In an interview with channel 24, Yuriy Stets, Minister of Information Policy stated that he hopes to form an “Internet army” in order to reveal true information about Ukraine.
“We don’t need bots and trolls to bring the truth to people communicating on the Internet. Anyone using social networks has seen and understood this from the very first day. We need to unite people who are respected in social networks and make it possible for them to reach larger numbers of people. Get them all together, that is, create some kind of coordination centre.” said Stets.
He added that these people would not work for the ministry, but for Ukraine. He has already met with several bloggers.
“I’m not going to negotiate with them. I’m going to meet with them, and that’s what I’m doing now. For example, I met with Dmytro Tymchuk and with a blogger called Cruz Cruz, but in fact, his name is Baraboshko. If these people get urgent information that refutes this or that fake news, they’ll be able to publish or post it quickly on the Internet.”
The Minister does not know how many people will be on this team.
“As many people as we can find. The more the better. I think that it will work. All the people who surf the Internet can be part of our Internet army.” stated Stets.
Earlier, Stets announced that the Ministry of Information Policy would number 20 to 30 people, and the budget would reach four million hryvnias.
Journalists had previously expressed concerns that the creation of such a Ministry would be an obstacle to freedom of speech in Ukraine.
