South Front

South Front
Analytical project
Founded Fall 2014
Website Official website
YouTube stream

SouthFront: Analysis & Intelligence is a public non-profit analytical project with a news website launched in the summer of 2015.[1][2] It is maintained by an independent team of volunteers and experts from 13 countries.[3] The project provides analysis of battles in conflicts, evaluation of the major world power militaries, and study of tensions between countries and nations.[1] Their focus is on international relations along with crises and use a number of media platforms with an emphasis on social networks.[1]

History

South Front was originally launched in late 2014 while the news website was added in June 2015. Reasons for the creation of the project were to "dig out the truth on issues which are barely covered by states and the mainstream media."[1]

The stated goals of the organization are:[1]

1. Highlighting alternative points of view
2. Providing independent analysis & intelligence of international events
3. Breaking through the information blockade and media bias
4. Promoting human justice and peaceful dialogue between the warring nations
5. Preventing the escalation of conflicts that can lead to wars with the threat of the use of nuclear weapons
6. Reducing the flow of media disinformation
7. Building a community of constructive and progressive authors freely sharing their views and analysis with people all over the world

South Front uses a combination of different content including text analysis, motion-designs and maps. The largest categories are: Military analysis (articles and videos), International Military Review and Foreign Policy Diary.[4][5][6] Besides English, the website also has versions in German, French, and Arabic, while the Czech one is being made.[7]

On 24 April 2015, South Front had its original YouTube account with millions of views deleted by a copyright claim from Nordic Films LTD over a critical montage of their "Stand with Ukraine" video.[8] The video was deleted after the first strike, but several months later received an additional strike despite already being deleted. South Front launched an appeal that encouraged viewers to message YouTube over this violation of guidelines, however the channel remained deleted.[8] South Front's Facebook page was also suspended without warning around that time.[3] The main website has been subjected to cyber-attacks in the past.[3]

According to South Front, in 2015 they faced hostile actions by the Atlantic Council and a few European organizations linked to NATO.[3]

On 15 April 2016, South Front was notified by PayPal that unless they provided more data, the project's account would be suspended on 15 May 2016.[9] Despite being in contact with them, PayPal had not replied for days, until the suspension was nearing.[10] By 19 May 2016, PayPal blocked South Front's account, complicating the process of donations.[11] Following two months of uncertainty with 34 days of the account being restricted and 15 days being blocked, PayPal restored South Front's account on 6 June 2016.[12] The reason was because of South Front's 20 different appeals, and the readers' 100+ appeals on returning the account.[12]

Funding

The objective of the project is to be an independent news source without any government or corporate support. South Front is supported by crowdfunding and individual donations.[13][14]

Reception

Springer Link criticized South Front for not publishing content critical of the Russian government.[15] They even stated that "[it] portrays itself as being a crowdsourced project, but it looks more like a professional info-war project run or backed by the Russian military."[16] South Front also published conspiracy theories without vetting, such as when they publish Alex Jones articles on Hillary Clinton.[17]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "About South Front". South Front. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  2. ↑ "PayPal threatens to block SouthFront's acc in 3 days". South Front. 12 May 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Open letter on the situation with SouthFront's PayPal account". South Front. 12 May 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  4. ↑ "Military Analysis". South Front. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  5. ↑ "Military Report". South Front. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  6. ↑ "Foreign Policy Diary". South Front. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  7. ↑ "Important: SouthFront launching German, French, Arab websites and new video product". South Front. 8 February 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  8. 1 2 "South Front vs. Youtube". Fort Russ. 24 April 2015. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  9. ↑ "Important: South Front faces a stiff pressure from ill-wishers". South Front. 10 May 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  10. ↑ "PayPal's unlawful actions against South Front". South Front. 13 May 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  11. ↑ "Attention: PayPal blocked SouthFront's account". South Front. 19 May 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  12. 1 2 "Breaking: PayPal restored SouthFront's account". South Front. 6 June 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  13. ↑ "Donate". South Front. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  14. ↑ "SouthFront is launching crowdfunding campaign on Patreon". South Front. 22 January 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  15. ↑ Jessikka Aro (24 May 2016). "An allegedly citizen-sourced project that looks more like a suspicious information operation". Springer Link. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  16. ↑ "Revealed! SouthFront is run by 'the Russian military'". South Front. 24 May 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  17. ↑ https://southfront.org/fbi-reopened-hillary-clinton-investigation-devastating-new-info-causing-internal-struggle-at-fbi/
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