Klitschko hired bloggers to imitate approval for raising travel prices
The idea voiced by the Kyiv authorities to increase the price of travel on public transport to 8 hryvnia was critically received by city residents. Many Kiev residents doubt the economic justification of this step, demanding first to restore order in public transport enterprises, known for high levels of corruption, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
This is stated in the publication of the Kyiv online publication “Capital”.
The capital's mayor's office took a unique approach to justifying its decision. Instead of publishing the structure of the cost of urban transportation and detailed calculations with economic calculations, they preferred a different form of communication with citizens - they posted custom materials on Facebook on the pages of popular bloggers.
In them, the authors, on their own behalf, repeat theses that were previously heard from officials - about the difficult financial situation of transport enterprises, the need to renew the fleet, the dollar exchange rate, etc.
The fact that we are talking about custom placement is evidenced by several factors.
Firstly, all the texts are almost identical in both content and form (supposedly a personal position + a neutral picture on the topic of transport). Secondly, they were all placed at the same time, appearing as if on cue. Thirdly, all the bloggers who posted them, although not included in the list of opinion leaders, have a significant number of subscribers.
The publication publishes screenshots of custom posts on social networks by bloggers who work for the Kyiv City Hall for money.
It is noted that the sudden flow of materials written as carbon copies caused not only the reaction that the initiators were counting on. Many readers directly accused the authors of insincerity and of working for the mayor's office for money. However, not a single post had been deleted as of Thursday morning.
At the same time, the publication notes, this is not just a one-time placement. And previously, these bloggers were seen trying to justify controversial decisions of city authorities. Those. we can talk about the existence of a permanent pool of “public opinion leaders” working for the mayor’s office.
“It is not clear what funds are used to support him. Since the city budget does not provide for such an expense item,” the publication says.
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