Ukraine accuses Facebook of pro-Russia bias

A senior aide to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Thursday accused Facebook of political bias, ahead of a question-and-answer session with co-founder Mark Zuckerberg. Dmytro Shymkiv claimed Russian moderators are overseeing Ukrainian users and are swayed by the Kremlin’s political agenda in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Facebook users in Ukraine have flooded the social network with allegations of pro-Russian political bias with hundreds posting comments directly on Zuckerberg’s page.

There is pro-Russian influence and pressure on the Facebook office in Russia.

Deputy head of the presidential administration Dmytro Shymkiv

Observers in Russia say that Russian Internet “trolls” monitor content critical of the Kremlin and manipulate the Facebook system to instigate a wave of complaints against any user, leading to account blockages. Many Russian “trolls” work out of an office in Russia’s northwestern city of Saint Petersburg and are charged with writing content with a pro-Kremlin slant on blogs and in website comment sections, one former cyber warrior told AFP last month. Poroshenko this week made a personal appeal to Zuckerberg to open a separate office in Ukraine to prevent such alleged bias, writing from his own Facebook account.

We have to use all available channels to get reaction from global companies. Ukraine does need a Ukrainian Facebook office!

Petro Poroshenko on his Facebook page

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