Send a text message about Ukraine to a random Russian mobile number

[bgdam]

Should we also start spamming US phones about Yemeni kids? Perhaps send a picture titled: "Here's the kid we killed today"?

Snark aside, I don't understand what purpose this kind of spamming serves. From reports, most Russians seem to be against this war already. What are you trying to achieve then?

[tzs]

> Should we also start spamming US phones about Yemeni kids?

In the US you could legally do all of these things if you wanted to comment on what is going on in Yemen and advocate for positions contrary to the US government position: blog, publish articles in magazines and newspapers, talk about it on radio and TV, hold public rallies, bulk mail newsletters, place ads in most ad supported media, print it on shirts and wear them in public, bring it up on social media, skywrite it, put it in the name of a new species you have discovered, and many more.

In most cases in the US the only legal restrictions on how you could spread you message about Yemen would be content-neutral restrictions that would apply even if you were trying to spread a message that the US government agrees with.

This is not the case in Russia.

[peppermint_tea]

Should we also start spamming US phones about Yemeni kids? : yes

I don't understand what purpose this kind of spamming serves : there is a crackdown on information in Russia, to take back your example, you know about the Yemeni kids because you are free to access this information

[keewee7]

>From reports, most Russians seem to be against this war already.

What? The majority of Russians support the war. However many of them don't know the full extent of the war.

[mbg721]

It's the thought "Enh, they're not free anyway, phone 'em to death. Then we're the good guys!" This war got manufactured awfully quickly.

[kelseyfrog]

Yes? What do you think the result would be?

[noxer]

The goal is to make someone in Russia assassinate Putin, it has become obvious by now that this is the propaganda goal of "the west". Some even open compare it to the assassination attempt(s) against Hitler.

I have no clue how protected Putin actually is and whether his assassination would put someone in power who could/would end the war.

[AnonC]

While we’re at that, let’s also start spamming Ukranians on the false promises by the NATO countries and how those countries played a part in escalating the situation to this event. Ok, I’m being sarcastic, but I agree that spamming Russians isn’t going to help. People might as well start a petition addressed to Putin on change.org, sign it with their email address and feel good about their contribution.

[Bancakes]

False analogy and deflection.

[ftth_finland]

> From reports, most Russians seem to be against this war already.

Where did you get that from?

Putin has an 70% approval rating and the war about 50%.

The I don’t knows and againsts are a minority.

[moltar]

Not sure which reports you are referring to, but polling shows that Putin’s approval had increased to 70% after he started the war in Ukraine.

[jansen555]

Don't waste your sms bandwidth. Americans will just treat it as spam. They can access Internet and look up for information. Yet the way they voted in the past especially Cali shows Thanos might be right.

[peppermint_tea]

I think it is a great idea, but maybe we could all host independent proxies on out own dime and add the details to the text to let them bypass censorship, then they can select their news source as they see fit?

Just the translation of the text seems like a 3 year prison sentence for anyone that would act on it...

I would try : here is the "citizen of the world uncensored internet initiative"... then there is the risk the russian send similar messages and jail the people that act on it. anyone with an idea to overcome this is welcome.

EDIT : just read in another comment that links will trigger filtering. extra challenge :|

[throwaway81523]

Gotta say any kind of spamming sounds like a dumb idea.

[poopsmithe]

go on. why?

[bayesianbot]

I think that's a great idea, I'll send some. Apparently the message invites to find information on telegram channels, so should it contain a link to a channel?

[cuu508]

From https://www.plivo.com/sms/coverage/ru/:

"Due to extensive operator-level filtering in Russia, all messages with URLs will be subject to filtering. It is recommended that if you do not have a registered Sender ID and your messages contain URLs, then you must reach out to us to get the message content whitelisted to ensure better deliverability. "

[w1nst0nsm1th]

Here the message it try to send by sms :

%D0%A3%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%B6%D0%B0%D0%B5%D0%BC%D1%8B%D0%B5%20%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%8F%D0%BD%D0%B5,%20%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%88%D0%B8%20%D0%A1%D0%9C%D0%98%20%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B3%D0%B0%D1%8E%D1%82%D1%81%D1%8F%20%D1%86%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B7%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B5.%20%20%D0%9A%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%BB%D1%8C%20%D0%BB%D0%B6%D0%B5%D1%82.%20%20%D0%A3%D0%B7%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%B9%D1%82%D0%B5%20%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B4%D1%83%20%D0%BE%D0%B1%20%D0%A3%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B5%20%D0%B2%20%D1%81%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%BC%20%D0%98%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B5%20%D0%B8%20%D0%B2%20%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B6%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B8%20Telegram.%20%20%D0%92%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BC%D1%8F%20%D1%81%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B3%D0%BD%D1%83%D1%82%D1%8C%20%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B0%20%D0%9F%D1%83%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0!

[w1nst0nsm1th]

What can be translated by :

Dear Russians Your media is censored The Kremlin is lying Find out the truth about Ukraine on the free Internet and in the app Time to overthrow the dictator Putin

So nothing suspicious.

[jasonlfunk]

The text on the website:

"Уважаемые россияне, ваши СМИ подвергаются цензуре. Кремль лжет. Тысячи ваших солдат и украинских братьев гибнут на Украине. Узнайте правду в свободном Интернете и в приложении Telegram. Время свергнуть диктатора Путина!"

"Dear Russians, your media is being censored. The Kremlin is lying. Thousands of your soldiers and Ukrainian brothers are dying in Ukraine. Find out the truth on the free web and on the Telegram app. Time to overthrow dictator Putin!"

According to Google Translate anyways...

[moltar]

If the authors are reading, I recommend to randomize the message a little bit to avoid getting flagged by ISPs.

You can use “spintax” for this.

[moltar]

Also maybe mention specific channels. Because there are plenty of disinformation channels as well. A regular citizen won’t be able to tell them apart.

[concerned_user]

I would suggest you don't, here is why.

Many Russians, especially younger generation are against this, but 2 days ago a new law was passed that first time you get arrested and second time you go to jail.

Still even after this law there are protests. Those who protest are brave people, they risk to end up 15 years in jail.

You will likely get people who have no say in this in trouble or in jail.

"To hide the truth from its own citizens, Russia’s censorship agency has shuttered independent Russian media outlets, blocked social media, and restricted access in Russia to international news outlets. We condemn the move by the Russian Federation Council to approve a law threatening prison sentences of up to 15 years for journalists and ordinary citizens that would spread so-called “false” information about Putin’s unconscionable war in Ukraine."

Source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases...

[retrac]

Will simply receiving the message unsolicited have a likelihood of getting people into trouble? Then I do see your point. But if the trouble you are worried about is more because average Russians might get it into their mind to take action and start protesting against their government despite the dangers, well, that's the point, isn't it? An analogy comes to mind. Was it wrong for the West to broadcast radio and television signals into the Eastern bloc during the Communist era? Learning things about their repressive governments absolutely inspired people to take action and get into serious trouble for it.

[Epiphany21]

Abusing tightly regulated communications infrastructure to incite foreigners to overthrow their heads of state sounds like a quick way to get in a lot of trouble. I would not recommend it.

[IYasha]

There are spammers weaponizing SMS again, doing EXACTLY THIS and asking to donate money to refugees, etc (fake, of course). And not only in Russian Fed.

[Aeolun]

I do need to know what I’m sending though.

[oofbey]

Google Translate says:

Dear Russians, your media is being censored. The Kremlin is lying. Thousands of your soldiers and Ukrainian brothers are dying in Ukraine. Find out the truth on the free web and on the Telegram app. Time to overthrow dictator Putin!

Not bad, but I would put it differently myself.

[prmoor]

you would think tat after two years with the world suffering from a covid nightmare , we could have a time of peace and love,instead we get war ,!!!Total madness

[yelruts]

It may be true that you are not bad. But your leader is bad. Very bad. Putin made a grave error attacking Ukraine. The world is united in condemning his actions. You need to remove him.

[Bellamy]

I send some and even for an answer back: Пора свергнуть нацистов!!!! In English: Time to overthrow the Nazis!!!!

[prmoor]

stop Putin ,he has gone mad