Google says it has worked hard to disrupt the ability of Vladimir Putin’s government to use its services to spread disinformation since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. But a widely used Android service called Discover continues to serve up misleading propaganda to Russian audiences.

Discover appears as a feed of content within the Chrome browser on Android devices. Horoscopes can be mixed in with video game reviews and news articles, all rendered similarly, featuring a big picture and, in tiny print, a source. Many of the sites that surface here, though, have an agenda beyond banal distraction. On Oct. 6 a link about a “quiet, big victory” for the Russian air force that featured a picture of Sukhoi fighters flying in formation over the Kremlin led to the website for Tsargrad TV, an outlet notorious for its far-right content. Once there, readers would find crude lies and disinformation, including an article blaming Ukraine for the recent Russian strike that killed 52 civilians in the Kharkiv region and another claiming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is recruiting fighters from Islamic State.

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Pro-Putin Propaganda Flows Onto Android via Google Loophole