Fake British websites spread disinformation about Western companies in Ukraine - Media.

Fake news websites, registered in the UK and resembling reliable media, spread disinformation about Western companies operating in Ukraine, reports The Guardian.

"Fake news websites, registered in the UK and resembling reliable British media, are likely spreading disinformation about Western companies operating in Ukraine," the report states.

Due to a likely Russian propaganda operation, local parliamentarians have called for changes to the law to force news websites registered in the UK to disclose ownership details, as is done in EU countries.

As noted, although the websites londoninsider.co.uk and talk-finance.co.uk are made in English and registered in the UK, their materials were gathered and spread in Ukraine, where British media are regarded as authoritative.

The American firm Sarn, which operates in Ukraine in the energy and military technology sectors, took notice of these websites. According to the company, articles on these two sites falsely accused it of arms trading, judicial fraud, and embezzlement. It appears that the content on the sites was created by artificial intelligence, and an analysis conducted by a linguist hired by Sarn showed that the original text was created in Russian.

Meanwhile, some publications on one of these sites are signed with the name of a real British journalist, but he claimed he knew nothing about the article he supposedly wrote for londoninsider.co.uk.

"It is extremely disturbing that the Russian propaganda machine is exploiting London's reputation as a media and financial hub to harm Western companies operating in Ukraine," said one of the Liberal Democrats, lawmaker Lord Wallace of Saltaire.

At the same Time, Sarn's vice-chairman Armen Agas said that the company categorically rejects "the baseless and entirely fake news" spread by the websites. "We believe we were targeted because of our work on economic development in Ukraine during the conflict," he noted.

Dozens of websites spread false narratives about Ukraine

NewsGuard, a company that counteracts disinformation by studying and rating news websites, discovered that false narratives about Ukraine and its allies were spreading online even before the full-scale invasion by Russia. NewsGuard debunked over 250 false narratives related to the Russian war against Ukraine and identified 627 websites spreading them.

Source: Ukrinform