Tech firms remove social media accounts of a Russian drone factory after an AP investigation

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Google, Meta and TikTok have removed the social media accounts of an industrial plant in Russia’s Tatarstan region aiming to recruit young foreign women to build drones for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

The posts on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok were removed after an Associated Press investigation published on October 10, which detailed working conditions at the drone factory in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone, which is subject to US and British sanctions.

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Videos and other posts on social media platforms promised young women, mostly from Africa, a free plane ticket to Russia and a salary of more than $500 a month after they were recruited through a program called “Alabuga Start.”

But instead of a work-study program in fields such as hospitality and catering, some said they learned once they arrived in the Tatarstan region that they would work in a factory making weapons of war, assembling thousands of Iranian-designed attack drones to fly them. It will be launched in Ukraine.

In interviews with the AP, some women who worked at the complex complained of long hours under constant surveillance, broken promises about pay and areas of study, and working with caustic chemicals that left their skin itchy. The Associated Press did not identify them by name or nationality out of fear for their safety.

The tech companies also removed the accounts of Alabuga Polytechnic, a vocational boarding school for Russians aged 16-18 and Central Asians aged 18-22 whose graduates are considered experts in drone production.

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The accounts combined had at least 158,344 followers while one TikTok page had more than a million likes.

In a statement, YouTube said its parent company Google is committed to sanctions and trade compliance, and “after review and compliance with our policies, we have terminated channels associated with the Alabuga Special Economic Zone.”

Meta said it removed accounts on Facebook and Instagram that “violate our policies.” The company said it is committed to complying with sanctions laws and said it recognizes that human exploitation is a serious problem that requires a multi-faceted approach, including in Meta.

It said it has teams dedicated to anti-human trafficking efforts and aims to remove those who seek to abuse its platforms.

TikTok said it removed videos and accounts that violated its community guidelines, which state that it does not allow content that is used to recruit, coordinate the transfer, or exploit victims using force, fraud, coercion or deception.

Women between the ages of 18 and 22 were recruited to fill Russia’s urgent wartime labor shortage. They are from places like Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, South Sudan, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, as well as the South Asian country of Sri Lanka. The drive is also expanding elsewhere in Asia as well as Latin America.

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Alabuga accounts with tens of thousands of followers are still available on Telegram, which did not respond to a request for comment. The factory management also did not respond to the Associated Press.

The Alabuga Start recruitment campaign used an aggressive social media campaign that included slickly edited videos with upbeat music showing African women smiling while mopping floors, wearing hard hats while directing cranes, and wearing protective gear to apply paint or chemicals.

The videos also showed them enjoying cultural sites in Tatarstan or exercising. None of the videos indicated that the women would be working in a drone manufacturing complex.

Online, Alabuga has encouraged visits to the industrial park by foreign dignitaries, including some from Brazil, Sri Lanka and Burkina Faso.

In a since-deleted Instagram post, a Turkish diplomat who visited the factory compared Alabuga Polytechnic to colleges in Turkey, saying it was “more advanced and high-tech.”

According to Russian investigative outlets Protokol and Razvorot, some of the pupils at Alabuga Polytechnic are as young as 15 and have complained of poor working conditions.

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Previous videos on the platforms showed vocational school students practicing team-building exercises such as “national military” paintball matches and reenacting historical Soviet battles while wearing camouflage clothing.

Last month, Alabuga Start said on Telegram that its “audience has increased significantly!”

This may be because it employed influencers, promoting the site on TikTok and Instagram as an easy way for young women to earn money after leaving school.

TikTok removed two videos promoting Alabuga after the AP investigation was published.

About 90% of the women recruited through the Alabuga Start program work in drone manufacturing, experts told the AP.

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Find more AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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