Trending pro-Kremlin headlines for Tier 1 and 2 headlines, February 10, 2023

See definitions for classifications like Tier 1 and 2 here:

Information Classification

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Tier 1

Definition: An autocratic regime owns or controls most of an outlet via funding, management, or authority.

Key Elements:

• Majority-owned, -funded, or -operated by the state.
• Pro-regime content, which we define as framing, arguments, or ideas endorsed, promoted or implied by regime officials, employees, representatives, allies, or contract workers.

Tier 2

Definition: Significant relationships via partnerships, shared assets, content, or employees.

Key elements:

• A significant relationship with a Tier 1 website or relationship with the Russian state that the outlet fails to disclose.
• Creating or amplifying pro-regime content, which we define as framing, arguments, or ideas endorsed, promoted, or implied by regime officials, employees, representatives, allies, or contract workers.

Criteria for inclusion in a pro-regime information ecosystem

1. The website is recognized by the US federal government or an intelligence agency from one of the Five Eyes (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States) as pro-regime or a regime agent.
2. The website is recognized as pro-regime or another comparable label by a research organization or media manipulation specialty outlet that employs qualified scientists, researchers, ethical investigative journalists, or other appropriate experts and shares the evidence supporting their conclusions.
3. Outlets or organizations engaging in any one of the following:
1. Repeatedly publishing, promoting, or citing pro-regime content or authors from an outlet that meets criteria one or two,
2. A Tier 1 organization or representative owns another outlet’s domain, oversees editorial decisions, or provides funding to a website.
3. The website owner has previously produced content for the Russian state through either overt propaganda like RT or covert, such as the outlets controlled by the GRU or FSB. And the website has published recognized disinformation that can be clearly tied to Russia, as with the 2017 Ukraine “biolabs” story published by GRU front, Cyber Berkut. Russian and Chinese state-affiliated accounts boosted the story on social media.
4. A website publicly shared a partnership with a Tier 1 or Tier 2 entity, as demonstrated by disclosure on at least one of the partner sites that goes legally uncontested, public records, reporting from reliable news outlets, public statements, or other behavior that suggests intentional collaboration. Anything a disinterested party may reasonably argue is a coincidence does not fulfill this requirement.