Restaurant reviews are used to convey information to Russia.
People appeal to Russia through Google. Adobe Stock / AOP / Google screenshot
People around the world are trying to help Ukrainians in need and to influence their own actions to end the war. Google’s restaurant reviews have now begun to be used as a channel of influence.
Independent tells about your Twitter account YourAnonNews, which urged people to head to Google Maps, search for Russia, and give reviews to Russian businesses and restaurants. To these reviews, the account hints at what is really going on in Ukraine.
Twitter is already circulating ready-made text templates written in Russian for this purpose. They say, for example, that Russia is killing innocent people and that the Russian government is lying to its citizens.
Twitter is excited about that way of influencing. Many users recommend giving the restaurant the best possible score so that the review ranks among the first to be displayed. At the same time, there are no bad reviews for the restaurant.
Many say they have left similar reviews in dozens of Russian restaurants around the country. Similar activities have been carried out in travel services and hotel brokerage services.
Iltalehti went through a few restaurants in Moscow whose reviews were filled with anti-war comments. There are also pictures of Ukraine in the reviews and people mark the reviews as useful to make them rise higher.