Mysterious hacker group Anonymous have really been stepping up to the plate the last few days since Russia decided to invade Ukraine and their latest scheme is one that you can get involved with as well – and it’s actually pretty fun, quick and easy to implement as well.
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Most of the media over in Russia is state controlled meaning that there’s a very real concern that many of the citizens don’t actually know the full extent of the Ukrainian invasion and so Anonymous has come up with the smart plan of encouraging Westerners to leave fake Google reviews of restaurants in order inform the Russian population of what’s really going on. Here’s the original tweet that led to the movement:
Go to Google Maps. Go to Russia. Find a restaurant or business and write a review. When you write the review explain what is happening in Ukraine.
Idea via @Konrad03249040— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) February 28, 2022
Translation: The food was great! Unfortunately, Putin spoiled our appetites by invading Ukraine. Stand up to your dictator, stop killing innocent people! Your government is lying to you. Get up!
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) February 28, 2022
Leave 5 star reviews (unless its Russian State owned, then feel free to leave 1 star ratings). The point is to push information to the Russian civilian population being lied to by Putin.
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) February 28, 2022
As a little tip on the side: I found @DeepLcom to be very helpful & accurate for writing a personalized review text – that maybe will not get filtered out so quickly?https://t.co/yAXdUBpwNZ
— Hi! Thomas Franke (@HIThomasFranke) March 1, 2022
Great idea huh? And very easy to carry out too. Judging by some of the replies that have been received on that Twitter thread, a lot of people have already been getting involved and taking it to the man over there:
I’ve done this to restaurants, hotels, karaoke bars and even law firms. However, while airlines aren’t allowing departures from Russia, CRUISE LINES LIKE @RoyalCaribbean ARE . Please pressure: https://t.co/EKG1sa0FrV
— Robin L🌻🌻🇺🇦🇺🇦❤️❤️🇺🇸🇺🇸🌻🌻 (@RobinLuvsDisney) February 28, 2022
Just given 5 star and pasted the message. I have given around 20 reviews in and around Moscow. Hope peace prevails. Love from India🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/6iASHftsQw
— Ankush Sharma (@ak15_02) February 28, 2022
Most reviews were surprisingly in English, so I kept mine in English too: pic.twitter.com/axec6hNxn5
— sparklay 🇺🇦 (@SparklayBarclay) February 28, 2022
I’m not sure how effective this tactic is but you’ve gotta think that it’s having some impact on Russia and the general populace if so many people are doing it just because of the sheer volume. The original tweet has 73,000 likes at the time of writing, so you’ve gotta think that even if 1% of people liking it have acted on it then there’s gonna be a significant amount of reviews over there. Cyber warfare in 2022.
If you want to know how this conflict is ‘The First Great Information War’, then click here. Very important thread.
