Twitter Blue accounts fuel Ukraine war disinformation

False and misleading posts about the Ukraine conflict by blue tick verified accounts on Twitter continue to go viral, as Russia’s invasion of the country extends beyond 500 days.

One example is false claims about US military aid to Ukraine being used in French riots. Several Twitter accounts with Blue subscriptions have shared the post, which has been viewed more than a million times. BBC Verify has traced it back to pro-Kremlin channels on the Telegram messaging app. The image used in the post appears in a Russian military blog from 2012 about a shooting competition held near Moscow. Another example of a viral claim without evidence is ‘baby factories’ in Ukraine where allegedly children between the ages of two and seven are said to be ‘factory farmed’ and either sent to ‘child sex brothels’ or to have their organs harvested and sold in the West.

Other examples of fake news spread by blue-tick verified Twitter accounts include Ukrainian forces allegedly responsible for missile attacks in Kramatorsk and President Zelensky cancelling elections in Ukraine. These posts have been traced back to pro-Kremlin channels and unreliable sources, with no evidence to support their claims.