Alerts | Online intimidation or smear

ORF journalists in Poltava harassed online, accused of being “saboteurs”

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On 27 March 2022, an anonymous user uploaded photos online of press cards belonging to two journalists working in Ukraine for Austrian public broadcaster ORF. They were accompanied by a message, in which the anonymous user declared the journalists “wanted” for being “saboteurs”, and provided details on the car they were allegedly moving around in and where they reportedly were. Later publications blurred the journalists’ names in an effort to protect them. The photos and message were shared on social media groups from Poltava, a major city in Central Ukraine. They were then shared by Yevhen Yankevych, a member of the Poltava district council, who wrote that the information came from a “trusted source”, before himself deleting the post. Police in Poltava later told IMI, a Kyiv-based NGO, that the information on the ORF correspondents being “saboteurs” did not find confirmation.

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