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As it happens5:52 a.mA Finnish newspaper is using the video game Counter-Strike to evade Russian censorship laws
Russians who play online war games may find information about the real war their country is waging in Ukraine.
A Finnish newspaper uses a popular video game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to skirt Russia’s propaganda laws that make it impossible to accurately report on the war in the country.
“You are playing a fictitious war game, and suddenly there is a place where you discover the brutal reality of the world – that the war is real and close at hand,” said Antero Mukka, editor-in-chief of Helsingin Sanomat. As it happens host Nil Koksal.
“This is part of the message that in the digital world, you cannot close society, because [information] it just leaked.”
Helsingin Sanomat launched a secret bunker in the news-filled game on Monday, May 3, coinciding with International Press Freedom Day.
News outlets have been reporting on the war since Russia first invaded the country in February 2022, Mukka said.
However, Russia did not call it an invasion or a war, but a “special military operation.” Media outlets that oppose the country’s official narrative tend to be blocked or shut down under the country’s propaganda laws.
In response to the Russian media crackdown, Helsingin Sanomat began publishing many of its own stories about Ukraine in Russian. It won’t take long for Russia to seize and restrict access to the website, Mukka said.
“Without the trick, you can’t access our website in Russia. It’s closed by the authorities,” he said. “But we found that online games … are still available and no one is banning them. So, why not try this channel? And it seems to work.
A secret underground bunker
Counter-Strike is a very popular online first person shooter.
Helsingin Sanomat has created a map in the game of a Slavic city that is not defined by war, named de_voyna, as a reference to the Russian word. war the meaning of war — draws attention to words that are forbidden in the Ukrainian context.
When players arrive at de_voyna, Mukka says signage and other clues will lead to a secret bunker in the basement of a large building.
Once there, they will find real photos from the war in Ukraine, taken by the newspaper’s journalists, as well as Helsingin Sanomat headlines about alleged Russian atrocities, including the discovery of mass graves in Bucha and Irpin.
WATCH | Battle report from inside the video game:
Antero Mukka, editor-in-chief of Helsingin Sanomat, explained how a Finnish newspaper used the first-person shooter game Counter-Strike to evade Russian censorship laws and publish news about the war in Ukraine.
What’s more, Mukka said, he would learn about the Russian victims, which he thought would suit the Russians Counter-Strike players, many young people can be mobilized or recruited into the war.
“Russia has it too [the] right to know, and I want people to be able to read reliable information [and] make your own choices,” Mukka said.
“If only we got a few Russians [to] give some thought, maybe a minute or two, to… the direction the country is going, I think it deserves it.”
Mukka said the newspaper did not partner with, or get permission from, the game publisher, the US-based Valve Corporation, to start this campaign. Counter-Strike allowing users to create and add their own content to the platform.
CBC has reached out to Valve for comment.
Mukka said he is not sure how many players, Russian or other, have opened the map so far. The paper’s executive editor, Esa Makinin, told Reuters that the aim was to portray people who were there in order to attract their target audience.
“Russia is a big group Counter-Strike players and they are part of the global community, so we hope that when players start playing this map and become popular in it Counter-Strike community and then also Russia will understand this and will start to play,” he said.
Mukka says there are many unknowns. It is not clear for sure Russia will try to limit access to the game. And he also wasn’t sure whether the Russians who found the newspaper bunker would pay attention to what they saw there.
“There are many people in Russian society who know what is happening, but they want to close their eyes and ears because they don’t want problems. They just want to live every day,” he said.
“And it may be the same situation or in Counter-Strike. But at least we tried.”
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