Difference between revisions of "South Front"

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On 15 April 2016, South Front was notified by PayPal that unless they provide more data, the project's account would be suspended on 15 May 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://southfront.org/important-southfront-faces-a-stiff-pressure-from-ill-wishers/|title=Important: SouthFront faces stiff pressure from ill-wishers|author=|publisher=South Front|date=10 May 2016|accessdate=27 June 2016}}</ref> Despite being in contact with them, PayPal did not reply for days, even as the suspension was nearing.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://southfront.org/paypals-unlawful-actions-against-southfront-update/|title=PayPal's unlawful actions against SouthFront (Update)|author=|publisher=South Front|date=13 May 2016|accessdate=27 June 2016}}</ref> By 19 May 2016, PayPal blocked South Front's account, complicating the process of donations.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://southfront.org/attention-paypal-blocked-southfronts-account/|title=Attention: PayPal blocked SouthFront's account|author=|publisher=South Front|date=19 May 2016|accessdate=27 June 2016}}</ref> Following two months of uncertainty with 34 days of the account being restricted and 15 days being blocked, PayPal restored South Front's account on 6 June 2016.<ref name="restored">{{cite web|url=https://southfront.org/breaking-paypal-restored-southfronts-account/|title=Breaking: PayPal restores SouthFront's account|author=|publisher=South Front|date=19 May 2016|accessdate=27 June 2016}}</ref> The reason was because of South Front's 20 different appeals, and the readers' 100+ appeals on returning the account.<ref name="restored"/>
 
On 15 April 2016, South Front was notified by PayPal that unless they provide more data, the project's account would be suspended on 15 May 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://southfront.org/important-southfront-faces-a-stiff-pressure-from-ill-wishers/|title=Important: SouthFront faces stiff pressure from ill-wishers|author=|publisher=South Front|date=10 May 2016|accessdate=27 June 2016}}</ref> Despite being in contact with them, PayPal did not reply for days, even as the suspension was nearing.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://southfront.org/paypals-unlawful-actions-against-southfront-update/|title=PayPal's unlawful actions against SouthFront (Update)|author=|publisher=South Front|date=13 May 2016|accessdate=27 June 2016}}</ref> By 19 May 2016, PayPal blocked South Front's account, complicating the process of donations.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://southfront.org/attention-paypal-blocked-southfronts-account/|title=Attention: PayPal blocked SouthFront's account|author=|publisher=South Front|date=19 May 2016|accessdate=27 June 2016}}</ref> Following two months of uncertainty with 34 days of the account being restricted and 15 days being blocked, PayPal restored South Front's account on 6 June 2016.<ref name="restored">{{cite web|url=https://southfront.org/breaking-paypal-restored-southfronts-account/|title=Breaking: PayPal restores SouthFront's account|author=|publisher=South Front|date=19 May 2016|accessdate=27 June 2016}}</ref> The reason was because of South Front's 20 different appeals, and the readers' 100+ appeals on returning the account.<ref name="restored"/>
  
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=="Fake news" allegation by MSM==
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=="Fake news" allegation by Corporate Media==
 
{{FA|Fake news}}
 
{{FA|Fake news}}
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On 10 May 2016, Finnish journalist Jessikka Aro released an article for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springer_Science%2BBusiness_Media Springer Link] heavily criticizing South Front as a Kremlin-backed propaganda tool.<ref name="Springer Link">{{cite web|url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12290-016-0395-5|title=The cyberspace war: propaganda and trolling as warfare tools|author=|publisher=Springer Science+Business Media Springer Link|date=10 May 2016|accessdate=21 August 2016}}</ref> She further claimed that "[it] portrays itself as being a crowdsourced project, but it looks more like a professional info-war project run or backed by the Russian military."<ref name="Springer Link"/> South Front mocked this allegation, and stated that this new attention also synchronized with the May 2016 blocking of their PayPal account.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://southfront.org/southfront-is-run-by-the-russian-military/|title=Revealed! SouthFront is run by 'the Russian military'|author=|publisher=South Front|date=24 May 2016|accessdate=24 June 2017}}</ref>
+
On 10 May 2016, Finnish journalist [[Jessikka Aro]] released an article for [[Springer Link]] heavily criticizing South Front as a Kremlin-backed propaganda tool.<ref name="Springer Link">{{cite web|url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12290-016-0395-5|title=The cyberspace war: propaganda and trolling as warfare tools|author=|publisher=Springer Science+Business Media Springer Link|date=10 May 2016|accessdate=21 August 2016}}</ref> She further claimed that "[it] portrays itself as being a crowdsourced project, but it looks more like a professional info-war project run or backed by the Russian military."<ref name="Springer Link"/> South Front mocked this allegation, and stated that this new attention also synchronized with the May 2016 blocking of their PayPal account.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://southfront.org/southfront-is-run-by-the-russian-military/|title=Revealed! SouthFront is run by 'the Russian military'|author=|publisher=South Front|date=24 May 2016|accessdate=24 June 2017}}</ref>
  
 
On 24 November 2016 the ''[[Washington Post]]'' published an article by [[Craig Timberg]] in which it linked the PropOrNot list that included South Front among sites "spreading Russian propaganda during the [U.S.] election."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/2016/11/24/793903b6-8a40-4ca9-b712-716af66098fe_story.html|title=Russian propaganda effort helped spread ‘fake news’ during election, experts say|author=Craig Timberg|publisher=Washington Post|date=24 November 2016|accessdate=28 February 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.propornot.com/p/the-list.html|title=An Initial Set of Sites That Reliably Echo Russian Propaganda|author=|publisher=PropOrNot|date=30 November 2016|accessdate=28 February 2017}}</ref> In December, following the article's wide criticism, the author of it had to formally discredit the story and distance himself from the dubious PropOrNot source.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://southfront.org/washington-post-appends-russian-propaganda-fake-news-story-admits-it-maybe-fake/|title=Washington Post appends "Russian propaganda fake news" story, admits it may be fake|author=|publisher=South Front|date=8 December 2016|accessdate=24 June 2017}}</ref>
 
On 24 November 2016 the ''[[Washington Post]]'' published an article by [[Craig Timberg]] in which it linked the PropOrNot list that included South Front among sites "spreading Russian propaganda during the [U.S.] election."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/2016/11/24/793903b6-8a40-4ca9-b712-716af66098fe_story.html|title=Russian propaganda effort helped spread ‘fake news’ during election, experts say|author=Craig Timberg|publisher=Washington Post|date=24 November 2016|accessdate=28 February 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.propornot.com/p/the-list.html|title=An Initial Set of Sites That Reliably Echo Russian Propaganda|author=|publisher=PropOrNot|date=30 November 2016|accessdate=28 February 2017}}</ref> In December, following the article's wide criticism, the author of it had to formally discredit the story and distance himself from the dubious PropOrNot source.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://southfront.org/washington-post-appends-russian-propaganda-fake-news-story-admits-it-maybe-fake/|title=Washington Post appends "Russian propaganda fake news" story, admits it may be fake|author=|publisher=South Front|date=8 December 2016|accessdate=24 June 2017}}</ref>

Revision as of 20:22, 25 June 2017

Group.png South Front   Twitter Website YouTubeRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
South Front logo (2016).jpg
Formation2014
TypeAnalytical project
Member ofPropOrNot/List

SouthFront: Analysis & Intelligence is a public non-profit analytical project. It was launched in the summer of 2015.[1] It is regulated by an independent team of volunteers and experts from 13 countries.[2] The project provides analysis of battles in conflicts, evaluation of the major world power armed forces, and study of tensions between countries.[1] Their focus is on international relations along with crises and use a number of media platforms with an emphasis on social networks.[1]

History

South Front was originally launched on YouTube in late 2014 while the news website was added in June 2015. The stated reason for the creation of the project were to "dig out the truth on issues which are barely covered by states and the mainstream media."[1]

It is the news that has most contributed to the popularity of South Front. Initially it focused on the conflict in Ukraine. More recently the focus shifted to Syria. The detailed character of its news - with several releases a day - and its regular publication of maps explaining the development of military conflicts have made it a popular medium (ranked #17,926 on Alexa in February 2017).[3] Its content is regularly republished on sites like The Saker[4] and Global Research [5].

The analytical articles on South Front often focus on military affairs. In April 2016, South Front noted that the Russian military's creation of three new army divisions reflected a change its conventional mechanized warfare doctrine.[6] In July 2016, South Front made a detailed analysis on the Chinese Navy capabilities in a hypothetical South China Sea conflict with the United States.[7]

Goals of South Front

The stated goals of the project are:[1]

1. Highlighting alternative points of view
2. Providing independent analysis and intelligence of international events
3. Breaking through the information blockade and media bias
4. Promoting human justice and peaceful dialogue between warring nations
5. Preventing the escalation of conflicts that can lead to wars with the threat of the use of nuclear weapons
6. Reducing the flow of media disinformation
7. Building a community of constructive and progressive authors freely sharing their views and analysis with people all over the world

Funding

The stated objective of the project is to be an independent news source without any government or corporate support.[8] It is supported exclusively by crowdfunding and individual donations through PayPal and Patreon.[9]

Censorship by YouTube, Facebook, temporary block by PayPal

On 24 April 2015, South Front had its original YouTube account with millions of views deleted by a copyright claim from Nordic Filmworks LTD over a critical montage of their "Stand with Ukraine" video.[10] The video was deleted after the first strike, but several months later received an additional strike despite already being deleted. South Front launched an appeal that encouraged viewers to message YouTube over this violation of guideline, however, the channel remained deleted.[10] South Front's Facebook page was also suspended without warning around that time.[2]

South Front's website has been subjected to cyber-attacks in the past.[2] According to them, in 2015 South Front faced hostile actions by the Atlantic Council and a few European organizations linked to NATO.[2]

On 15 April 2016, South Front was notified by PayPal that unless they provide more data, the project's account would be suspended on 15 May 2016.[11] Despite being in contact with them, PayPal did not reply for days, even as the suspension was nearing.[12] By 19 May 2016, PayPal blocked South Front's account, complicating the process of donations.[13] Following two months of uncertainty with 34 days of the account being restricted and 15 days being blocked, PayPal restored South Front's account on 6 June 2016.[14] The reason was because of South Front's 20 different appeals, and the readers' 100+ appeals on returning the account.[14]

"Fake news" allegation by Corporate Media

Full article: Fake news

On 10 May 2016, Finnish journalist Jessikka Aro released an article for Springer Link heavily criticizing South Front as a Kremlin-backed propaganda tool.[15] She further claimed that "[it] portrays itself as being a crowdsourced project, but it looks more like a professional info-war project run or backed by the Russian military."[15] South Front mocked this allegation, and stated that this new attention also synchronized with the May 2016 blocking of their PayPal account.[16]

On 24 November 2016 the Washington Post published an article by Craig Timberg in which it linked the PropOrNot list that included South Front among sites "spreading Russian propaganda during the [U.S.] election."[17][18] In December, following the article's wide criticism, the author of it had to formally discredit the story and distance himself from the dubious PropOrNot source.[19]

Deletion/censorship on Wikipedia

Wikipedia's South Front page was proposed for deletion on 27 February 2017 and was deleted on 7 March 2017. Its page was originally created on 27 June 2016, and had existed for a mere 8 ½ months. The admin's reasoning was based on it not being notable enough by Wikipedia's standards. This former discussion can be found here. South Front wrote an open letter concerning the deletion attempt on 27 February, and on 12 March reacted to the deletion as being censorship "to suppress the alternative point of view provided by the project."[20]

Prior to the deletion, the page was moved to Wikispooks on 1 March 2017 as the original article was targeted by editors for ideological reasons despite Wikipedia maintaining a rule of neutrality (NPOV). South Front is considered to be a non-reliable source (non-RS) on Wikipedia pages since at least 2016, for not repeating the common mainstream media narrative of world conflicts.

 

A document sourced from South Front

TitleTypeSubject(s)Publication dateAuthor(s)Description
File:Another Version Attempting To Explain Trip Of GRU Agents Petrov And Boshirov To Salisbury.pdfarticleSkripal Affair/Boshirov and Petrov in the UK20 September 2018Andrei GrachevOriginally written by Andrei Grachev on his Facebook page. The post was deleted by Facebook because it allegedly violated its rules.
Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.


References

  1. ↑ a b c d e "About South Front". South Front. Retrieved 27 June 2016.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
  2. ↑ a b c d "Open letter on the situation with SouthFront's PayPal account". South Front. 12 May 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
  3. ↑ {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
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  8. ↑ "Donate". South Front. Retrieved 27 June 2016.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
  9. ↑ "SouthFront is launching crowdfunding campaign on Patreon". South Front. 22 January 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
  10. ↑ a b "South Front vs. Youtube". Fort Russ. 24 April 2015. Retrieved 27 June 2016.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
  11. ↑ "Important: SouthFront faces stiff pressure from ill-wishers". South Front. 10 May 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
  12. ↑ "PayPal's unlawful actions against SouthFront (Update)". South Front. 13 May 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
  13. ↑ "Attention: PayPal blocked SouthFront's account". South Front. 19 May 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
  14. ↑ a b "Breaking: PayPal restores SouthFront's account". South Front. 19 May 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
  15. ↑ "Revealed! SouthFront is run by 'the Russian military'". South Front. 24 May 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2017.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
  16. ↑ Craig Timberg (24 November 2016). "Russian propaganda effort helped spread 'fake news' during election, experts say". Washington Post. Retrieved 28 February 2017.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
  17. ↑ "An Initial Set of Sites That Reliably Echo Russian Propaganda". PropOrNot. 30 November 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2017.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
  18. ↑ "Washington Post appends "Russian propaganda fake news" story, admits it may be fake". South Front. 8 December 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2017.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
  19. ↑ "Wikipedia entry on SouthFront was deleted". South Front. 12 March 2017. Retrieved 24 June 2017.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").


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