Digital twins of the new mayor of Novosibirsk

While the press center of the Novosibirsk mayor’s office is preparing to launch a page on social networks for the new head of the regional center, the false mayor communicates with the people and gains subscribers.

After the completion of the selection procedure for the head of Novosibirsk, several channels appeared on the telegram network under the name of Mayor Maxim Kudryavtsev. The inauguration of the new head of the regional center is scheduled for Friday, April 26; by this day, the press center of the mayor’s office has already created accounts for the mayor on permitted social networks. The corresponding preparations can be found on the website of the Novosibirsk administration; the information block will probably present them immediately after the mayor’s official inauguration ceremony. In the meantime, gullible citizens, including respectable representatives of the business community, subscribe to the pseudo-Kudryavtsevs and leave detailed comments under posts on fake resources. It is noteworthy that some information portals have also become confused, calling one of the fake pages “real” and citing it as a source of information about the fake of another channel.

It’s not so easy to spot a fake. The absence of a blue checkmark to the right of the name of a telegram channel is not at all a sign of fraud: many regional media, deputies, managers, state and municipal structures and their divisions do without this indicator. For example, of the heads of the constituent entities of the Siberian Federal District, only the governor of the Altai Territory, Viktor Tomenko, received a “bird”.

Users of the fake channel might be confused by the line “for donations.” But some subscribers admit that this is just a misunderstanding and the link to where exactly to send donations remained, because the new mayor’s assistants “didn’t figure it out”, due to time pressure, “they didn’t remove the box in the settings” and it “appeared automatically.” Such an oversight is unlikely; after all, Maxim Kudryavtsev worked for many years at Rostelecom, a corporation specializing in digital services. As vice-governor, he was responsible for the digital transformation of the region, directing the work of structures that oversee the transfer to electronic format of socially significant state and municipal services. In general, theoretically, he should know a lot about such matters.

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Founder and director of the consulting company “VIP—club» Elena Potapova I left parting comments for the new mayor in a fake channel precisely because I considered him real. “There were no fears; on the contrary, we had reason to believe that this was Maxim Kudryavtsev’s personal channel. Creating an account for a new mayor is a normal occurrence; it is logical that his team is set up for feedback. But there was nothing special in my comment. Even if this resource turns out to be unofficial, it’s not scary,” Elena Potapova noted in an interview with a correspondent of Continent of Siberia.

Independent consultant, expert in the field of public relations Dmitry Petrov is skeptical about the idea that Kudryavtsev’s channels are being imitated by his well-wishers. Quite the contrary. The interlocutor of Continent of Siberia admits that the fakes are needed to discredit or undermine the authority of the head of the city. “The new mayor has not yet managed to form a bloc that will be responsible for his PR support. His team did not get involved in the work, which favors his ill-wishers. Next to the public figure there should be professionals who calculate the risks and provide resources for feedback in advance. Such stories put a representative of the government in a vulnerable position, especially if, hiding behind a name, the creators of fake channels carry out provocations, call for something, and so on,” argues Dmitry Petrov.

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It is not necessary that behind the “doubles” there are swindlers, pranksters, or “provocateurs from abroad.” This could be a project to add comedy to some of the new mayor’s actions or statements. Sometimes people are simply chasing “hype” or trying to gain more subscribers using a more or less famous name.

Fictitious pages of municipal leaders, including in telegram channels, are not a unique story. Maxim Kudryavtsev’s predecessor as mayor, communist Anatoly Lokot, acquired a personal channel only in 2022, and in 2020 a fake account appeared on Telegram, signed with his name.

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