Google, Meta and TikTok have removed social media posts from a industrial plant in Russia’s Tatarstan region aimed at recruiting young foreign women to make drones for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Accounts on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok were taken down following an investigation by The Associated Press published Oct. 10 that detailed working conditions in the drone factory in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone, which is under US and British sanctions.
Videos and other posts on the social media platforms promised the young women, who are largely from Africa, a free plane ticket to Russia and a salary of more than $500 a month following their recruitment via the program called “Alabuga Start.”
But instead of a work-study program in areas like hospitality and catering, some of them said they learned only arriving in the Tatarstan region that they would be toiling in a factory to make weapons of war, assembling thousands of Iranian-designed attack drones to be launched into Ukraine.
In interviews with AP, some of the women who worked in the complex complained of long hours under constant surveillance, of broken promises about wages and areas of study, and of working with caustic chemicals that left their skin pockmarked and itching. AP did not identify them by name or nationality out of concern for their safety.
The tech companies also removed accounts for Alabuga Polytechnic, a vocational boarding school for Russians age 16-18 and Central Asians age 18-22 that bills its graduates as experts in drone production.
The accounts collectively had at least 53,144 followers.
In a statement, YouTube said its parent company Google is committed to sanctions and trade compliance and “after review and consistent with our policies, we terminated channels associated with Alabuga Special Economic Zone.”
Meta said it removed accounts on Facebook and Instagram that “violate our policies.” The company said it was committed to complying with sanctions laws and said it recognized that human exploitation is a serious problem which required a multifaceted approach, including at Meta.
It said it had teams dedicated to anti-trafficking efforts and aimed to remove those seeking to abuse its platforms.
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment but appeared to have removed accounts run by Alabuga with about 35,000 followers.
The women aged 18-22 were recruited to fill an urgent labor shortage in wartime Russia. They are from places like Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, South Sudan, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, as well as the South Asian country of Sri Lanka. The drive also is expanding to elsewhere in Asia as well as Latin America.
Accounts affiliated to Alabuga with tens of thousands of followers are still accessible on Telegram, which did not reply to a request for comment. The plant’s management also did not respond to AP.
The Alabuga Start recruiting drive used a robust social media campaign of slickly edited videos with upbeat music that show African women smiling while cleaning floors, wearing hard hats while directing cranes, and donning protective equipment to apply paint or chemicals.
Videos also showed them enjoying Tatarstan’s cultural sites or playing sports. None of the videos made it clear the women would be working in a drone manufacturing complex.
Online, Alabuga promoted visits to the industrial area by foreign dignitaries, including some from Brazil, Sri Lanka and Burkina Faso.
In a since-deleted Instagram post, a Turkish diplomat who visited the plant had compared Alabuga Polytechnic to colleges in Turkiye and pronounced it “much more developed and high-tech.”
According to Russian investigative outlets Protokol and Razvorot, some pupils at Alabuga Polytechnic are as young as 15 and have complained of poor working conditions.
Videos previously on the platforms showed the vocational school students in team-building exercises such as “military-patriotic” paintball matches and recreating historic Soviet battles while wearing camouflage.
Last month, Alabuga Start said on Telegram its “audience has grown significantly!”
That could be due to its hiring of influencers, who promoted the site on TikTok and Instagram as an easy way for young women to make money after leaving school.
TikTok removed two videos promoting Alabuga after publication of the AP investigation.
Experts told AP that about 90 percent of the women recruited via the Alabuga Start program work in drone manufacturing.
Tech firms remove social media posts from a Russian drone factory after an AP investigation
https://arab.news/598q2
Tech firms remove social media posts from a Russian drone factory after an AP investigation
- Lured to a work-study program in Russia in areas like hospitality and catering, the young women, mostly Africans, ended up toiling in a factory to assemble Iranian-designed attack drones to be launched into Ukraine
West Bank booksellers say arrests reflect intensifying Israeli crackdown on Palestinian culture
- Mahmoud Muna and his nephew Ahmed were arrested on Sunday after Israeli police raided the family-owned bookshops on accusation of selling books that supported terrorism
- “Case is not isolated event, but part of series of attack against Palestinian cultural institutions,” Mahmoud said
LONDON: Two booksellers from the West Bank, recently arrested by Israeli police, say their detention is part of an escalating effort by Israeli authorities to suppress Palestinian culture.
In an interview with The Guardian, Mahmoud Muna and his nephew Ahmed, whose family has owned the Educational Bookshop in East Jerusalem for more than 40 years, described the raid on their store as part of a broader campaign to stifle Palestinian identity and free expression.
“We should not look at this as an isolated event,” Mahmoud said. “There have been a series of attacks on cultural institutions in Jerusalem and beyond. I think there is an awareness in the Israeli establishment that cultural institutions are playing a role in galvanising and protecting Palestinian cultural identity.”
The raid occurred last Sunday when plainclothes officers entered two branches of the bookshop on Salah Eddin Street — one specializing in Arabic books, the other in English and foreign-language publications. Mahmoud and Ahmed were arrested and detained for two days.
Israeli police accused the men of “selling books containing incitement and support for terrorism,” claiming officers found materials with “nationalist Palestinian themes,” including a children’s coloring book that contained the Israeli-contested sentence “From the river to the sea.”
The two men said that police confiscated about 300 books for examination, but all were eventually returned except for eight, including the coloring book, which they said had been sent for review and was not on sale.
After appearing in Jerusalem Magistrates Court on Monday, the charges against them were downgraded to a public order offense, but they were ordered to spend another 24 hours in detention, followed by five days of house arrest.
Their arrest sparked international condemnation, with journalists and diplomats closely following the case. In Israel, the incident also drew criticism, with journalist Noa Simone calling the raid a “fascist act” that “evokes frightening historical associations with which every Jew is very familiar.”
Recalling their time in detention, the booksellers described the conditions as “simply unfit for a human to live in.” They said they were held in overcrowded, windowless cells without heating, forced to sleep on mats on a concrete floor in near-freezing temperatures — treatment they likened to psychological torture.
While their experience was harsh, they acknowledged that their situation could have been far worse without international attention and support.
“If we were not working in a bookstore with an international outreach with good international connections, what would have happened?” Mahmoud asked. “Probably the case would have been manipulated against us.”
He also warned of the broader implications of their arrest. “The question is how far are they going to go? If they’re attacking Palestinian bookstores now, they will be attacking Israeli bookstores next.”
Bristling at ‘Gulf of Mexico’ name change on maps, Mexico threatens to sue Google
- After assuming office as US president, Donald Trump declared that he was changing the name Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America
- Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said the name Gulf of Mexico dates back to 1607 and is recognized by the United Nations
- Google has said that it maintains a “long-standing practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources”
MEXICO CITY: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday that her government wouldn’t rule out filing a civil lawsuit against Google if it maintains its stance of calling the stretch of sea between northeastern Mexico and the southeastern United States the “Gulf of America.”
The area, long named the Gulf of Mexico across the the world, has gained a geopolitical spotlight after President Donald Trump declared he would change the Gulf’s name.
Sheinbaum, in her morning news conference, said the president’s decree is restricted to the “continental shelf of the United States” because Mexico still controls much of the Gulf. “We have sovereignty over our continental shelf,” she said.
Sheinbaum said that despite the fact that her government sent a letter to Google saying that the company was “wrong” and that “the entire Gulf of Mexico cannot be called the Gulf of America,” the company has insisted on maintaining the nomenclature.
It was not immediately clear where such a suit would be filed.
Google reported last month on its X account, formerly Twitter, that it maintains a “long-standing practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources.”
As of Thursday, how the Gulf appeared on Google Maps was dependent on the user’s location and other data. If the user is in the United States, the body of water appeared as Gulf of America. If the user was physically in Mexico, it would appear as the Gulf of Mexico. In many other countries across the world it appears as “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America).”
Sheinbaum has repeatedly defended the name Gulf of Mexico, saying its use dates to 1607 and is recognized by the United Nations.
She has also mentioned that, according to the constitution of Apatzingán, the antecedent to Mexico’s first constitution, the North American territory was previously identified as “Mexican America”. Sheinbaum has used the example to poke fun at Trump and underscore the international implications of changing the Gulf’s name.
In that sense, Sheinbaum said on Thursday that the Mexican government would ask Google to make “Mexican America” pop up on the map when searched.
This is not the first time Mexicans and Americans have disagreed on the names of key geographic areas, such as the border river between Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas. Mexico calls it Rio Bravo and for the United States it is the Rio Grande.
This week, the White House barred Associated Press reporters from several events, including some in the Oval Office, saying it was because of the news agency’s policy on the name. AP is using “Gulf of Mexico” but also acknowledging Trump’s renaming of it as well, to ensure that names of geographical features are recognizable around the world.
124 journalists killed, most by Israel, in deadliest year for reporters
- The uptick in killings marks a 22 percent increase over 2023
- Journalists murdered across 18 different countries, including Palestine's Gaza, Sudan and Pakistan
NEW YORK: Last year was the deadliest for journalists in recent history, with at least 124 reporters killed — and Israel responsible for nearly 70 percent of that total, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported Wednesday.
The uptick in killings, which marks a 22 percent increase over 2023, reflects “surging levels of international conflict, political unrest and criminality worldwide,” the CPJ said.
It was the deadliest year for reporters and media workers since CPJ began keeping records more than three decades ago, with journalists murdered across 18 different countries, it said.
A total of 85 journalists died in the Israeli-Hamas war, “all at the hands of the Israeli military,” the CPJ said, adding that 82 of them were Palestinians.
Sudan and Pakistan recorded the second highest number of journalists and media workers killed, with six each.
In Mexico, which has a reputation as one of the most dangerous countries for reporters, five were killed, with CPJ reporting it had found “persistent flaws” in Mexico’s mechanisms for protecting journalists.
And in Haiti, where two reporters were murdered, widespread violence and political instability have sown so much chaos that “gangs now openly claim responsibility for journalist killings,” the report said.
Other deaths took place in countries such as Myanmar, Mozambique, India and Iraq.
“Today is the most dangerous time to be a journalist in CPJ’s history,” said the group’s CEO Jodie Ginsberg.
“The war in Gaza is unprecedented in its impact on journalists and demonstrates a major deterioration in global norms on protecting journalists,” she said.
CPJ, which has kept records on journalist killings since 1992, said that 24 of the reporters were deliberately killed because of their work in 2024.
Freelancers, the report said, were among the most vulnerable because of their lack of resources, and accounted for 43 of the killings in 2024.
The year 2025 is not looking more promising, with six journalists already killed in the first weeks of the year, CPJ said.
Roblox CEO announces Arabic version at World Governments Summit
DUBAI: Roblox CEO David Baszucki announced an Arabic version of the hit game platform during the World Governments Summit on Wednesday.
Baszucki said that the new feature enabled Arabic-speaking creators to reach audiences instantly all over the world.
Through the move, everything on the platform will be available in Arabic.
“Today, we launched worldwide in Arabic, everything on Roblox: Roblox Studio, the Roblox app, automatic translation. Anyone who’s building a Roblox experience in Arabic, it will automatically translate into languages around the world,” he said.
Roblox, an online game platform and game creation system, has more than 88.9 million daily active users.
Many brands use the platform to promote their products, from cosmetics to high-end luxury goods.
“Brands are using our platforms to build 3D experiences to help promote their brands — everything from e.l.f. Beauty to Lamborghini,” he added.
“We have been growing consistently for 18 years now, over 20 percent year on year.”
In the past, the gaming platform faced criticism over safety concerns regarding children on the platform. In 2018, it was banned for several years in the UAE for exposing children to swearing, violence and sexually explicit content.
Baszucki said that child safety is a major concern for the company and that Roblox is utilizing AI technology to ensure a safe gaming experience for users.
“AI is getting so good and evolving so quickly. We have over 200 AI systems on Roblox. We are clear that we are looking at everything on the platform for safety and stability. We are so into the notion of online safety — it’s a top priority,” he said.
Traditional and digital media should not be at ‘war,’ says social media star Anas Bukhash
DUBAI: Traditional and digital media should not be at war, social media star, podcast host and entrepreneur Anas Bukhash has told the World Governments Summit in Dubai.
During a session called “How to build a social media empire in Dubai” he explained: “I think it (traditional and digital media) should be a marriage and a good marriage, not a miserable marriage. If you have a good marriage … and they talk to each other nicely, it’s the most powerful combination rather than having either-or.”
He added he established his social media success by being consistent.
“I think a lot of things have to align, considering your consistency, your effort, your skill. All of it has to come together for you to be successful. And we've been doing it for ... we haven’t missed a Tuesday I think in like five years or six,” he said.
With more than 2 million subscribers, Bukhash’s show, AB Talks, is one of the most popular channels in the Arab world.
“When I presented my concept to some social media platforms, when I wanted to start back in 2014, everybody told me not to do it. Every platform told me nobody would watch it. It’s too long. Because at the time no Arabic interviews were long form,” he explained.
Bukhash said he valued longevity over virality in all his projects.
“Every startup I’ve done, I just do it well and I do it consistently and then suddenly it blows up. And I think people respect that more than somebody who just got viral because of one interview or one clip,” he added.
After studying mechanical engineering, Bukhash decided he wanted to branch out into other areas. He says he enjoys wearing many different hats rather than being stuck on one path.
“I’ve always looked at things and thought, how can I make it better or solve a problem for people? It’s funny how a mechanical engineer has an interview show, a hair salon, a cafe, a social media agency. But that’s the beauty of us as people. I always say, how can you sell something if you don’t believe it? You have to believe it,” he said.
“God made you so multi-dimensional. You just made yourself one dimension, but you were never born in one dimension. I love the fact that I can be one example of someone who can do a few things although I study something irrelevant.”
Bukhash said social media could be a powerful tool to help with storytelling and show people what was happening around the world — especially in recent times.
“In the US, young people have seen the tragedy and the conflict in Gaza in a way they were never able to see several years ago … You don’t have to be from a certain country to see what happens in Gaza, what happens in Lebanon, what happens in so many countries. You just have to be human to know that something is off,” he said.
