Kyiiv, March 2 (Metro.co.uk) – Hacking group Anonymous has claimed it was able to hack into Russian TV stations and show footage from Ukraine.
The group said it was trying to ‘broadcast the truth’ about what is happening in the conflict.
Pro-Kremlin Russian television stations have been criticised for repeating Vladimir Putin’s ‘propaganda’ that the invasion is a ‘special operation’ and Russia is not the aggressor.
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Social media networks have also been restricted in the country during the conflict, preventing images of the suffering in Ukraine reaching people in Moscow and St Petersburg.
The clip claiming TV stations had been hacked by Anonymous was viewed nearly 10 million times in less than 24 hours.
It showed stations apparently broadcasting footage that went viral earlier in the week of a young father saying goodbye to his wife and daughter as they fled the country due to the fighting.
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Images of bombs detonating and damaged residential buildings then flashed up on the screen.
It was not clear which television stations were affected or for how long. It came after hackers were apparently able to broadcast Ukrainian songs instead of the planned output in Russia.
Kremlin websites have also been affected by long outages after pro-Ukraine hackers announced a ‘cyber-war’ to counter what is happening in the country.
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Ukraine’s leaders have called for the hacker underground to form an ‘IT army’ to fight against Russia and protect critical infrastructure.
As an information war raged, Moscow on Friday said it was partially limiting access to Facebook, accusing it of ‘censoring’ Russian media.
This was in response to the social network banning certain pro-Russian TV channels from running ads and monetizing through its platform.
Google is also limiting access to Russian media’s YouTube channels in Ukrainian territory, at the request of the government in Kyiv.
Twitter is being restricted for some users in Russia, with people struggling to load newsfeeds and send tweets.
The social media company said on Saturday that it was working to keep its service safe and accessible.
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