Unfortunately, the country led by Vladimir Putin has multiple restrictions that make it difficult, almost impossible, for truthful news to reach russian residents. In response, a newspaper took drastic measures to evade censorship.
The last year, the central assembly of Russia ruled that spreading false information is a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison. These restrictions forced the media to withdraw from the country to avoid being called traitors and receiving legal sanctions.
To commemorate World Press Freedom Day, Helsingin Sanomat, Finland's largest newspaper, took an unconventional route to ensure that news reaches eussian residents. What did they do? Share information about the armed conflict on a map in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
Newspaper uses Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to share news with russian residents
Specifically, the finnish media hired 2 designers to create a special map in Valve's FPS. The map is called "de_voyna" and features a hidden room where news about the war between Russia and Ukraine is shared. To access it, players must die in the game to be able to pass through walls and other structures.
The hidden room contains newspaper articles detailing the alleged war crimes committed by russian forces during the conflict. It includes statistics on missile attacks and the wave of deaths in Bucha, where mass graves were discovered. A section indicates the locations in Ukraine that the russian army attacked in recent months.
Even one of the rooms shows the number of russian soldiers who died on Ukrainian territory. However, Helsingin Sanomat acknowledged that the figure may be inaccurate. "It is impossible to obtain an accurate count of the victims because all parties minimize their losses and exaggerate those of the opponent," they said.
"The senseless aggression of Russia against Ukraine killed tens of thousands of civilians, including children. The least we can do is expose Putin's war crimes and Russian propaganda," said one of the map's creators, who preferred to remain anonymous.
Now, why did Helsingin Sanomat decide to use Counter-Strike: Global Offensive? According to their article, the multiplayer shooter is very popular in Russia with over 4 million players.
But tell us, what do you think of this strategy?
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