Texty.org targeted in smear campaign after investigating Telegram misinformation on missile strikes

Online media outlet Texty.otg.ua has been targeted in a Telegram smear campaign following the May 22 release of an investigation into Telegram channels posting manipulative messages about missile strikes, titled “Missile strikes as oppotrunity for money-making. Telegram channels' dirty tricks to attract bigger audiences”.

The Telegram channel Trukha.Ukraine made three discrediting posts targeting Texty.otg.ua and their team.

In a May 23 post, Trukha calls Texty and Detector Media (which quoted the Texty study on their website, – Ed.) "grant-leeches" and alleges that these media outlets have been helping neither civilians nor the military since the start of the full-scale invasion, instead asking their readers to support their work.

“They release an 'investigation' into the earnings of Trukha – one of the country’s biggest Telegram channels which has donated over 71 million hryvnias since the start of the full-scale invasion,” the channel's administrators write.

In a May 27 post, the Telegram channel alleged that Texty.otg.ua had disgraced Ukrainian journalism by releasing the study “Roller Coaster: From Trumpists to Communists. The forces in the U.S. impeding aid to Ukraine and how they do it”, which was published in June 2024. Trukha.Ukraine writes that the article, which analyzed speeches by US officials, activists, and journalists parroting Russian narratives, sparked a wave of criticism from respected US politicians.

The post lists Senator J.D. Vance, businessman Elon Musk, and US Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Green as such figures.

“The US Congress also introduced a draft resolution to end state funding for Texty. So you realize the value of these 'investigations' and the scale of the disgrace that Texty brought on our country,” Trukha writes.

However, the Telegram channel does not specify what exactly is so disgraceful about the Texty investigations.

In another post dating May 28, the channel's administrators tagged the pages of Texty chief editor Roman Kulchinskyi and his friends, inviting them to send them a private message. The Telegram channel added that the media outlet had “dragged our country into a global-level scandal, disgracing Ukrainian journalists with one 'investigation.'" However, the post does not mention any consequences of the investigation which they claim led to Ukrainian journalists being disgraced.

In turn, chief editor Roman Kulchynskyi told the Institute of Mass Information representative Valentyna Troyan that the smear attack on the media outlet began after the release of the article "Missile strikes as oppotrunity for money-making. Telegram channels' dirty tricks to attract bigger audiences" on May 22, 2025. The media outlet investigated how Telegram channels attract subscribers through manipulative posts about missile strikes.

“Now they remembered a study that was released a year ago for some reason and are using it as an excuse to discredit us. But it is interesting to see what they themselves have written about the officials mentioned in that article,” Roman Kulchinskyi said, attaching a screenshot with Trukha.Ukraine's statements referring to the US politicians in question.

As follows from the screenshot, Marjorie Taylor Green and JD Vance are mentioned as Trumpists who:

• call Ukrainians “humanitarian meat”;
• demand that no financial assistance be given to Ukraine;
• peddle narratives about “Ukraine conceding territories for peace”;
• block US budgets allocated to support Kyiv.

Roman Kulchinskyi said that he does not follow Trukha's logic in this situation: “Repeating the things that Vance and Musk have once said about Texty.org.ua looks strange, especially after Vance attacked Zelenskyi in the Oval Office, and Musk has been habitually degrading the 10th president of Ukraine on social media.”

He also said that a few months ago, when USAID freezed funding the projects in Ukraine, Facebook bots levelled similar accusations against Texty.org.ua.

“The 'Roller Coaster' project is balanced and meets all possible journalistic standards, and it shows the people in the US who consciously or unconsciously parrot Russian narratives. Reporting on such a network only benefits our country,” Roman Kulchinskyi stressed.