Racket News

Racket News

Share this post

Racket News
Racket News
"Information Warfare" Comes Home
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More

"Information Warfare" Comes Home

Everyone knows America spreads lies abroad, and lately we've even started bragging about it in print. But the #CTIFiles suggest "information warfare" is being deployed domestically

Matt Taibbi
Dec 05, 2023
∙ Paid
604

Share this post

Racket News
Racket News
"Information Warfare" Comes Home
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
124
35
Share

In March of 2022, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, the New York Times published a curious story titled “Fact and Mythmaking Blend in Ukraine’s Information War.” It seemed much-hyped episodes celebrating Ukrainian mettle on the battlefield, like the exploits of the “Ghost of Kiev” ace pilot, “may be a myth,” as the Times put it euphemistically. The paper noted with seeming approval that platforms like Twitter chose not to remove that and other tales that turned out to be not-exactly-true, like the famed “Go Fuck Yourself” send-off of Ukrainian soldiers who reportedly chose to die rather than surrender to Russians on Snake Island.

Who cared if that story sounded just a tad too much like an R-rated version of General Anthony McAuliffe’s “Nuts” reply to Nazis demanding American surrender at Bastogne? What if that was the point, the paper wondered?

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Racket News to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Matt Taibbi
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More