the Russian invasion of Ukraine is described as “the first war TikTok“, With social media used by the president Green and ordinary Ukrainians to expose the brutality of the conflict – but also by pro-Kremlin propagandists to spread misinformation.
The Chinese-dominated application, dominated by dance and lip sync videos, has proven particularly suitable for conflict resolution, with its simple editing software that allows users to share footage within seconds of being captured – before being shown to millions of young users through its powerful algorithm.
Ukrainians like 20-year-old Marta Vasyuta, who is filming the aftermath of the bombing, have amassed a huge audience. Another user, @valerisssh, posted a video that resembles TikTok’s popular template, where people point out the stylish features of their home, but instead show viewers around its “bomb shelter.”
President Zelensky makes significant use of social media videos to broadcast to the outside world – often as he walks the streets of Kyiv. In a recent video on February 26, he revealed “false information” that he was telling the army to lay down his arms while taking pictures next to his office last week to counter Russian allegations that he had fled.
Although these videos are usually posted on Twitter, they are shared by TikTok users and continue to spread quickly across the platform.
TikTok user from Chernihiv leads followers on a tour of a bomb site as an example of how young Ukrainians use the platform to spread news about the war
The user says she wanted to show what Russian forces did to her city while she slept in a bomb shelter
War in Ukraine: the latest
- Peace talks between the two countries resumed today, with negotiators meeting at the border with Belarus
- Vladimir Putin called Emmanuel Macron to tell him that he did not intend to cancel the invasion, would continue until the “end” and could increase his demands despite the losses
- Russian forces take over the Black Sea port of Kherson in southern Ukraine, the first major city to fall
- The invasion has so far been poorly managed, “a catastrophe, through and through”, say US defense experts
- The second city in Ukraine, Kharkiv, continues to be the target of heavy Russian shelling
- A convoy of Russian vehicles north of Kyiv has stalled due to fuel and food shortages and Ukrainian resistance
- More than a million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion
- Moscow acknowledges that 498 soldiers have died in Ukraine, which is considered an underestimated but still record total for post-Soviet Russia
- ICC chief prosecutor says active investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine “will continue immediately”
- A Bangladeshi sailor was killed in an attack on his ship, moored in the Black Sea port of Olbia
- Russia has announced the possibility of a ceasefire with talks with Ukraine scheduled for Thursday
- Russia tells citizens in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Mariupol to leave, raising fears that bombing will intensify
- The UN General Assembly has demanded that Russia withdraw “immediately”. Moscow has won support from only four countries: Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea and Syria
- Swedish armed forces say four Russian fighter jets have entered its airspace in the Baltic Sea
- US launches KleptoCapture to seize yachts, private jets and homes of Russian oligarchs
- Russian Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich confirms he is selling the Premier League club
- Ukraine invites the mothers of captured Russian troops to come and pick up their sons
- Closed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny calls on Russians to protest daily against invasion
- The United States is following the EU in targeting sanctions against Russia’s ally Belarus in support of the invasion
TikTok has 1 billion users worldwide who open the app about 17 times a day, and videos with the hashtag #ukraine have been viewed more than 20.5 billion times.
Darren Davidson, editor-in-chief of the online video service Storyful, said that despite the large amount of misinformation circulating on TikTok, the platform proved invaluable in covering the war.
“This is the first conflict to take place in TikTok,” he said The times.
Once the video is published, it is promoted by TikTok’s powerful algorithm, which aims to match specific content to users’ individual preferences, even if they are not actually following the person who posted it.
“The content that is widespread in TikTok is often related to the personal tastes of consumers, as well as current events that are considered relevant and timely,” said D. Bondi Valdovinos Kay, a professor at Queensland University of Technology.
The application became so influential in this conflict that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky turned to TikTokers as a group that could help end the war in a speech to Russian citizens. Some TikTokers continued where the politician had stopped.
A Ukrainian travel blogger named Alina Volik, who has more than 36,000 followers on TikTok, took a break from posting highlights from her travels to Egypt, Spain and Turkey to upload videos of life during the invasion, emergency backpacks , filled with first aid supplies and sealed windows to protect against pieces of glass in the event of an explosion.
In videos published by TikTok on Monday, Volik also called on his international followers to watch her Instagram Stories to “see the truth” about Ukraine.
Volik said he wanted to fight disinformation in Russian news that the country’s actions were a “military operation” rather than a war that hurt Ukrainians.
The installation of residential buildings destroyed by rockets, empty shelves of grocery stores and long queues of cars piled up in front of gas stations can be seen on the pages of TikTok of leading Ukrainian influencers.
“@Zaluznik”, which has 2 million followers, published one such montage on Sunday with the caption “Russians open your eyes!”
Russian influential people have also visited the app to share their reaction. Niki Proshin, who has more than 763,000 TikTok followers, said in a video Thursday that “normal people” in Russia do not support the war.
“None of my friends and none of the people I speak to personally supported today’s events,” he said, referring to the invasion of Ukraine.
Russian TikTok user speaks out against Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, saying war “not the solution”
The Kremlin is aware of the power of TikTok, and Russia’s communications regulator Roskomnadzor has called for the application to stop including military content in recommended publications for minors, saying much of the content is anti-Russian.
Footage that has become widespread in recent days includes interviews with weeping Russian prisoners of war, who have apparently given up their support for Putin and said they have been used as “cannon fodder” by commanders.
When Russia invaded Ukraine last week, some of the youngest social media users experienced the conflict on the front lines of TikTok.
Videos of people huddling and crying in windowless bomb shelters, urban explosions and rockets flying through Ukrainian cities have taken over the app from its usual offerings for fashion, fitness and dance videos.
Ukrainian influencers on social media have uploaded grim scenes to themselves, wrapped in blankets in underground bunkers and army tanks rolling through residential streets, compared to photos of blooming flowers and laughing friends in restaurants that honor calmer memories than their hometowns.
A video on Twitter shared by Kharkiv residents showing a captured Russian “joy” tank earlier this week
They called on their followers to pray for Ukraine, to donate in support of the Ukrainian military, and called in particular on Russian consumers to join the anti-war effort.
Online disinformation researchers have warned that false information about the conflict is now mixed with authentic information and spread widely on TikTok and other technology platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Footage from the video game of the military simulator Arma 3, images of explosions from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Gaza Strip, old footage of heavy gunfire and animations of flying planes were shared on social media sites, as if depicting the latest Russian invasion of Ukraine last week.
“We continue to monitor the situation closely, with increased resources, to respond to emerging trends and eliminate offensive content, including harmful misinformation and incitement to violence,” a TikTok spokesman said, adding that he was working with fact-finding organizations.
Some Ukrainian TikTok users have set themselves the task of sharing information and spreading awareness with Western audiences.
“I want people to understand that this is not a joke, this is a serious situation that Ukrainians are facing,” 20-year-old Marta Vasyuta said in an interview Monday.
One of Vasyuta’s videos on TikTok showed what looked like a rocket in the sky with the caption “Kyiv 4:23 in the morning.” As of Monday, there were more than 131,000 comments as users flooded the video to offer their prayers and express disbelief.
“I never thought I would receive TIKTOK WAR updates,” one user commented.
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.