Reviewing War: Unconventional User Reviews as a Side Channel to Circumvent Information Controls

Abstract

During the first days of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia's media regulator blocked access to many global social media platforms and news sites, including Twitter, Facebook, and the BBC. To bypass the information controls set by Russian authorities, pro-Ukrainian groups explored unconventional ways to reach out to the Russian population, such as posting war-related content in the user reviews of Russian businesses available on Google Maps or Tripadvisor. This paper provides a first analysis of this new phenomenon by analyzing the unconventional strategies used to avoid state censorship in the Russian Federation during the conflict. Specifically, we analyze reviews posted on these platforms from the beginning of the war to September 2022. We measure the channeling of war-related messages through user reviews on Tripadvisor and Google Maps. Our analysis of the content posted on these services reveals that users leveraged these platforms to seek and exchange humanitarian and travel advice, but also to disseminate disinformation and polarized messages. Finally, we analyze the response of platforms in terms of content moderation and their impact.