Donate
by ru en
Donate

We investigate corruption, uncover fake news and analyze the news agenda. The BIC is a member of the global network of investigative journalists.

Our journalists are the recipients of the national award “Free Word” from the Association of Journalists of Belarus in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. At "Free Word" 2021 BIC’s team also received first place for Analytics

BIC is a member of the OCCRP (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project)

We are also members of GIJN (Global Investigative Journalism Network)

Antifake / Factcheck

22 студзеня

Bots under Tsikhanouskaya's video are demanding payment for driving up the views. We found out what's wrong with these comments

The WTF team studied the profiles of the users who left them.

Authors:
Editors:
Fake appearance date: 10.01.2025
A number of comments with demands of payment for bot farm services allegedly used to inflate views on her YouTube channel have appeared under Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's New Year address. This was reported by RT correspondent Konstantin Pridybailo. The Weekly Top Fake team has found out where these messages come from.

RT correspondent Konstantin Prydybailo posted a screenshot with comments under Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's New Year address January 10, 2025

"Bots are taking down Tsikhanouskaya on her own YouTube channel! It appears that her employees responsible for comments and video promotion did not transfer money to the bot farm, so they programmed bots to demand payment for the services," he wrote in his Telegram channel.

Under Tsikhanouskaya's congratulatory video, there are indeed comments that Prydybailo showed in the screenshots. The WTF team studied the profiles of the users who left them.

Here's, for example, what a user with a nickname consisting of random letters and numbers wrote: "I will shut down the bot farm if you don't pay for the services as we agreed!!!!!" The user's channel is completely blank, without any subscribers, content or personal information. The account was created January 10, 2025, the same day Konstantin Prydybailo published the post with the screenshots.

Another comment says: "The bot farm doesn't support itself!!! It is operated by the person you hired!!!!"

"I'm shutting down the bots and you'll lose all subscribers if you don't pay up. Last warning!" says another comment.

Both accounts are blank and created on the same date — January 10, 2025.

The same is true for many other users who commented on this video. This goes to show that it's not Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya who is actually using the bots.