When Russia invaded Ukraine last week, some of the youngest social media users experienced the conflict from the front lines on TikTok. Videos of people huddled and crying in windowless bomb shelters, explosions through urban areas, and rockets scattered across Ukrainian cities have taken over from fashion and fitness videos. and the usual dance.
Ukrainian social media influencers have posted bleak scenes of themselves wrapped in blankets in underground bunkers and army tanks rolling through residential streets, flanked by pictures of blooming flowers and Friends laugh at restaurants to honor more peaceful memories of their homeland.
They urge their followers to pray for Ukraine, donate in support of the Ukrainian military, and ask Russian users in particular to join anti-war efforts.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which it calls “a special campaign,” is the latest example of TikTok’s central role in bringing news and current events to a large Gen. Z of the application. Its famous algorithm is known for serving trending content even when users don’t follow certain people, allowing topics to quickly go viral among its 1 billion monthly users.
The TikTok app has become so influential in this conflict that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called out “TikTokers” as a group that can help end the war, in a speech aimed at Russian citizens. Some TikTokers have picked up where the politician has stopped.
A Ukrainian travel blogger named Alina Volik, who has more than 36,000 followers on TikTok, has paused posting highlights of her trips to Egypt, Spain and Turkey, to upload videos of life during the invasion, of emergency backpacks filled with first aid supplies and windows sealed to protect from shards of glass during an explosion. In a TikTok video posted on Monday, Volik also urged her international followers to check out her Instagram Stories to “see the truth” about Ukraine.
In an email to Reuters, Volik said she wanted to combat misinformation in the Russian press that the country’s actions were a “military operation” rather than a war that is hurting. Ukrainian people.
On the TikTok page of top influencers in Ukraine can be seen images of residential buildings destroyed by rockets, empty grocery shelves and long lines of cars piled up outside gas stations. .
“@zaluznik”, who has 2 million followers, posted one such montage on Sunday with the caption “Russians open your eyes!”
Russian influencers have also used the app to share their reactions. Niki Proshin, who has more than 763,000 TikTok followers, said in a video on Thursday that “ordinary people” in Russia do not support war.
“None of my friends and none of the people I speak to personally support today’s events,” he said, referring to the invasion of Ukraine.
On Monday, Russia’s media regulator Roskomnadzor asked the app to stop including military-related content in posts suggested to minors, saying much of the content was anti-social. Russia. TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Online disinformation researchers warn that disinformation about the conflict has now been mixed with factual information and has spread widely on TikTok and other tech platforms including Facebook. of Meta Platforms, Alphabet Inc’s Twitter and YouTube.
Footage of the military simulation video game Arma 3, explosion images from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Gaza Strip, old footage of heavy gunfire, and animations of planes in flight have been divided. shared on social media sites as if they were depicting Russia’s last week’s invasion of Ukraine.
A TikTok spokesperson said: “We continue to monitor the situation closely, with increased resources to respond to emerging trends and remove offending content, including harmful misinformation. and encourage violence,” a TikTok spokesperson said, adding that it works with fact-checking organizations.
Several Ukrainian TikTok users have been on a mission to share information and spread awareness with Western audiences.
“I want people to understand this is not a joke, this is a serious situation that Ukrainians face,” 20-year-old Marta Vasyuta said in an interview on Monday.
One of Vasyuta’s TikTok videos shows what appears to be a rocket in the sky with the caption “Kyiv 4:23 am.” It had more than 131,000 comments on Monday as users flooded the video to pray and express skepticism.
“Never thought I would get WAR updates on TIKTOK,” commented one user.
