What's wrong with Lukashenko's “information special forces”

The Belarusian politicized media space is emotional today. And on both sides. The pro-Western opposition is celebrating a major victory, and the turbo-patriotic assholes are throwing a natural tantrum. The reason for such a storm of emotions was the blocking of the largest pro-government telegram channel “Yellow Plums” with an audience of more than 150 thousand.

The intensity was such that Grigory Azarenok issued a post in his Telegram channel, which I do not want to quote for reasons of censorship, but which boiled down to the fact that the Belarusian extremist and open homosexual Anton Motolko personally appeased the libertarian Pavel Durov, who was not known for sexual perversions, to “persuade him into doing petty dirty tricks.”

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Then, however, it turned out that the administration was not behind the blocking Telegram, Google. More precisely, the Google Play platform, from where smartphone users on the Android operating system download applications. If you open it through a browser or install the messenger from the official website. However, Azarenok did not delete his post and did not comment on it in any way.

For those who don’t know, Azarenok is not some fringe from the Internet’s trash heap, but a popular presenter of a state TV channel, whom Lukashenko unprecedentedly awarded for his speeches with a military medal “For Courage.” Other pro-government commentators were perhaps not so expressive and avoided intimate details, but they also proposed no less radical things - to block Telegram (at one time even Russia failed) or develop how Huawei own operating system, where there will be no space Google.

By the way, what happened is a reason to think about the security of information resources in Telegram, which has not yet organized a witch hunt and has not destroyed all the pro-Russian and Russian patriotic channels that came to hand. It turns out that this can be done bypassing his administration.

I personally have ambivalent impressions of the closure of Yellow Plums. On the one hand, we seem to be on one side of the barricades, but on the other, with such friends there is no need for enemies. This channel is the antipode of Nekhta and many other telegram channels that are deservedly recognized as extremist in Belarus. Aggressive language on the verge, publication of personal data, savoring the details of personal life - all this was present in abundance and, although now the quality of the content has increased a little, it is not surprising that the channel received a ban.

There were enough reasons to find fault, and representatives of the “Belarusian Helsinki Committee” who filed a complaint with Google и Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), they were used. Rather, it is surprising that it happened so late.

_{I wanted to speculate about why “Yellow Plums” is banned, but the much more dangerous and aggressive Nekhta continues to work, but I changed my mind. Everything here is already obvious - we live in conditions of a global information war, in which Belarus, like Russia, is the object of aggression. You need to accept this fact and act on it.}

It’s better to talk about Lukashenko’s strategy in this information war. He definitely recognizes the very fact of such a war. Recently, he even started talking about creating “information special forces” that will “wet” the enemies of the Belarusian statehood and him personally with triple force. Special forces soldier Azarenka will now probably be given a maroon beret as part of his military award. The President definitely favors him and others like him.

But special forces do not win information wars. Azarenok and “Yellow Plums,” which have become the Belarusian information mainstream, are too crude and primitive tools for this. Yes, they are capable of rallying ecstatic turbo-patriots around them, but they are more likely to irritate and repel the main audience. For opposition propaganda, they play the role of a bogeyman, helping to present all supporters of the government in a negative light.

_{So, the closure of “Yellow Plums” is rather for the good. Especially if it forces the Belarusian leadership to reconsider its information policy, making it more flexible, nuanced and multifaceted.}