Mark Zuckerberg, ceo Facebook
Ukraine, the war fought not on but by social media
The one in Ukraine is destined to be not only the first war documented in real time on social media, but also the first fought by social media. The first shot fired him Twitter on the evening of March 10when has deleted a post from the Russian embassy in London who supported the thesis according to which the bombing of a hospital in Mariupol by the Moscow forces was a hoax.
After 24 hours of media, influencers and various Russian content (and fake news) creators found each other cut off from virtually any Western social network. But those undertaken by Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram are not just ‘passive’ actions. Meta – which owns Facebook and Instagram as well as the WhatsApp messaging app – decided with an unprecedented move of loosen the brakes on ‘hate posts’ against Russian forces engaged in Ukraine.
A “temporary” measure and due to extraordinary circumstances “, explained Meta’s president for global affairs, Nick Clegg, but significant for a company that for having closed its eyes too many times in front of hate speech on its platforms has even come under accusation in front of Congress.
Moscow reacted by limiting access to Instagram, accusing the platform of spreading appeals to violence and announced the initiation of legal action against to classify Meta as an “extremist” organization. Then came the turn of YouTube blocking state-funded Russian media channels globally because the company’s policy is to “ban content that denies or trivializes events of well-documented violence”.
In her 2003 essay “In front of the pain of others”, the American philosopher Susan Sontag pointed to the Spanish civil war as the origin of photojournalism and that of Vietnam as the first to be broadcast daily on television. Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, social networks have been inundated with videos from both sides. Mobile phones in hand, soldiers and civilians are documenting the war in real time. Social media has become part of the battlefield. And, at the moment, Kiev is winning.
France 24 cited a few, such as 20-year-old Ukrainian photographer Valeria Shashenok – famous for her travel videos, fashion shoots or evenings with friends on her TikTok account – now tells her daily life under the bombing in the city of Chernihiv, about 100 kilometers north of Kiev. With a dash of black humor he describes “a normal day in a bomb shelter” or offers advice on “what to buy in a supermarket in wartime” to his 300,000 followers.
Ukrainian soldiers also use Instagram, TikTok and Twitter to tell their stories from the battlefield. With 4.3 million followers, Alex Hook is the best known. Dal Donbas regularly publishes videos of himself and his fellow soldiers dancing to Nirvana songs or preparing for battle. The Ukrainian military also has its own Twitter account which provides hourly war updates to over 350,000 followers. The country’s armed forces show images of fighting, but also of Russian soldiers being taken prisoner, which is prohibited by the Geneva Conventions. The use of social networks in war is not new.
During the Arab Spring, the parties used them to organize demonstrations and influence public opinion. The difference today lies in a new kind of storytelling. As more and more people carry cell phones and regularly document their days on various social media platforms, war has become a topic like any other. Some Ukrainian influencers – once more known for beauty tutorials than their political stances – have turned into resistance fighters, version 2.0.
Ukraine, the White House courts TikTok influencers
The White House courts TikTok influencers, seeing them as a weapon in the battle to support Ukraine and to inform the public. In a meeting on Zoom, the White House summoned 30 of them – all TikTok stars with significant appearances on other social networks – and told them about the situation in Ukraine but also how the United States sees the conflict. Some officials of the National Security Council and White House spokesperson Jen Psaki informed the social stars.