On March 11, a Georgian-language Facebook troll account published a video in which the priest burns incense and dances. According to the description of the video, it takes place in a Ukrainian church “freed from Russian influence.”
The video is being distributed with a false description. In fact, the person depicted in the video is an Italian priest who actively posts religious videos on TikTok and other social media platforms.
The viral video actually depicts an Italian priest Don Roberto Fiscer, who published this video on his Tik-Tok account on August 13, 2021. The video has more than 6.8 million views.
Roberto Fiscer actively publishes entertaining content videos on religious topics on TikTok. In the Italian media, Fiscer is called “the most famous Tik-Tok priest”, before he was ordained as a priest he was a professional DJ (1,2). According to Fischer, his goal is to talk about Christianity and positive topics with the young audience.
Don Roberto Fiscer: “In the beginning, I asked myself if it was worth using social media: what will happen if children come across negative content? But in reality, we still see it, so I thought I would sow some positivity. I would love to see a network of Christian content creators spreading positive messages and bringing people closer to their faith.”
Various videos of performances held in churches, which were manipulatively linked to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, were actively circulated in the past as well. The posts were published in parallel with measures taken by the Ukrainian government to reduce Russian influence in the church, and were aimed at spreading the propaganda narrative that Ukrainian Orthodox churches were being “seized” by the Zelenskyy regime. In addition, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate was presented as the canonical church, and the independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine was presented as a heretic. For more information, see the “Myth Detector” articles:
- VIDEOMANIPULATION ABOUT THE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF UKRAINE
- BACKSTORY AND ORIGIN OF THE VIRAL VIDEO SHOWING A THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE IN A CHURCH IN UKRAINE
- VIDEOMANIPULATION, AS IF AN ORTHODOX CHURCH WAS BURNED IN UKRAINE
- DOES THE UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT FIGHT AGAINST ORTHODOXY OR THE INFLUENCE OF RUSSIA?
About the Source
Daat Tsabadze is a pro-Russian troll who has been active on social media since 2019. It participated in the discrediting campaign of the anti-occupation protest. In February 2021, after the arrest of Nika Melia, he criticized American democracy. False information disseminated by the user has been verified by “Myth Detector” in the past as well.
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