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== History ==
== History ==
Visegrád 24 was founded in January 2020. According to a 2022 analysis done by Polish investigative journalism outlet [[OKO.press]], it was started by an anonymous Polish group; they claimed: "We are just a group of friends who are interested in the [[Visegrad Group]] and the [[Three Seas Initiative|3SI]]. Most of us work in news in our own countries, most are conservative, although we have different opinions."<ref name=":1" /> According to the analysis, the profile was at that time an unofficial profile of the Visegrád Group. It had primarily been promoting Prime Minister of Hungary [[Viktor Orbán]], was sympathetic to United States president [[Donald Trump]], and contained negative content about Western European political leaders.<ref name=":1" /> Polish journalist Adam Starzynski and content creator and advertiser Stefan Thompson—the latter associated with the MEGA ("Make Europe Great Again") pro-Trump group—were identified as being behind the account.<ref name=":1" /> On 2 March 2024, Visegrád 24 tweeted that Stefan Tompson was the founder.<ref name="here" /> ''[[The Jewish Chronicle]]'' also cites Tompson as the founder.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Prinsley |first1=Jane |date=5 February 2024 |title=Who is Visegrad 24? The news aggregator showing millions the realities of Israel's war |url=https://www.thejc.com/news/world/meet-the-man-who-shapes-millions-of-twitter-users-view-of-israels-war-der9i458 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240218154214/https://www.thejc.com/news/world/meet-the-man-who-shapes-millions-of-twitter-users-view-of-israels-war-der9i458 |archive-date=18 February 2024 |access-date=3 March 2024 |website=The Jewish Chronicle |language=en}}</ref>
Visegrád 24 was founded in January 2020. According to a 2022 analysis done by Polish investigative journalism outlet [[OKO.press]], it was started by an anonymous Polish group; they claimed: "We are just a group of friends who are interested in the [[Visegrad Group]] and the [[Three Seas Initiative|3SI]]. Most of us work in news in our own countries, most are conservative, although we have different opinions."<ref name=":1" /> According to the analysis, the profile was at that time an unofficial profile of the Visegrád Group. It had primarily been promoting Prime Minister of Hungary [[Viktor Orbán]], was sympathetic to United States president [[Donald Trump]], and contained negative content about Western European political leaders.<ref name=":1" /> Polish journalist Adam Starzynski and content creator and advertiser Stefan Tompson—the latter associated with the MEGA ("Make Europe Great Again") pro-Trump group—were identified as being behind the account.<ref name=":1" /> On 2 March 2024, Visegrád 24 tweeted that Stefan Tompson was the founder.<ref name="here" /> ''[[The Jewish Chronicle]]'' also cites Tompson as the founder.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Prinsley |first1=Jane |date=5 February 2024 |title=Who is Visegrad 24? The news aggregator showing millions the realities of Israel's war |url=https://www.thejc.com/news/world/meet-the-man-who-shapes-millions-of-twitter-users-view-of-israels-war-der9i458 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240218154214/https://www.thejc.com/news/world/meet-the-man-who-shapes-millions-of-twitter-users-view-of-israels-war-der9i458 |archive-date=18 February 2024 |access-date=3 March 2024 |website=The Jewish Chronicle |language=en}}</ref>


Amid the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine]], Visegrád 24 grew in popularity, which resulted with Visegrád 24 being referenced by both Polish and international media, including [[CNBC]], [[Daily Express]], [[Euractiv]] and [[The Times of Israel|''The Times of Israel'']].<ref name=":1" /> In March 2022, researchers from the Faculty of Social Sciences of the [[University of Tartu]] listed Visegrád 24 in their list of reliable sources of information related to the war in Ukraine.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 March 2022 |title=A list of information channels that provide reliable information |url=https://ut.ee/en/node/136678 |access-date=9 November 2023 |website=Tartu Ülikool |language=en |archive-date=21 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021073800/https://ut.ee/en/node/136678 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Amid the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine]], Visegrád 24 grew in popularity, which resulted with Visegrád 24 being referenced by both Polish and international media, including [[CNBC]], [[Daily Express]], [[Euractiv]] and [[The Times of Israel|''The Times of Israel'']].<ref name=":1" /> In March 2022, researchers from the Faculty of Social Sciences of the [[University of Tartu]] listed Visegrád 24 in their list of reliable sources of information related to the war in Ukraine.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 March 2022 |title=A list of information channels that provide reliable information |url=https://ut.ee/en/node/136678 |access-date=9 November 2023 |website=Tartu Ülikool |language=en |archive-date=21 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021073800/https://ut.ee/en/node/136678 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Revision as of 15:17, 14 April 2024

Visegrád 24 is an advertising agency account on X (formerly Twitter) that published information related to current events, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Israel–Hamas war.[1][2] One of its founders was Polish content creator and advertiser Stefan Tompson.[3][4]

History

Visegrád 24 was founded in January 2020. According to a 2022 analysis done by Polish investigative journalism outlet OKO.press, it was started by an anonymous Polish group; they claimed: "We are just a group of friends who are interested in the Visegrad Group and the 3SI. Most of us work in news in our own countries, most are conservative, although we have different opinions."[4] According to the analysis, the profile was at that time an unofficial profile of the Visegrád Group. It had primarily been promoting Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán, was sympathetic to United States president Donald Trump, and contained negative content about Western European political leaders.[4] Polish journalist Adam Starzynski and content creator and advertiser Stefan Tompson—the latter associated with the MEGA ("Make Europe Great Again") pro-Trump group—were identified as being behind the account.[4] On 2 March 2024, Visegrád 24 tweeted that Stefan Tompson was the founder.[3] The Jewish Chronicle also cites Tompson as the founder.[5]

Amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Visegrád 24 grew in popularity, which resulted with Visegrád 24 being referenced by both Polish and international media, including CNBC, Daily Express, Euractiv and The Times of Israel.[4] In March 2022, researchers from the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Tartu listed Visegrád 24 in their list of reliable sources of information related to the war in Ukraine.[6]

Research conducted by the University of Washington's Center for an Informed Public in October 2023 found that Visegrád 24 was one of the seven most influential Twitter accounts with regard to news coverage of the Israel–Hamas war. The researchers described the accounts as "new elites" due to exercising "disproportionate power and influence" over coverage of the war.[7][8][9]

As of March 2024, Visegrád 24's Twitter account has over 900,000 followers.[10]

Wikipedia and Visegrád 24

On 2 March 2024, Visegrád 24 stated the Visegrád 24 Wikipedia article had "been hijacked by bad faith actors" and that it is "essentially a far left hit piece".[11][12][13] In April 2024, Visegrád 24 stated the Wikipedia article had been written by "disgruntled far left journos" and that the article is "riddled with half-truths and misinformation, in an attempt to portray Visegrad24 as somehow nefarious."[14]

Misinformation

In 2022 and 2023, Polish media outlet OKO.press and Visegrad Insight published, respectively, that Visegrád 24 was a propaganda and misinformation hub funded by the Polish government.[4][15][better source needed]

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Further information: Disinformation in the Russian invasion of Ukraine

In March 2022, Visegrád 24 posted an unsourced tweet falsely claiming that Leonardo DiCaprio had donated $10 million to Ukraine. The false story was picked up by news outlets around the world, such as India's Hindustan Times, the U.K.'s The Independent and the Daily Mail, and American conservative websites The Daily Caller and the Washington Examiner.[16] Visegrád 24 also posted a fake story claiming that Pornhub had blocked access from Russia.[17][1]

In October 2022, Visegrád 24 posted a video claimed to show a recently-mobilized Russian soldier. Reuters found that the video dated back to at least February 2021.[18]

In May 2023, Visegrád 24 shared footage of a fire in Krasnohvardiiske, falsely claiming that it showed a crashed helicopter in Belgorod.[19] That July, it misrepresented footage of Wigan Athletic football fans as showing Ukrainians celebrating the country's attack on the Kerch bridge.[20]

In March 2024, Visegrád 24 reported the 2024 Western Russia incursion, falsely claiming the Ukrainian paramilitary organization Freedom of Russia Legion had captured the towns of Kozinka and Glotovo in Belgorod Oblast, Russia.[21] However, these towns were captured in May 2023 and not March 2024 as reported by Visegrád 24.[22]

On 24 March 2024, Visegrád 24 reported that the Russian landing ships Azov and Yamal had been sunk and that the Russian Black Sea Fleet had no landing ships left.[23] However the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense posted on their X (formerly Twitter) account about the strike claiming that they had struck but not sunk Azov and Yamal.[24] Satellite images also showed that Azov and Yamal had not been sunk.[25]

Publication of Sanna Marin speech

Further information: Sanna Marin § Private party videos

Visegrád 24 was the first foreign social media account to publish a video of Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin's "party speech" in August 2022.[15] The OKO Press article, which investigated the activities of Visegrád 24, considered the role of the first publisher of Visegrád 24 at a time when Marin was the prime minister of Finnish NATO noteworthy - during the membership application. OKO Press' article described the publication of the video as indicative of the typical modus operandi of the Russian intelligence service. The video received about 10 million views on Visegrád 24's account.[4]

Israel–Hamas war

Further information: Misinformation in the Israel–Hamas war

The University of Washington's Center for an Informed Public stated in an October 2023 report that Visegrád 24 was primarily posting emotionally-charged content, with some posts using divisive imagery and "culture war" framing. They noted, "While traditional news does at times use such imagery as well, the sheer volume of these tweets, combined with the lack of deeper analysis or context mentioned above, created for our analysts the sense of a constant stream of decontextualized anger and violence when analyzing these accounts."[7] Visegrád 24 has described environmental activist Greta Thunberg as a "Hamas propagandist", portrayed Israeli comedian Yoni Sharon as a Palestinian and misrepresented footage by Palestinian journalist Motaz Azaiza to depict Israeli activities in a positive light.[2]

In October 2023, Visegrád 24 posted a CNN clip that claimed babies had been decapitated by Hamas during their initial attack on Israel. CNN later issued two corrections; the Center for an Informed Public noted they could not find any corrections by Visegrád 24 about the rumour.[7]

In November 2023, Bloomberg News found that Visegrád 24 was one of the influencers that went viral by posting misinformation since the start of the war, citing an instance where Visegrád 24 claimed without evidence that the Taliban had asked the Iranian, Iraqi and Jordanian governments for passage to join with Hamas.[9]

In December 2023, Visegrád 24 posted a video clip on X from 2015 of a man who shouted at Israeli soldiers before falling. In the post, Visegrád 24 posed the question, "What is going on here? Is Pallyywood [sic] in action?", in reference to Pallywood, a conspiracy theory that claims Palestinians are faking civilian casualties.[26]

On 9 March 2024, Visegrád 24 claimed Israel had defeated Hamas and won the siege of Khan Yunis.[27] However, this was disputed by the Institute for the Study of War, who also published on 9 March that Hamas "remains combat effective" in Khan Yunis.[28] Israeli forces ultimately ended up withdrawing from Khan Yunis in April 2024.[29][30][31]

Other

In February 2024, Visegrád 24 posted a video of a controlled demolition in Turkey that it claimed to show a mosque being demolished in China. It deleted the tweet after other users pointed out the video was not from China.[32]

On 4 March 2024, Visegrád 24 falsely reported that 15 people were taken hostage at a hospital in Aachen, Germany.[33] The police press statement never mentioned hostages and reported that only a single person had barricaded themselves in a room.[34]

Relationship with Polish government and right-wing elements

Visegrád 24's TikTok and Instagram accounts praise Polish government politicians and spread their statements.[citation needed] Visegrád 24's Twitter account was brought up by Polish right-wing conservative politicians before it became popular.[15] According to the report by OKO Press, Visegrád 24 has close relations with the Polish foreign administration.[4]

Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk said in 2021 that Visegrád 24 is not the official account of the Visegrád Group or the Polish Presidency of the Visegrád Group, but that the Polish administration appreciates the work it does to inform the activities of the Visegrád Group. Polish diplomats and the English account of the Polish Prime Minister's Office have frequently mentioned and tagged the Visegrád 24 account in their posts, especially during the 2020–2021 Polish Presidency of the Visegrád Group. Visegrád 24 was popular with Polish right-wing politicians even before it established its position and became popular with the Ukrainian war. Hungarian Ambassador Eduard Habsburg also tagged Visegrád 24 in his publications in 2021. Most often Visegrád 24 was tagged in his publications by Beata Daszyńska-Muzyczka, head of the Polish State National Development Bank, at a time when the bank was establishing the Three Seas Initiative Investment Fund. Daszyńska-Muzyczka is the chairman of the fund's supervisory board, a member of the Polish Foreign Affairs Research Unit and a board member of the State of Poland Foundation. The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denied any connection to Visegrád 24.[4]

Funding

Stefan Tompson, one of the founders and administrators of Visegrád 24, said in September 2022 that Visegrád 24 had been operating without any funding, but that it was going to look for investors to function properly as a news service.[15]

On October 31, 2022, the Chancellery of the Polish Prime Minister awarded 1.4 million złoty (€300K) to the leisure and health promotion foundation Actionlife for a project called Visegrád 24. The decision was signed by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. The Polish news service Wirtualna Polska asked the Chancellery for more information about the Visegrád 24 project, to which the Chancellery replied that the aim is to establish an English-language website dealing with the culture, history and politics of East Central Europe and Three Seas Initiative regions, as well as countering Russian disinformation. The purpose of the Visegrád 24 project financed by the Prime Minister's Office was therefore the same as what the Visegrád 24 news service announced it was doing. However, a representative of the Actionlife Foundation replied to Wirtualna Polska that the grant had been cancelled and refused to answer whether the funds were intended to be used to develop the existing Visegrád 24 service. Stefan Tompson did not answer Wirtualna Polska's question whether the Polish state had become a financier of Visegrád 24.[15][35]

References

  1. ^ a b Padalko, Sofiia (24 December 2022). "Visegrád 24: propaganda or aspiring news outlet with a concrete ideological line?". The Fix. Archived from the original on 23 November 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  2. ^ a b Mossetti, Paulo (6 February 2024). "Cos'è Visegrád 24, il sito di estrema destra che diffonde fake news su Ucraina e Israele" [What is Visegrád 24, the far-right site spreading fake news about Ukraine and Israel]. Wired Italia (in Italian). Archived from the original on 28 March 2024. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
  3. ^ a b @visegrad24 (2 March 2024). "... Here is the V24 founder @StefanTompson on @mikeeisenberg podcast explaining why he built Visegrád24: [video]" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Visegrad24 – Trump fans close to Polish Foreign Ministry. Anonymous account mystery revealed". OKO.press (in Polish). Archived from the original on 1 November 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  5. ^ Prinsley, Jane (5 February 2024). "Who is Visegrad 24? The news aggregator showing millions the realities of Israel's war". The Jewish Chronicle. Archived from the original on 18 February 2024. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
  6. ^ "A list of information channels that provide reliable information". Tartu Ülikool. 1 March 2022. Archived from the original on 21 October 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  7. ^ a b c Caulfield, Mike; Bayar, Mert Can; Aske, Ashlyn B. (20 October 2023). "The 'new elites' of X: Identifying the most influential accounts engaged in Hamas/Israel discourse". Center for an Informed Public. Archived from the original on 24 January 2024. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  8. ^ Zadrozny, Brandy (20 October 2023). "7 influential accounts are warping Israel-Hamas news on X, researchers find". NBC News. Archived from the original on 24 January 2024. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  9. ^ a b Alba, Davey; Lu, Denise; Yin, Leon; Fan, Eric (21 November 2023). "How Musk's X Is Failing To Stem the Surge of Misinformation About Israel and Gaza". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 21 November 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
  10. ^ "Visegrád 24". 𝕏 (Formerly Twitter). @visegrad24. Archived from the original on 7 November 2023. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  11. ^ "The Visegrád24 Wikipedia page has been hijacked by bad faith actors. The entry is almost entirely based on a single far-left hit piece, itself filled with half truths and outright misinformation. Time to fix this messy page!". 𝕏 (Formerly Twitter). Visegrád 24. 2 March 2024. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  12. ^ "Here is the link to our Wikipedia page. You are welcome to edit it and fix what is essentially a far left hit piece:" (Post on 𝕏). 𝕏 (Formerly Twitter). Visegrád 24. 2 March 2024. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  13. ^ "After 5 months of coverage of the war, this is the only mention of our coverage on the Visegrád24 Wikipedia entry. Given thousands of stories we posted, this one mistake is a testimony to the accuracy of our coverage. Cannot be said for the NYT, BBC and many other MSM outlets" (Post on 𝕏). 𝕏 (Formerly Twitter). Visegrád 24. 2 March 2024. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  14. ^ "Disgruntled far left journos have written hitpieces about V24. Their articles are riddled with half-truths and misinformation, in an attempt to portray Visegrad24 as somehow nefarious. These are then used to discredit V24 on Wikipedia. But this can be fixed - because Wikipedia editors working overtime on our page have ignored several sources:" (Post on 𝕏). 𝕏 (Formerly Twitter). Visegrád 24. 14 April 2024. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  15. ^ a b c d e "Polish Misinformation Using a Hungarian Recipe: The Curious Case of Visegrád 24". Visegrad Insight. 11 January 2023. Archived from the original on 11 November 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  16. ^ Dale, Daniel (12 March 2022). "Fact check: How a false story about Leonardo DiCaprio donating $10 million to Ukraine spread around the world | CNN Politics". CNN. Archived from the original on 30 August 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  17. ^ "Pornhub isn't blocked in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine". Full Fact. 1 March 2022. Archived from the original on 30 May 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  18. ^ "Video does not show a recently mobilized Russian man's reaction". Reuters. 3 October 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
  19. ^ Doak, Sam (24 May 2023). "Viral footage shows smoke from a fire in Crimea, not a crashed helicopter in Belgorod". Logically. Archived from the original on 25 January 2024. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  20. ^ McCarthy, Bill (20 July 2023). "Famous football chant misrepresented as Ukrainians celebrating Crimea bridge blast". Agence France-Presse. Archived from the original on 22 December 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  21. ^ "Map of Russian forces allied with Ukraine breaking into Russian territory today. The war has yet again been taken to Russian territory. Now, it's Russian citizens for once that have to listen to automatic fire all day. Vote for Putin again? Bad idea…" (Post on 𝕏). 𝕏 (Formerly Twitter). Visegrád 24. 12 March 2024. Archived from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  22. ^ "Belgorod governor reports incursion into region by 'Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group'". Meduza. Archived from the original on 22 May 2023. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  23. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 April 2024. Retrieved 25 March 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  24. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 March 2024. Retrieved 25 March 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  25. ^ "What happened to the Russian ships Yamal and Azov?". 26 March 2024. Archived from the original on 25 March 2024. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
  26. ^ McCarthy, Bill (15 December 2023). "Old video shows Palestinian confronting Israeli soldiers, not 'crisis actor'". Agence France-Presse. Archived from the original on 26 December 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  27. ^ "After heavy fighting, Hamas has now been defeated in Khan Yunis" (Post on X). X. Visegrád 24. 9 March 2024. Archived from the original on 10 March 2024. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  28. ^ Jhaveri, Ashka; Moore, Johanna; Braverman, Alexandra; Carl, Nicholas (9 March 2024). "Iran Update, March 9, 2024" (Historical analysis and research). Institute for the Study of War. Washington, D.C.: ISW Press. Archived from the original on 10 March 2024. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  29. ^ Picheta, Vasco Cotovio, Rob (7 April 2024). "Israeli military says it has withdrawn forces from Khan Younis after months of fighting". CNN. Archived from the original on 9 April 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  30. ^ Adler, Edna Mohamed,Nils. "Israel's war on Gaza updates: Israel says troops moved for new operations". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 9 April 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  31. ^ "IDF ends active ground invasion, completely withdraws from southern Gaza". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 7 April 2024. Archived from the original on 9 April 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  32. ^ Alphonso, Anmol (7 February 2024). "Video Of Controlled Demolition In Türkiye Peddled As Mosque Destroyed In China". BOOM. Archived from the original on 14 February 2024. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
  33. ^ "BREAKING: Around 15 people have been taken hostage at a hospital in Aachen, Germany. SWAT police have arrived on the scene" (Post on 𝕏). 𝕏 (Formerly Twitter). Visegrád 24. 4 March 2024. Archived from the original on 4 March 2024. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  34. ^ "POL-K: 240304-6-K/AC Polizeieinsatz im Luisenhospital in Aachen - Nachtrag". Germany: Presseportal. 4 March 2024. Archived from the original on 4 March 2024. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  35. ^ Mikołajewska, Bianka (6 December 2022). "Tajemnicza dotacja od premiera. Prawie 1,4 mln złotych na Visegrad24". wiadomosci.wp.pl (in Polish). Archived from the original on 9 November 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Visegrád_24&oldid=1218902550"