Shortly after the war started, Ukraine's Minister of Digital Transformation and Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, a former founder of an Internet company born in the 1990s, posted on Twitter: Requesting Tesla CEO Musk to provide Ukraine with Starlink (Starlink) base station. Two days later, Starlink Service was launched in Ukraine, and multiple areas where communications and the Internet were interrupted due to attacks were reconnected. Fedorov solved the problem with just one tweet, and received a personal reply from Musk, which became a landmark moment in the current contemporary battlefield with a dual front between virtual and reality. The youngest minister in Ukraine's history is erecting a solid line of defense for Ukraine using cyber technology and social media. The
Starlink service is now in use in Ukraine. More terminals are on the way.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 26, 2022
Ukraine's Minister of Digital Transformation and Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov is only 31 years old. (Photo/Twitter/@FedorovMykhailo)
From a science and technology enterprise to combat the "frontline"
0Fedorov, a computer science major, grew up in a small town called Vasilyevka in southern Ukraine. Before entering politics, he founded SMMSTUDIO, an Internet science and technology enterprise engaged in digital marketing, dedicated to helping all kinds of enterprises, especially young entrepreneurs, design advertisements and attract traffic on Facebook and Instagram. It was also during this job that he worked with Zelensky in 2018, and after the latter began his presidential campaign, he served as the head of his "digital campaign", successfully using social media to create the image of Zelensky as a "young changemaker".
After Zelensky was elected in 2019, Fedorov became the youngest minister in Ukraine at the age of only 28, leading the Ministry of Digital Transformation. Before the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the ministry's most prominent project was an app called Diia as part of the vision of "the country in smartphones". Through this application, people can pay fines for traffic violations, water and electricity and other living bills, and can also be used as electronic passports or driver's licenses. The current usage rate has exceeded one-quarter of the national population.
2018 Fedorov (second from right) attended a business meeting in Ukraine. (Facebook)
This APP took only four months from its launch to its official operation, and Fedorov hopes that by 2024, the public services of the Ukrainian government can be 100% online. But under the interference of war, this goal may be temporarily delayed. Diia has also been redesigned in response to the needs of the war - it allows users to quickly donate to the Ukrainian army, upload photos and images to inform the Russian army of movement, and can also watch 24-hour online TV reports of the Russian-Ukrainian war through the program, and also provide children's video channels to help families trapped in order to avoid air strikes.
"Openly humiliation" technology giant
Since February 24, Fedorov has immediately put pressure on Western technology companies at all means and means, trying to cut off relations with Russia in various channels, including Apple and offline sales of PlayStation, Netflix, Google , Western Union (Western Union) and PayPal. Although Western countries' sanctions against Russia are likely to play a decisive role, Fedorovmin's contribution to science and technology enterprises cannot be ignored.
He wrote to Apple , Google and Netflix, asking them to restrict services in Russia. Less than a week later, Apple stopped selling new iPhone and other products in Russia. He posted all letters to Apple, Google, and Netlix on social media, and what he himself called "public humiliation" seemed to be effective - after the war began, his "boss" Zelensky has been implementing this strategy.
March 16, Ukrainian President Zelensky stood up and applauded before his video speech in the US Congress in Washington.(AP)
He also spoke with Karan Bhatia, Google's vice president of government affairs and public policy. After that, Google adjusted its services in Russia, including restricting some functions of Google Maps, suspending product sales, and banning content access to Russian official media on Youtube. In addition, he also kept in text messages with Musk, who sent Starlink service, and communicated with Nick Clegg, vice president of global affairs at Meta (i.e. Facebook).
Fedorov said in an interview that he hopes to limit the lives of Russian people and create inconveniences by implementing a "digital blockade" on Russia.
Fedorov publicly put pressure on Apple CEO Cook on Twitter:
I’ve contacted @tim_cook, Apple's CEO, to block the Apple Store for citizens of the Russian Federation, and to support the package of US government sanctions! If you agree to have the president-killer, then you will have to be satisfied with the only available site Russia 24. pic.twitter.com/b5dm78g2vS
— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) February 25, 2022
Formulate IT Volunteer Army
But this "digital military advisor" has made more achievements than that. Shortly after the war began, the Ukrainian technical department received a large number of requests. Deputy Minister of the department, Alexander Bornyakov, said that people took the initiative to ask: "How can we help you fight Russian aggression?"
But because of too much information, the government has a lot to do and has no time to manage them. Fedorov then came up with a plan and decided to open a Telegram channel: "We need to guide them directly... Let us invite them and give them tasks to perform." This is the "IT Volunteer Army" composed of developers, marketers, security experts at home and abroad, etc. with more than 300,000 members. The channel is continuously provided by the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation to provide the IP addresses of Russian companies and websites, pro-Russian social media accounts that spread false information, etc., and members launch an autonomous attack.
If the Diia application cannot yet highlight the Internet thinking in Fedorov's strategic deployment, then forming the "IT Volunteer Legion" is undoubtedly the best embodiment of the decentralized and crowdsourcing model . Among the 300,000 Internet army, there are teenagers who are proficient in computers from Switzerland , including ordinary former teachers from New York, and IT experts from Lithuanian .
Enrique from Lithuania told the reporter of " Guardian ": "In my life, I have never seen so many people want to do one thing." He said: The immediacy of social media, especially the pleasure of seeing instant results, is exciting. "Everything happens in real time, everything is spreading to everyone in real time." NetBlocks, a company that monitors global Internet connections, said that the hacker army has successfully destroyed Russian network services. Since the war began, the websites of Kremlin and Duma (Russian House of Commons) have been intermittent. State-owned media services, several banks and the website of energy giant Gazprom have also become targets.
31-year-old Fedorov quickly changed from a young technocrat to a commander on the digital battlefield. The young thinking and technical means that once existed only in science and technology enterprises were seamlessly grafted into the wartime command room, achieving unexpected results. Regardless of the final situation, Fedorov and the "hoodie Legion" he led have left groundbreaking experience in modern digital warfare.
Source: 01.com Lin**
