❓ As a foreigner, how to assess if a Ukrainian is “suspiciously” too emotional? Or llegitimate?

Simple answer:

❌ You shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.

• When I first saw the info attacks on @GicAriana, I was extremely confused. I’ve followed her work from way before the full scale invasion and never picked up on anything to indicate that she is a bad actor - and she is not. She’s a genuine 🇺🇦 activist. Since then, I became a target of relentless attacks myself. It was wild to see how easily people believe absolutely ridiculous accusations and participate in bullying us - while having 🇺🇦 flag in their accounts

❓How to find out if someone is genuine?

✅ ASK UKRAINIANS

🚩 Continuous harassment of a Ukrainian activist should be a huge red flag.

🚩 Sensationalist accusations constantly made from anonymous accounts, should be an even bigger red flag.

❗️This is NOT infighting and it’s extremely dangerous for Ukraine’s security.

• We often think about it starting from the wrong premise.

Questions to ask yourself when you see an attack:

• Is it an actual Ukrainian person making those allegations?
• Do you know accuser’s identity at all?
• If the accusations are false, is the accuser going to suffer much reputational damage from making those accusations?
• If the answer to any of the above is “no” - you’re likely being manipulated. Your lack of awareness of the info space may be weaponised easily. The @KremlinTrolls account attacking @GicAriana previously went after @PaulNiland + others. It’s been doing it for years.
• Asking us to ignore & tolerate abuse to avoid "drama" is appeasement politics on a mini scale If you platform and tolerate abusers who discredit Ukrainians, don't pretend to be mad at russia invading Ukraine - because you’ve essentially become part of the problem.

Alona Shevchenko on Twitter: "Out of all the various accusations that people throw at Ukrainians online, these ones the most bizarre to me:✅ attention-seeker✅ click-baiterI didn't know that "seeking" people's attention to the fact that russia is waging a genocidal war against us was a bad thing? 🧐 / Twitter"

https://twitter.com/abstractedaway/status/1603893662672470018?s=46&t=vSXWxqWoadBRWlkh-NUcHw