Ukraine's attempts to reach out to Silicon Valley have had mixed results. Many anticipated that Ukraine's internet connectivity would be shut off following Russia's invasion, either through hacking or the demolition of internet infrastructure - or even both. While there have been occasional brief disruptions and assaults on government websites, there hasn't been a widespread internet outage. Nonetheless, after Ukraine's vice prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, appealed to Elon Musk through Twitter, the billionaire responded with assistance. A cargo of Starlink satellite dishes, popularly known as Dishys, arrived in Ukraine earlier this week. Elon Musk also activated the country's Starlink internet service, generating a flurry of favourable press about his world-saving compassion. It's unclear whether or when Ukraine will require an alternative internet provider, but having the endorsement of the world's richest man can't hurt. However, some feared such assistance would expose them to greater risk if Russia were to track satellite signals and attack whoever was utilising them – fears that Musk himself would express several days later. It's part of what appears to be a successful plan. Russia is well-known for exploiting the internet to disseminate its propaganda via planned social media operations. However, Ukraine has developed its own social media strategies, with its leaders using personal, often emotive pleas on multiple platforms to make the case for Ukraine. The other corporations haven't given Fedorov all he asked for, but they have promised some assistance. Apple has ceased selling items in Russia, disabled Apple Pay, and deleted Russian state-controlled news applications from its App Store outside of the nation. Google and YouTube have ceased selling advertisements on Russian government websites and channels, and YouTube is deplatforming Russian government publications in Europe. In the European Union, Meta is blocking access to Russian government media on Facebook and Instagram, and posts with connections to Russian government media are being demoted internationally.
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"Some nations" have urged SpaceX to restrict Russian state media on its Starlink internet satellites, Elon Musk revealed tonight, but "we will not do it until under duress." "Sorry to be a free speech absolutist," he said, adding that it wasn't a request from Ukraine. Musk responded to a commenter who claimed that Russia's state media was propaganda by saying, "All news sources are somewhat propaganda, some more than others." He had indicated a day earlier that in certain sections of Ukraine, Starlink was the only non-Russian communications system running and that it was likely to be targeted, so he tweeted that SpaceX had prioritised "cyber security & overcoming signal jamming."
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