The project has amassed a large following covering the CEE region and reporting on Russia’s invasion from a pro-Ukrainian position, but it has faced criticism around posting fake news and ties to the Polish government

Earlier this year, Polish media outlets like Wyborcza.biz by Gazeta Wyborcza and OKO.press reported on the popular anonymous news aggregator Visegrád 24. It is known for being cited by Polish and foreign public figures – and several high-profile occasions of posting fake news. Wyborcza and OKO.press stated that potential account holders are people associated with the ruling PiS party or other Polish government circles.

However, the project is not anonymous anymore. We explore the phenomenon of Visegrád 24, its impact in terms of spreading incorrect information, and the responsibility for that.

What is Visegrád 24

In the description of its Twitter profile, Visegrád 24 declares its work as “aggregating and curating news (…) from Central and Eastern Europe”. It works primarily on social media.

*Screenshot of the Visegrád 24.org website – it contains information about the project and donation links, but the news is distributed via social media only*

Visegrád 24 started at the beginning of 2020 as a Twitter account. It amassed a large audience earlier this year thanks to its coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from a staunch pro-Ukrainian perspective.

Till the end of September 2022, the project had been staying anonymous. However, after the publication of the OKO.press investigation, Stefan Tompson, the real founder of Visegrád 24 revealed himself in an interview for Rzeczpospolita. Tompson is a Polish-South African PR specialist, who runs a PR & marketing agency. He moved to Poland in 2014 and is also known as a popularizer of history, hosting a program “Polish heritage” on the national TV station TVP Dokument, sponsored by the Polish government. In the interview, Tompson confirms that his agency was paid by the Polish National Foundation for several projects.

Tompson named the lack of decent representation of the Polish right-wing perspective in the English-speaking space, the promotion of the whole Central-Eastern European region and Three Seas Initiative, and his PR [not journalistic] specialisation as the reasons for the project’s anonymity. Before that, he explained that Visegrád 24’s authors are co-workers and employees of his advertising agency, not journalists.

In the comment for The Fix Jan Smoleński, political scientist, lecturer at the University of Warsaw, and Ph.D. candidate at the New School for Social Research in New York expressed doubts as to the declared reasons for Tompson’s anonymity, paying attention to his collaboration with the government-run institutions.

“It is important to note that Tompson admits that Visegrád 24 is a PR – or propaganda – project, after all. The purpose is to promote and advance the right-wing perspective from Poland and the CEE region. He presents it as an attempt to introduce balance in voices: liberal-left views from Poland are dominant in the English-speaking media sphere, so supposedly in the interest of fairness and balance there needs to be a conservative one. Tompson seems to ignore the fact that there is a good reason why ‘the Polish right-wing views’ are not popular, especially among the established media outlets: it is because sometimes they are propaganda-like misrepresentations of facts or falsehoods, and a healthy dose of scepticism is very much advised. There is a serious problem with the underlying reasoning for his actions: it seems that what matters here is the ideological balance and not accurate descriptions of facts, while Visegrád 24’s goal is to gain legitimacy not as an opinion outlet but as a source of facts”, said Smole?ski.

Smole?ski says that if we accept this reasoning, we risk privileging the equal exposure of various ideological positions over commitment to facts and their accurate representation to the audience. It does become a problem if exponents of one of the positions are willing to lie.

In the comment for The Fix before Tompson’s interview publication Anna Mierzy?ska, an author of the investigation for OKO.press and a public sector marketing specialist, said that unfortunately, anonymous accounts are still being treated by some media as a reliable source.

“Disclosing people behind such accounts gives journalists a chance to consider whether they are referring to a medium that provides objective information, or whether they should take into account its political subjectivism”, Mierzy?ska explained.

Social media growth strategy: does the end justify the means?

Visegrád 24 seems to put social media reach as the primary goal and succeeds: nearly 322,380 subscribers on Twitter, 152,900 on TikTok, and 7,900 on Facebook. More than 7,000 follow Visegrád 24 on Instagram. Comparing the numbers from the 1st of September given by OKO.press, Twitter and TikTok subscriptions have risen by 15-16% and Facebook by 32% in almost four months.

First 40,000 subscribers on Twitter Visegrad gained by tagging public figures, expecting they will share the content, raising the reach and credibility, according to Visegrad’s founder. Quotes, especially the more controversial and radical ones, worked particularly well at the beginning, Tompson explained in his interview for Rzeczpospolita.

“We didn’t believe in early 2020 that it would grow to this size. (…) This is the most influential English-speaking account from Poland. Generated over 2 billion Twitter hits in 24 months and over 150 million views on TikTok. This is a gigantic success behind which I am actually standing”, said Tompson in his interview for Rzeczpospolita.

The abovementioned growth from tens to hundreds of thousands of subscribers was gained with the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. The secret sauce? Visegrád 24 posts viral photos, and video content with added English subtitles or short informational tweets, frequently without cited sources.

The aggregator often searches the news in Ukrainian Telegram channels and TikTok accounts, and retweets Ukrainian journalists. In Tompson’s opinion, apart from Nexta and Kyiv Independent, Visegrád 24 is currently one of the main English-language sources reporting the Ukrainian position on an ongoing basis.

*Screenshot from @Visegrád 24 Twitter account*

“The war in Ukraine has become an opportunity for Visegrád 24 to increase its reach. Reliable media have to check each piece of information first, it takes effort and takes time. Visegrád 24 doesn’t have such a problem – it publishes news that it collects from unknown sources, from other social platforms, just publishing it immediately without solid research. Reach is therefore built on the priority of publication, not on credibility”, said Mierzy?ska in an interview for The Fix.

Since October the aggregator has successfully changed its YouTube strategy. In mid-October Visegrád 24 started posting YouTube shorts, duplicating the content from TikTok. In less than four weeks the number of subscribers has grown from around 7,000 to 11,800. The update of the channel name with the word “shorts” probably means a total focus on the new YouTube format.

*Screenshots from Visegrád 24 YouTube and TikTok accounts; half of the last videos are identical*

Additionally at the end of October Visegrád 24 returned to Telegram after half a year’s pause. However, it has a small platform there compared to other social networks – a little over 2,000 subscribers as of mid-December.

If you look at the Visegrád 24 Twitter and Facebook top posts from the year period, you’ll see that fake news and unconfirmed information on both platforms are in the first place. An unconfirmed story is the photo of Russian troops stuck in the elevator, which gained 154,100 likes on Twitter. On Facebook, the most popular is a fake news story about a $10 million donation to Ukraine from Leonardo DiCaprio, caused by his grandmother’s Ukrainian origin.

*Top 5 Tweets on @Visegrád 24 account in period 01.03.2020-31.10.2022, screenshots @Visegrád 24 Twitter account*

It can be assumed that this case gave Visegrád 24 world recognition. The tweet was reposted more than 10,000 times and was picked up by such news outlets as The Daily Mail, The Independent, and Euronews France. The full analysis of DiCaprio’s donation fake news story was published by CNN, after which Visegrád 24 deleted the tweet. “It seems we fell prey to a fake story ourselves. Happens to the best of us! (…) We saw the story tweeted by several small news accounts, citing an anonymous source ”, Visegrád 24 representative told CNN.

*Top Visegrád 24 posts on Facebook from the last 12 months, including fake news and unproved information, screenshot from Crowdtangle*

Worth mentioning that CNN reached out to The International Visegrad Fund, asking if they announced a $10 million DiCaprio donation to Ukraine. This may indicate the misconception that the aggregator is related to the foundation. However, we cannot claim that it is manipulation from the Visegrád 24 side.

Other examples of fake news from Visegrád 24 are the Polish-Ukrainian Union initiative from Polish politicians and PornHub blockage for Russians.

Visegrád 24 also publishes materials from years ago as current events. For example, a video from 2021 about a fake “Ukrainian Nazi” on Russian TV. The story behind the video is still unclear, but it is definitely not from 2022, as it emerged from Visegrád 24 Twitter post, which was later deleted.

OKO.press investigation and Tompson’s reaction to it

As mentioned above, Tompson admitted to being the founder and owner of Visegrád 24 three weeks after the publication of the OKO.press investigation by Mierzy?ska, in which she called him one of two possible founders of the aggregator.

In his interview for Rzeczpospolita Tompson criticises Mierzy?ska’s piece and denies some of the theses put forward by OKO.press. We pay special attention to the following two, as Mierzy?ska cited confirmations on The Fix’s request:

#1 “Visegrád 24 published the first film recorded at a party with the participation of [Finnish Prime Minister] Sanna Marin”

Answering the thesis above, Tompson blamed Mierzy?ska for lack of precision – whether Visegrad published the recording first or published the first of several recordings. In addition, he claimed that the tweet was published on August 18, when a national scandal was raging in Finland from the previous day. Mierzy?ska admitted the lack of precision from her side, but she says the dates indicated by Tompson are not true.

Visegrád 24 posted a video with the Finnish Prime Minister on August 17 at 23:28 Central European Time, reaching 10 million views. According to Mierzy?ska, Visegrád 24 was the first English language medium to publish the video. As for the Finnish media, only one portal published it before Visegrád 24 – Iltalehtii, at 21:00, with the disclaimer (which Visegrád 24 did not do) that the origin of the film is not fully known. The news got headlines in the local and world media on August 18, so it’s not true that Visegrád 24 published the video on August 18, nor that the scandal went global on August 17.

*Screenshot from @Visegrád 24 Twitter account*

#2 “Visegrád 24 supports Victor Orbán, despite his approach to Russian war in Ukraine”

When asked about Orbán’s support by the aggregator, Tompson replied: “I doubt there were such tweets. I would have to see these specific posts. I personally do not approve of Orbán’s policy on this matter, so it surprises me a lot”. According to Tompson, quoting the politician without comment doesn’t mean spreading his narrative or supporting him.

On the top is the most popular Tweet about Orbán on @Visegrád 24 Twitter account, below is an example of quoting the Hungarian Prime Minister after February 24, screenshots from @Visegrád 24 Twitter account

Afterward, he asks a rhetorical question as to whether he should be responsible for all tweets on the Visegrad account since he has not read all of them. Later Tompson defends himself with the fact that Visegrád 24 is defined as an “aggregator” in the page description, and how much they write about Ukraine. Earlier in the same interview, he says that he understands all the questions regarding transparency and that Visegrád 24 is going to transform into a trustworthy news outlet with professional journalists.

“Controversy is a very good growth strategy – if you care only about growth. Posting controversial content without a commentary, however, comes at the cost of potentially becoming a mouthpiece for such content – or worse: legitimating it (especially if you pose as a legitimate source)”, explained Jan Smoleński.

Visegrad’s founder also wondered why no one has accusations against the faint editorial line of Nexta, in the case where the authors are also anonymous and the editorial office receives money, among others, from the Chancellery of the Prime Minister. Pawe? Mikulski, who interviewed Tompson for Rzeczpospolita, underlined the difference between the Belarusian authoritarian system and the safe conditions for media in Poland. Tompson didn’t find a serious answer for that.

“Comparing Visegrád 24 to Nexta in order to justify the former’s anonymity is just ludicrous. Belarus is a dictatorship, Poland is not. The Belarusian regime proved that it is ready to hijack a plane full of tourists to arrest [its opponent]. The Polish government is apparently willing to pay for Visegrád 24 to exist. Whatever issues with Nexta one might have, it is clear that this is an activist outlet. Visegrád 24, by contrast, is mimicking legitimate outlets to gain legitimacy as a reliable source of information (not opinions but information). One can go on and on”, said Smole?ski.

Almost €300K subsidies from the Polish Prime Minister

At the end of November, the Polish Ministry of Finance published “Information on the distribution of the general budgetary reserve as of October 31, 2022″. According to that document, on October 18 – by order number 344 – Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki decided to allocate almost PLN 1,397 million from the budget reserve to the Action-Life Foundation. The money is to be used to “finance the implementation of a public project under the name ‘Visegrad24’”.

Excerpt from “Information on the distribution of the general budgetary reserve as of October 31, 2022″/ Source: gov.pl

At the request of journalists from WP.pl, the Government Information Center replied that the Prime Minister’s order granting the subsidy was issued on the basis of the offer submitted by the Action Life Foundation on September 20, 2022. However, they did not provide this document and contract with the foundation, because “it has not yet been concluded” and only “procedures are underway to sign the contract for the implementation of this project”.

By the moment of WP.pl publication at the beginning of December, the Chancellery of the Prime Minister hadn’t responded, to whether the Action-Life Foundation received a subsidy for the development of the visegrad24.org portal.

“The aim of the Action-Life Foundation’s project, under the name ‘Visegrad24’, is to create an English-language internet portal. The website is to be devoted to the topics of culture, history, and politics in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, in particular, the Visegrad Group countries – Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia The portal’s activities also cover neighbouring countries – Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and the Western Balkans. Additionally, the purpose of the website will be to promote the idea of ??the Three Seas Initiative and the role of Poland in the region and to fight disinformation, including from Russia. Implementation of the project and achievement of the assumed results will contribute to the development of the Visegrad24 portal, the purpose of which is, in particular, to promote Poland, including its history and culture, as well as as a place to do business” – informed the Government Information Center, according to WP.pl. This would be in line with the development plan described by Stefan Tompson in an interview for Rzeczpospolita.

The Action-Life Foundation has been operating since 2014. For several years, the foundation often included its activities in a historical and patriotic context, receiving numerous state subsidies for them. WP.pl journalists heard from a representative of the foundation that the Chancellery of the Prime Minister had refused the grant. There was no public information about the withdrawal of the application. When asked about Visegrad24, journalists heard: “There is no project, so there is no topic.” They also got no response from Thompson about this.

The Fix reached out to Tompson for the comment before the WP.pl publication but hasn’t received an answer yet.

In the background of many controversies related to publications policy, and non-transparent links to the Polish government there is one main question about Visegrád 24’s future. Could the aggregator known for posting false information transform into a trustworthy media outlet, or is the ideological leaning of the outlet more important than integrity?

Source of the cover photo: https://unsplash.com

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Visegrád 24: propaganda or aspiring news outlet with a concrete ideological line?