ABOUT

Russia blocked independent news. We hid it in the metadata of photos of Putin.

BACKGROUND
In March 2022, Russia blocked access to social media and independent news sites, banned protests, and instituted a 15 year prison sentence for dissenters. As Putin’s war began, many Russian citizens saw only state-run propaganda and did not get the truth of what was happening in Ukraine.

We are a freelance Creative Director team based in the USA. Seeing news of what was happening in Ukraine from afar, we felt compelled to do something in addition to donating to Ukrainian charities.

That’s when we came across a worldwide open brief, published by Ukrainian creatives, shortly after Putin’s invasion.

The brief: “Hack Russian propaganda. Most Russians don't even know about the war and the gravity of the problem, because of the Russian propaganda machine in mass media. How can we provide them with the unfiltered truth?”

EXECUTION
Russia blocked independent news. We hid it in the metadata of photos of Putin.

By embedding independent news into an innocuous-looking .PNG image, we turned Putin’s propaganda photos into a way to smuggle truth about the war in Ukraine.

Recipients simply download and right click “Get Info,” and the full text can be found in the description.

Unlike plain-text emails or websites which are easily filtered, messages hidden in metadata are much more difficult to detect and block.

And provide a means for digital protest when physical protest is banned.

PNGs were distributed directly to recipients all over the world via email, SMS and Telegram. A viral LinkedIn post & Google Drive download were covered by press eventually becoming the #1 trending story on Apple News.

RESULTS
We first started the project hoping to make a difference, but without many expectations. But the initiative quickly went viral, spreading via word of mouth and taking on a life of its own.

We were thrilled when a reporter from Fast Company reached out for an interview. Then the following morning, we woke up to the unreal discovery our project was the #1 trending story on Apple News.

It rocketed to the top of Reddit with 2500 upvotes in under 2 hours.

The images and instructional guide were shared around the globe with a total reach of 29,546,893.

We were even contacted by an NGO that is now using the technique we developed to circulate their own messages within Russia.

The initiative helped circumvent Russian propaganda and protest Putin’s war.
And demonstrated that even regular people with limited resources can make an impact with a bit of creativity.