin as a prisoner of conscience. On July 13, 2020, Memorial recognized Nikolai Platoshkin as a political prisoner. The National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption of Ukraine initiated the imposition of international sanctions against Platoshkin. The rationale states that Platoshkin is an “anti-Ukrainian propagandist, supporter of the occupation of Crimea. Known for distorting and falsely interpreting international law to justify Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine in Donbas”. He considers V. I. Lenin to be the most humane and outstanding statesman of Russia and positively evaluates the activities of I. Dzhugashvili aka I. Stalin. On July 8, 2022, the YouTube channel “Nikolai Platoshkin” with more than 700 thousand subscribers was blocked and completely removed. On February 28, 2024, YouTube removed the channels “Red Radio”, “Red Radio Live” and Nikolai Platoshkin’s channel (formerly known as “Platoshkin Info”). On March 4, YouTube removed the channel “Red Radio 2.0”. Currently, he runs the YouTube channel “Time of Platoshkin”.
The Russian propagandist known under the pseudonym Andrey Vajra (Denis Vladimirovich Shevchuk), who has been publishing on social networks since 2008 and then created his own resources “Russian Truth” and Alternatio.org, is possibly suspected of treason as an officer who worked in the Ukrainian intelligence agencies until April 2014.
“Possessing the relevant professional skills, experience and specialized knowledge in the field of information operations, from 2013 to 2023 he helped the aggressor state in conducting subversive activities against Ukraine. Coordinating his actions with representatives of the Russian Federation, he conducted informational activities under a pseudonym and a fictitious legend as an analyst and publicist. The suspect spread the narratives of Russian propaganda, which, starting from 2013, was used by the highest military-political leadership of the Russian Federation,” reads the statement.
In 2015, he moved to Russia, where he continued his illegal activities – justifying the actions of the Russian armed forces, calling on Ukrainian citizens to cooperate with the occupiers, and taking actions to eliminate the Ukrainian state.
The longest video – ⚡️”Televershina 2024″. Awards ceremony of the XV National Television Competition lasted 3 hours and 14 seconds and has only 2,734 views.
Recordings of “Main Air” episodes on the ATN channel, lasting over 100 minutes, gathered from 15 to 50 thousand views.
The recording of the “XIV Republican Festival of National Cultures in Grodno” on the CTVBY channel lasts almost two hours (114 minutes):
This recording was viewed less than 6,000 times.
Videos that gathered more views:
Almost all of these videos are less than one minute long.
To identify disinformation narratives in the proposed video titles, it is necessary to pay attention to key features characteristic of disinformation: bias, emotional appeals, manipulation of facts, creation of enemies, and the use of unverified information. Here are the most characteristic disinformation narratives:
- This video went viral in Ukraine and infuriated nationalists! Keep working, brothers!:
- Narrative: Dividing society into “us” and “them”.
- Signs of disinformation: Inciting internal conflict, emotional manipulation.
- Russian with a shotgun against a Ukrainian drone! Unique footage! Here’s why it’s dangerous to take down a drone!:
- Narrative: Heroic actions of Russian fighters.
- Signs of disinformation: Heroization of one side of the conflict.
- Ukrainian fighting for Russians against the Armed Forces of Ukraine – the soldier does not hide his face and the truth:
- Narrative: Support for Russia from Ukrainians.
- Signs of disinformation: Questionable sources and lack of verified information.
- ❗️UKRAINIAN NATO MISSION TO TRANSFER WEAPONS #news #nato #militarybases #orban #hungary:
- Narrative: Escalation of the situation around Ukraine and NATO involvement.
- Signs of disinformation: Manipulation of facts, fear-mongering about NATO.
- “The goal is clear! To destabilize!” // MONTYAN: Terrorist attack in Dagestan, attack on the beach in Sevastopol, special services:
- Narrative: Claim of a conspiracy and intentional destabilization.
- Signs of disinformation: Conspiracy theories, lack of evidence.
- Will there be a strike on the West? #shorts #belarus #army #nato #putin #news #politics:
- Narrative: Threat of an attack on the West.
- Signs of disinformation: Fear-mongering, creation of an enemy image.
- Lukashenko: Take money from crooks! #shorts #lukashenko #news #politics #belarus #officials:
- Narrative: Support for Lukashenko’s actions as a fight against corruption.
- Signs of disinformation: Oversimplification of a complex issue, heroization of the leader.
- Brutal attack of Ukraine on Crimea! Wounded children from Sevastopol are taken to Moscow hospitals:
- Narrative: Demonization of Ukraine’s actions.
- Signs of disinformation: Emotional appeals, lack of verified data.
- Head-on drone strike by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Russian Ural caught on video! What happened to the soldiers and the vehicle?:
- Narrative: Military actions of Ukraine against Russia.
- Signs of disinformation: Visual and emotional manipulation.
- Belarus would have been twice Ukraine! By suppressing nationalism, Lukashenko saved the country – Gaydukevich:
- Narrative: Exaggeration of the negative consequences of nationalism and heroization of Lukashenko as the savior of the country.
- Signs of disinformation: Creation of an external threat image (nationalism), without critical analysis of Lukashenko’s policies.
These titles demonstrate various aspects of disinformation strategies, such as the creation of an enemy image, emotional manipulation, and oversimplification of complex political issues.
For the next iteration, videos longer than 60 seconds that gathered more views were collected:
Excluding “short” videos (shorts) allows us to study which content of the investigated YouTube channels was most in demand by their audience.
28 out of 30 videos presented on the graph have less than one million views. Only in three posts about events in Belarus is the country’s leader not mentioned. The posts about events in Ukraine and the European Parliament elections contain misinformation.
From the socio-demographic data of the investigated channels, the share of subscribers from the Russian Federation is:
- BelTA News Agency – 58.1%;
- ATN: News of Belarus and the World – 53.7%;
- SB TV – 63.4%;
- ONT TV Channel – 39.9%;
- CTVBY – 43%.
In conclusion, Belarusian YouTube channels representing state-owned Belarusian television channels conduct active and aggressive activities on the video platform, posting a significant amount of content, which in many cases is biased and carries disinformation narratives, accompanied by a huge number of views for the most odious materials. This is especially true for information about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Given that most of the subscribers of these channels are from Russia, the channels invite people with low and questionable quality of expertise and who are unknown in Belarus, while having hundreds of thousands and millions of views. It can be assumed that Belarusian YouTube channels are participating in a hybrid war, engaging in disinformation of the Belarusian and Russian internet audience.
