Are you interested in what Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs has to say, but can’t stand press releases and other stuffy, outdated methods of information delivery?
Good news, modern citizen: John Baird and his staff are creating BuzzFeed lists.
The foreign affairs minister tweeted a “listicle” Monday titled “11 Myths Putin Is Spreading About The Crisis In Ukraine.” The author of the post is “DFATD Canada,” which, according to the user description, is “the official BuzzFeed account for Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development.”
Though there are no animated GIF images to aid in the debunking of myths like “Crimea voted to join Russia,” there is a bit of Internet-generation sass. Putin’s claim that “Sanctions against Russia are not working” is accompanied by a picture of the “Reality Check Times” newspaper featuring the Russian president’s face on the front page.
This dig at the Kremlin wasn’t the department’s first attempt at foreign-policy-made-fun. In November, they published the “12 Ways Iran Is At War Over The Internet,” an exploration of how the country wants to “go full North Korea” by blocking social media sites and more.
Though these lists seem to be government sanctioned, BuzzFeed doesn’t appear to have anything to do with the content of the posts.
“This post was created by a user and has not been vetted or endorsed by BuzzFeed's editorial staff,” reads a disclaimer above and below the lists.
The disclaimer also says the articles aren’t paid advertisements, but rather lists that “anyone can post.”
