Oksana Moroz - attack 07.02.2025

On February 7, 2025, a post appeared on the Telegram channel Shaposhnikov news targeting media researcher, information hygiene expert, and author of the book How Not to Become a Vegetable, Oksana Moroz. The post refers to an opinion column written by Oksana Moroz and published in Forbes.

“Forbes Ukraine published a slimy article titled ‘The Grants Ukrainians Never Saw. USAID, other donor organizations, and the civil society sector failed to effectively communicate the scale of their work and impact on Ukraine’s development, which created a distorted public perception of grant support.’ They put the word ‘grant-eaters’ in the headline along with a photo of the communist Oksana Moroz. This is the same Moroz who poured poison on Ukrainians who criticized COVID measures and spoke about crimes committed by the TCC. In the article, Moroz cries that Ukrainians ‘did not understand her good intentions.’”

This is not the first post about Oksana Moroz on this Telegram channel. For example, in March 2025, another post called her “crazy” and stated that she “lost her grants but is being fed by Soros.” Overall, a keyword search within the channel yields eight results mentioning the media expert by name, most of them framed in the same manner as the example above. These posts repeatedly emphasize claims that Oksana Moroz is “funded by Soros’s Renaissance Foundation,” “lost her grants” after the closure of USAID, and similar narratives.

This post demonstrates forms of technology-facilitated gender-based violence, including online defamation and gender disinformation directed at the media researcher. The author presents derogatory and unsubstantiated claims as facts, using labels such as “grant-eater,” “communist,” and “crazy,” likely aiming to undermine her professional reputation and credibility as an expert.

There are also clear signs of gendered discreditation (TFGBV): instead of engaging with the substance of the column, the author employs emotionally degrading language as “she cries,” “slimy article” that diminishes the position of a woman expert and appeals to gender stereotypes. Hate speech and insults are also used, creating a dehumanizing image. The repeated publication of similar posts with identical accusations on the same Telegram channel indicates a systematic reputational attack, rather than an isolated instance of criticism. Collectively, this constitutes a targeted online harassment campaign with elements of technology-facilitated gender-based violence.