The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been described as the ‘first war fought on TikTok’, with social media used by President Zelensky and ordinary Ukrainians to expose the brutality of the conflict – but also by pro-Kremlin propagandists to spread disinformation.
The Chinese-owned app, previously dominated by dancing and lip-syncing videos, has proven itself particularly suited to covering the conflict, with its simple editing software allowing users to share footage within seconds of it being filmed – before being shown to millions of young users via its powerful algorithm.
Ukrainians like 20-year-old Marta Vasyuta, who films the aftermath of bombings, have gone on to amass huge audiences. One other user, @valerisssh, posted a video that aped the popular TikTok template where people point out stylish features of their homed but showed viewers around her ‘bomb shelter’ instead.
President Zelensky has made substantial use of social media videos to broadcast to the outside world – often while walking around the streets of Kyiv. In a recent video, on February 26, he slammed ‘fake information’ that he was telling the army to lay down its weapons, while last week he filmed himself alongside his Cabinet to counter Russian claims he had fled.
Although these videos are usually posted onto Twitter, they are then shared by TikTok users and go on to spread rapidly through the platform.
A TikTok user from Chernihiv takes followers on tour of bombsite, in an example of how young Ukrainians are using the platform to spread news about the war
The user says she wanted to show what Russian forces did to her city while she was sleeping in a bomb shelter
TikTok has 1billion global users who open the app around 17 times a day, and videos tagged #ukraine have been seen more than 20.5billion times.
Darren Davidson, the editor-in-chief of online video service Storyful, said that despite large amounts of misinformation circulating on TikTok, the platform had proved invaluable to covering the war.
‘This is the first conflict to play out on TikTok,’ he told The Times.
Once a video is posted it is promoted by TikTok’s powerful algorithm, which aims to match particular content to users’ individual preferences, even if they don’t actually follow the person posting it.
‘Content that is highly ”spreadable” on TikTok often relates to users’ personal tastes, as well as current events that are deemed to be relevant and timely,’ said D Bondy Valdovinos Kaye, a lecturer at Queensland University of Technology.
The app has become so influential in this conflict that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appealed to ‘TikTokers’ as a group that could help end the war, in a speech directed at Russian citizens. Some TikTokers picked up where the politician left off.
A Ukrainian travel blogger named Alina Volik, who has over 36,000 followers on TikTok, took a break from posting highlights of her trips to Egypt, Spain and Turkey, to upload videos of life in the invasion, of emergency backpacks filled with first aid supplies and of sealed windows to protect against glass shards in a blast.
In TikTok videos posted on Monday, Volik also urged her international followers to watch her Instagram Stories to ‘see the truth’ about Ukraine.
Volik said she wanted to combat misinformation in the Russian news that the country’s actions were a ‘military operation’ rather than a war that is hurting Ukrainians.
Montages of residential buildings destroyed by missiles, empty grocery store shelves and long lines of cars piled up outside gas stations could be seen on the TikTok pages of top Ukrainian influencers.
‘@zaluznik’ who has 2 million followers, posted one such montage on Sunday with the caption ‘Russians open your eyes!’
Russian influencers have also taken to the app to share their reaction. Niki Proshin, who has over 763,000 TikTok followers, said in a video on Thursday that ‘normal people’ in Russia do not support the war.
‘None of my friends and none of the people I personally talk to supported today’s events,’ he said, referring to the invasion of Ukraine.
A Russian TikTok user speaking out against Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and saying war ‘is not the solution’
The Kremlin is aware of TikTok’s power, and Russian communications regulator Roskomnadzor demanded the app stop including military-related content in recommended posts to minors, saying much of the content was anti-Russian in character.
Footage that has spread widely in recent days includes interviews with weeping Russian prisoners of war apparently renouncing their support for Putin and saying they have been used as ‘cannon fodder’ by commanders.
When Russia invaded Ukraine last week, some of social media’s youngest users experienced the conflict from the front lines on TikTok.
Videos of people huddling and crying in windowless bomb shelters, explosions blasting through urban settings and missiles streaking across Ukrainian cities took over the app from its usual offerings of fashion, fitness and dance videos.
Ukrainian social media influencers uploaded bleak scenes of themselves wrapped in blankets in underground bunkers and army tanks rolling down residential streets, juxtaposed against photos of blooming flowers and laughing friends at restaurants that honored more peaceful memories of their hometowns.
A Twitter video shared by residents of Kharkiv showing them taking a captured Russian tank on a ‘joyride’ earlier this week
They urged their followers to pray for Ukraine, donate to support the Ukrainian military and demanded Russian users in particular to join anti-war efforts.
Online misinformation researchers have warned that false information about the conflict is now being mixed in with authentic ones and has spread widely on TikTok and other tech platforms including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Footage of military simulator video game Arma 3, images of explosions from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Gaza Strip, old footage of heavy firing and animations of flying aircraft have been shared on social media sites as if they depict the Russian invasion of Ukraine last week.
‘We continue to closely monitor the situation, with increased resources to respond to emerging trends and remove violative content, including harmful misinformation and promotion of violence,’ a TikTok spokesman said, adding that it works with fact checking organizations.
Some Ukrainian TikTok users have made it 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,’ Marta Vasyuta, 20, said in an interview on Monday.
One of Vasyuta’s TikTok videos showed what appeared to be a missile in the sky with the caption ‘Kyiv 4:23 am.’ It had over 131,000 comments by Monday as users flooded the video to offer their prayers and express disbelief.
‘Never thought I would get WAR updates on TIKTOK,’ commented one user.
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.