Following the war in Ukraine – yeah, right

The Military Summary Channel is a reliable source of information on the war in Ukraine.

So much disinformation about the war in Ukraine is promoted by the mainstream media that it simply isn’t worth following its reports. I follow a few relatively objective YouTube channels and find them quite helpful. But recently I come across several YouTube channels which I must say are hilarious because they are so biased and their “news” is so false. But I think they have a loyal following – people who congratulate them on the “reporting,” who offer prayers for Ukrainian Army and send the neo-Nazi chant – “Slava Ukraini.”

I recommended a number YouTube channels worth following in my articles How is the war going? and Following the war in Ukraine – an update. I still recommend Military Summary Channel and Defense Politics Asia as the most effective and unbiased. Apart from that there are a couple of channels which are obviously biased towards the Russians or Ukrainians which are not worth following, although they may sometimes present some factual material.

But let’s have a look at these hilarious newcomers. They also present headlines so outrageous to be obviously not true.  They use visual content of war scenes and political leaders that is readily available on the internet. The video content bears no relation to the reports being presented. And these reports are so clumsy they seem to have been written by ChatGPT  and read by an artificial text reader which repeats all the obvious mistakes and confuses or mispronounces place names.

Let’s have a look at a few of these YouTube channels.

Oracle Eyes

Major Crisis: The Russian Rebellion Reignites in Kaliningrad! Putin didn’t expect this from Poland!

Oracle Eyes is the oldest I have seen so far. It has been reporting this war for 4 months. Before then it was a Turkish-language food channel which had been operating for over 4 years

World Basics

Putin’s Kiev Attack Plan Intercepted! The treacherous plan of Russia, which lost in Bakhmut!

World Basics has been reporting the war for about 2 weeks. Before then it was an English-language Turkish knitting channel which has been operating for more than a year.

ARF Daily Media

The Biggest Shock Of The Day Was When Lukashenko Fired Putin! Even Ukrainians were shocked!

Pembeli örgüler (ARF Daily Media) has been reporting on the war for only 11 days. It was previously a Turkish-language knitting channel and had been operating for over a year.

CPR Daily News

Historic Uprising in Crimea: Hundreds of Thousands of Russians Take to the Streets! Kremlin Toppled

CPR Daily News has been reporting on the war for 2 months. It was previously a Turkish-language sewing channel which had been operating for over 2 years.

Frontline Reports

Huge CHAOS in Moscow! Millions of Russians are Frantically Trying to Flee from Putin!

lezzetnesli (@FrontlineReports41) has been reporting on the war for only 8 days. It was previously an English-language food channel which had been operating for over 2 years. And before that a Turkish-language food channel

Summary

YouTube channels like these may be laughable to anyone who has seriously looked at coverage of this war but they still seem to fool a lot of people. Comments on the channels often urge on the Ukrainian Army, offer up prayers for the soldiers or repeat the neo-Nazi chant, Slava Ukraini.

But I am surprised that coverage of war has come to this. Extreme and obviously false headlines, machine written texts which are machine read. And full of mistakes, mispronounced and mistaken placenames.

I also wonder at the way they appear to have taken over existing non-political channels. Maybe this is why they have so many subscribers (tens and hundreds of thousands) despite their very short coverage of the war.

This may be the future. Now these channels appear ridiculous but as the methods mature perhaps we face a future where our news will be artificially manufactured and presented. And end up fooling most of us.