Debunking fakes. No, Starlink didn’t connect Ukraine to “free internet” 

Some Telegram channels produce lots of clickbaits while chasing views and subscribers. For instance, recently, the information about Starlink company “connecting” Ukraine to free internet spread online. 

What happened? 

Users put up a request to our fact-checking bot, Perevirka, asking us to check if Starlink company really connected Ukraine to the “free” internet. The post a requester received this information from several Telegram channels like Vkliuchatel Dnepr (“Включатель Днепр⚡️,” archive), Where is it flying | Alert (“Куди летить? | Тривога” (archive), Ukraine informs (“Інформує Україна”, we cannot provide the link to the channel because it’s private.) 

The post says, “There is no connection without electricity, which is why STARLINK connects Ukraine to FREE internet. —  DTEK.” DTEK is Ukraine’s largest private energy company. 

Analysis 

Telegram channel posts say that, because of the electricity being cut off, DTEK reportedly has made a decision, after which “all Ukrainians can join the free connection and (Elon Musk’s) Starlink internet.” 

We didn’t find any news or other texts mentioning this decision, either on DTEK’s website or on the Starlink website. In the post, there is information about the date and even time when this decision was supposedly made. We couldn’t find anything resembling this information on official resources. 

Also, the information in Telegram channels isn’t accurate. To connect to a “free Starlink internet,” the authors offer the reader to choose a mobile network operator they have, but Starlink connection isn’t dependent on mobile operators. It’s a satellite network, and to connect to it, users have to leave an application on the official Starlink website, buy equipment, and install the Starlink app on their mobile. 

If a user picks an operator and presses the button they choose, they get redirected to a private Telegram channel that, at the time of writing this text, has only 134 subscribers. 

So, we’re dealing with manipulation that’s made to trigger emotions and engage more people to do a target action—clickbait. This one utilizes Ukrainians’ anxiety about blackouts, which are the consequences of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure that led, among other things, to the destruction of all thermal power plants in the country and damaged almost all objects of Kharkiv region’s energy infrastructure. 

Conclusion: Fake, clickbait 

Author: Vasylyna Haviak