Russian TV Gets Hijacked To Display Anti-War Messages On Victory Day
As Russia broadcasted special content to celebrate Victory Day, in remembrance of when the country triumphed over Nazi Germany, hackers decided to make unsuspecting viewers reflect on the country’s ongoing military invasion of Ukraine instead.
The anonymous internet vigilantes took over the smart television schedule listings, turning what would’ve usually been program names and details into an anti-war bulletin, as seen in this clip by BBC Monitoring’s Francis Scarr.
In the video, the name of every program was changed to ominous sentences, stating: “On your hands is the blood of thousands of Ukrainians and their hundreds of murdered children. TV and the authorities are lying. No to war.”
Coincidentally, later that day anti-war messages popped up on the website of pro-Russian news site Lenta, as spotted by BBC Monitoring. Posted by two members of staff, the slogans alleged phrases including “war makes it easier to cover up economic failures,” and “Zelenskyy turned out to be cooler than Putin.”
As Forbes notes, this isn’t the first time news agencies have been targeted by hackers wanting to publicize the devastation in Ukraine.
In fact, back in March, it was reported that over 300,000 volunteers worldwide had joined an IT Army to battle misinformation coming out from Russia and educate the public about the realities of the war.
Thankfully, it seems that hard-hit cities in Ukraine are working on rebuilding from the ground up, with the Mayor of Kharkiv tapping on British architect Norman Foster to help recreate a modern landscape.
This morning the online Russian TV schedule page was hacked
— Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) May 9, 2022
The name of every programme was changed to "On your hands is the blood of thousands of Ukrainians and their hundreds of murdered children. TV and the authorities are lying. No to war" pic.twitter.com/P2uCNz8cqa
[via Forbes and Gizmodo, cover image via Rufatjumali | Dreamstime.com]
