The Ukrainian publication Texty.org.ua reported pressure and even threats of physical violence from American politicians and officials after publishing a study about people and organizations that oppose support for Ukraine in the United States.
"We, the team of the Ukrainian data journalism agency Texty.org.ua and an independent public organization, declare the unprecedented pressure, manipulation, slander, demands to withdraw donor funding and threats of physical violence, which we faced after the publication of our study ʼAmerican Swing. From Trumpists to communists, who and how is campaigning for the end of aid to Ukraineʼ," the publication wrote.
On June 6, 2024, Texty.org.ua published a study that included an analysis of the political, media, and expert environment in the United States, which influences the decision to further support Ukraine in the Russian-Ukrainian war.
The study also contains a table — a list of organizations and people who oppose support for Ukraine in the United States. Relying on open, including official, sources, the journalists analyzed their arguments and compared them with widespread Russian narratives.
Texts also investigated how the people and organizations included in the study interact with each other in the public space and how some of them interact with the Russian media and state institutions.
"We do not call the subjects of this study enemies of Ukraine, we do not challenge and do not condemn their right to freedom of expression, we only state the fact that they oppose support for Ukraine and that the arguments presented by many of them are consistent with the narratives of Russian propaganda about Ukraine ", the publication noted
After the material was published, the director of the Ron Paul Institute Daniel McAdams first published a post on the X social network, then an article on the Instituteʼs website, in which he stated that the publication Texty.org.ua, funded by the American government, had created a hate list of American citizens. As proof that the US government finances the publication, McAdams mentioned in his article that one of the co-founders of Texty.org.ua was trained as part of the US governmentʼs TechCAMP project.
For its part, Texty.org.ua claims that in fact the journalist Anatoly Bondarenko, whom McAdams was referring to, voluntarily acted as a data journalism trainer in this project in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
On the same day, other conservative publications, far-right and left-wing American activists began to spread the manipulative information published on the website of the Ron Paul Institute in the X social network, attacking the editors of Texty.org.ua and the authors of the study personally and even expressing threats.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green joined the attacks on the publication on June 11, calling the publication Texty.org.ua an "enemy list" and saying that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was behind it.
On June 12, FOX news reported that Senator JD Vance and US House of Representatives member Matt Gaetz called on US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to send them information about the Ukrainian NGO Texty.org.ua by June 28. The authors of the letter also appealed to the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives with a request to stop the support of Texty.org.ua by the United States. On Tuesday, the committee adopted such a resolution.
On June 13, the American billionaire Elon Musk, whom Texty.org.ua also mentioned in the study, responded to the Republican congressmanʼs call to deprive the publication of any donor support. Elon Musk said that Texty.org.ua should be included in the list of sanctioned terrorist organizations.
"We regard this campaign as pressure on freedom of speech and manifestations of chauvinism towards the citizens of Ukraine. After all, our haters believe that we have no right to investigate the streams of false information that they produce about our country and us, because they are US citizens, and we are not," said Texty.org.ua.