Russian Piracy Sites Are Unwittingly Torrenting ‘Undercover’ Media From Ukraine

Image via Torrents of Truth

After being locked out from the rest of the world, the Kremlin legalized piracy of all content from countries that have cut Russia off. Essentially, anyone in the nation yearning for something beyond the Iron Curtain would have to torrent it.

This is the same country that is shielding its public from the content that actually matters: what’s really happening in Ukraine. In response, Kyiv-based creative agency Nebo and advertising agency 72andSunny are taking advantage of the loophole in Russia’s dodgy regulations for bootlegging and are planting the truth inside piracy websites in an undercover cyber movement called Torrents of Truth.

Starting Tuesday, Russian users who attempt to illicitly download popular Western films, television series, software, and music might open the file to find the message: “This isn’t what you expected to see. But this is something that you should see. The truth.”

Disguised as programs like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Inventing Anna, Batman, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, and even Adobe Photoshop, the packages instead feature eyewitness accounts, on-the-ground footage, and news reports—presented by Ukrainian journalists in Russian—on the unprovoked invasion.

Video screenshots via Nebo

Each download comes with a ReadMe.txt file directing users to find out more via verified links and resources.

The campaign creators hope more of these files will be “seeded” across platforms to get the word out.

Image via Torrents of Truth

[via LBB and The Stable, video and images via Torrents of Truth]