Ukraine is now recruiting an ‘iArmy’

Ukraine’s Ministry of Information Policy announced today that it is now recruiting an “information-army.” Anyone wishing to serve is invited to register on a special website, which then sends them weekly assignments by email.

In late January, Ukraine’s Minister of Information Policy, Yuriy Stets, promised to create an “information-army” to fight Russian propaganda. “We need to bring people together who are influential in social media and have large audiences who listen to them. We need them to work together, creating a coordinating center between them,” Stets said.

In February, Stets announced the creation of a state television channel called Ukraine Tomorrow, which will broadcast to foreign audiences. “Within a month, we’ll begin broadcasting in foreign countries under the name Ukraine Tomorrow, in contrast to Russia Today. All they have is today, but we have the future,” Stets explained.

Created with the formation of the Second Yatsenyuk Government, after Ukraine’s October 2014 parliamentary elections, one of the chief goals of the Information Policy Ministry is to counteract “Russian information aggression” amidst the ongoing conflict with separatists in Donetsk and Lugansk.

Ukraine’s independent press has labeled the new agency the “Ministry of Truth.” OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic has also criticized Kiev’s decision to create the new ministry.