What is BLACK PROPAGANDA and how to counter it?
Unconventional Post about What Black Propaganda Is, How to Recognize It, and How to Combat It? The post will be useful for entrepreneurs and more.
Black propaganda is primarily conscious slander and lies directed towards a target. The propagator’s objective is to insult or defame the target’s business reputation. What is the purpose of this? It is intended to DEHUMANIZE their opponent in the eyes of the public, who might support the target of these attacks. The victim of such attacks could be an individual (husband/colleague/supervisor/partner/actor/official/politician/…), a specific company, a particular political entity, a state, or a country.
How is this possible, and why is life so unfair?
Firstly, seeking legal recourse for every instance of slander is time-consuming. Judges disregard rumors and opinions, relying solely on facts, which can lead to justice being restored in court. Nevertheless, one must take into account the human factor within our judicial system 🙂
Secondly, those who achieve success in their endeavors often do not study public relations technology and do not know how to combat propaganda attacks.
Thirdly, the target of propaganda becomes disillusioned with people, losing the will to fight back.
And if the victim does not resist the attack, if they do not refute the rumors, the public begins to believe the slander. The attacker’s main action in this situation is to continue spreading the rumors. Since there is essentially no other opinion, the public starts to believe the rumors.
Do you want to test it? Let’s imagine grandmothers sitting under the entrance. If you tell one of them that you summoned the devil yesterday, the remaining grandmothers will be crossing themselves and cursing you from behind tomorrow. This works both on a small group of people and on a large scale.
Negative and rumors spread faster than good news because the person passing on the negativity reassures themselves that their situation isn’t as bad as the bad news they are spreading.
So, what should one do when faced with black propaganda?
First and foremost, refute the false information used in the messages of propagandists/black PR specialists/other rumor-mongers.
Secondly, provide real and comprehensive information that the public lacks to make their own judgments, thereby disarming the messages from the malicious sources and convincing readers not to trust the source of the black propaganda.
Messages from black propaganda often sound convincing and even irrefutable. Therefore, for an ordinary person unfamiliar with PR technology, it’s challenging to distinguish truth from lies.
A country-wide example: Before the start of the war, we witnessed black propaganda against Ukrainians and the dehumanization of Ukrainians from media outlets controlled by the aggressor. Unfortunately, this continues to this day.
The propaganda claimed, “Ukrainians crucify little Slavic boys!” Remember? This was done to incite Russian soldiers and volunteers to abandon everything and rush to save Slavic boys, leading to violence against Ukrainians, as they were portrayed as “inhuman” (crucifying Slavic boys)! Do you understand?
An example involving politicians: They slander everyone and everything! This is not only in our country; it’s widespread. In more civilized countries, politicians know how to work with black PR, but here, only a few do. Most politicians and officials hide from the public. In black PR, arguments that cannot be verified are used. The goal of black PR is to impose an extremely negative opinion about a politician or party so they can be easily “finished off.”
An example at the enterprise level: Before executing a hostile takeover of a company, an informational attack is launched to discredit the company’s management. This ensures that during the takeover, nobody comes to the aid of the targeted individuals. In cases of unfair competition, an unscrupulous competitor spreads negative rumors about their rival to discourage customers from approaching them.
The motivation for writing this article was yet another outpouring of black propaganda, which, by the way, mentions and accuses Aladdin-Print Typography of producing such malicious content.
Ok? Let`s go!
Quote:
“National TV channels have received enough information to start preparing their own investigations. Embassies have also actively joined in and are thoroughly studying everything, preparing statements. At the same time, we remain true to our traditions and will continue sharing everything most interesting with our readers. Let’s begin with specific facts about the activities of the ‘black propagandists’ from the criminal organization within the Kharkiv SBU.
Aladdin-Print LLC. It is in this printing house that fraudsters order illegal printing of ‘black propaganda’ and various materials against businessmen and politicians.
This is where leaflets were printed against the deputy chairman of the regional council, Volodymyr Skorobogach, and people’s deputies, including those from the ‘Servant of the People’ party. This is also where illegal printing of materials against Yulia Svitlychna, who is also the Vice President of the Council of Europe, is conducted. So, the ‘local scale’ for these scammers became too small, and they are now aiming for an international level. Oh well…
It is also in Aladdin-Print where various computer and technical setups for ‘black propaganda’ against Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova were carried out.
Provocative printed materials against businessmen, with the aim of further extortion of money, are also produced here.
Proving that all this happens in this printing house will not be difficult. Every printing equipment has its peculiarities and defects. So, an examination will easily determine this. And yes, it’s too late to replace the equipment now, dear ‘start-uppers.’ A comparative examination of products printed at the same time will easily confirm the identity of the equipment. A straightforward criminal case.
The clients are the regional SBU administration and the regional state administration, represented by Kuchera and Skakun. Yes, my friends, things have become very petty. The contact person is SBU employee Dyagilev. Moreover, it is Dyagilev who provides cover for this printing house and regularly receives money from the owners.
Evidence? — Of course, there is. Namely, the transfers of funds from this printing house to the ‘Law and Order’ fund and other funds associated with the SBU. But the main sums are given in cash to Dyagilev. The owners of this printing house are the Nitsenko family. By the way, they are one of the elements of the criminal organization. But we’ll talk about them later.
All finances for the ‘black propaganda’ are controlled by the Deputy Head of the Regional SBU, Telichenko. He also controls a separate ‘budget’ allocated for provocations. This is a separate topic that we will definitely report to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.
Aladdin-Print LLC, Individual Entrepreneur Yakovleva L.Yu, and Captain LLC are also linked to the criminal organization and the illegal printing of materials ordered by the SBU.
As you can see, all the elements of the criminal organization are exposed: the client — the organizer — the financier — the executor — the executors of local tasks — accomplices. The scheme was almost perfectly executed.
❗️And yes, Comrade Dyagilev, all your calls to the regional SBU offices demanding the placement of ‘black propaganda’ have been recorded. There are not many willing to take responsibility for your stupidity and the stupidity of the regional administration. No one will go to jail instead of you, except perhaps complete idiots.
These are the employees of the special services, damn it. You can’t even hang a billboard or print a leaflet without getting caught. The main thing is to cover for your subordinates by Bakhanov. Well, well…”
End of the quote.
Breaking down the propaganda into parts:
The first paragraph is filled with “actions” and sounds pompous, but strangely lacks specific names of TV channels, concrete information, or investigations. Everything is very generalized. The mention of “embassies” sounds impressive, but it’s unclear which embassies and what statements are involved. What does embassies have to do with this?
Moving on:
Regarding “Aladdin-Print LLC,” where the fraudsters supposedly order “illegal black propaganda,” there are no specifics on what exactly they are printing, no receipts, evidence, photos, or videos. Moreover, Aladdin-Print has never printed full-color billboards; there is no such equipment in its park.
Note:
Every “fact” should be accompanied by evidence; otherwise, it is slander and damage to the business reputation, which should be properly addressed (through legal means or information).
Further on, it is claimed that Aladdin-Print prints leaflets against various figures, but there are no photographs of these “leaflets,” no case numbers, or any supporting evidence. Black PR is not about facts; it is about imposing opinions and tarnishing reputations. Some clients of Aladdin-Print know that the company doesn’t print just anything, let alone black propaganda, but the writer of this text doesn’t care; they just want to mention a well-known company.
Note:
The absence of official facts doesn’t bother black PR agents, and for credibility, they might include 3% of truth unrelated to the matter, making the text more convincing.
Moving on to the claim about conducting equipment expertise to determine if something was printed or not.
Note:
It may sound serious, and theoretically, it might be possible to determine, but again, where is the case number? And we’re not even considering the fact that guilt is determined in court, and a corresponding decision or verdict is issued. But let’s leave this scrutiny to our legal department; for now, we are discussing PR.
The text also claims that Aladdin-Print transferred funds to the SBU fund and provided cash payments.
Note:
Let’s see the evidence – where are the receipts, photos, or videos? Additionally, the author of this text in this and other posts writes that Alexey Kucher, Alexander Skakun, and Alexey Dyagilev are covering for Aladdin-Print.
After reading these words, Alexey Kucher, Alexander Skakun, and Alexey Dyagilev are portrayed as villains who cover for Aladdin-Print. This is again a dehumanization of the heroes of this text.
As the owner of Aladdin-Print, I declare that there is not a single verified fact concerning Aladdin-Print in this article, and this article is nothing but black propaganda in its entirety.
Continuation:
Next, the mention of the Nitsenko family sounds impressive, almost like a clan. We must understand that to achieve results, one must work diligently and not engage in black deeds. For example, through deception, the scammers in the group of Anatoly Rodzinsky, Andrei Telitchenko, Vadim Donda, and Vyacheslav Kabitsky attempted to take over a company (case number ERDR 12019220490003517). The takeover failed, and the client of the takeover, the owner of the Zebra printing house, remained the loser (all evidence can be found in ERGR and EGRSR databases). According to the writer, Andrian Nitsenko, that is, myself, is claimed to be “a part of a criminal organization.”
End of the letter:
This brainwashing of the reader smoothly transitions to comrade Dyagilev, who supposedly calls district offices of the SBU and demands the dissemination of black propaganda. This implies that there should be audio recordings, right?
Personally, I cannot comment on matters unrelated to Aladdin-Print, but if there are falsehoods about Aladdin, it is possible that the claims about Dyagilev’s calls are also untrue.
In summary, dealing with black propaganda involves providing clear rebuttals to rumors (taking into account protection of business reputation not just from a legal perspective) and providing accurate information about the real situation.
Remaining silent and waiting during an attack is not the right strategy.
The scale of the response depends on the situation. For instance, if the propaganda is spreading intensely, a strong and well-calibrated response involving media engagement is necessary. However, if the propaganda is on a smaller scale, giving it excessive attention might not be worthwhile. For such cases, an educational response on social media and a blog post may be sufficient. The key is not to overreact.
Now, why did the author of the article choose Aladdin-Print as the target for manufacturing leaflets and billboards?
The reason is simple: Aladdin-Print is a prominent and well-known urgent printing house in Kharkiv that is familiar to everyone. To appear as an expert, the author added three other subjects that likely have no connection to the printing business.
At Aladdin, we occasionally encounter such attacks and have some experience in dealing with black PR, which we are sharing with you. I hope this article has provided some understanding of the methods to combat black PR, and I trust that none of the readers will have to encounter similar situations.
