TikTok acquires great relevance as a social network used by Ukrainian civilians to tell about the Russian attack, but also by the different actors involved in the conflict
In the early hours of February 24, 2022, Russia began a military offensive in various parts of Ukraine. If we ask ourselves through what medium we learned about these facts, it is very likely that the answer is through social networks. But not only through the profiles of journalists or the media, but also through the citizens themselves who are in the place of the conflict.
Social networks thus become a vehicle to learn first-hand what is happening through the devices of people who are direct witnesses of the events.
TikTok and the new digital communication model
In 2022, the TikTok social network already exceeds 1 billion users in the world. After YouTube, it is, together with Facebook, the second social network in which users spend more time. Users who mostly belong to generation Z, although after the pandemic caused by covid-19 their audience expanded to other age groups, such as millennials and generation X.
TikTok is a network-trend that is characterized by the use of vertical video, the speed of consumption and the content that is short, spontaneous and easy to generate, with what is being told being relevant, as well as the way in which it is being told. Entertaining and fresh narrative prevails. In addition, the social network has incorporated the functionality of being able to make live videos for user accounts over 16 years of age with more than 1,000 followers.
Considering this, TikTok acquires great relevance as a social network used by Ukrainian civilians to tell about the Russian attack, but also by the different actors involved in the conflict and by other users who publish content related to it.
Watching the war in Ukraine through TikTok
Initial coverage of the invasion was done from citizens’ mobile devices from their homes, neighborhoods, and while on the move.
The protests against this invasion of Ukraine that have taken place in Russia and other parts of the world have also been regularly covered by individuals through this platform.
It is relevant to highlight the synergies that are established between TikTok and other social networks to echo the conflict. Twitter is the reference social network for what is happening at the moment and extends the coverage of live events by sharing the broadcasts made by other users through TikTok.
However, on Twitter, various users expressed their surprise that the conflict was broadcast on TikTok. For some, the very narrative of the social network, based on music and viral challenges, can trivialize the conflict.
There is something very surreal about watching war unfold on TikTok – we live in a world where the internet reflects almost all corners of life https://t.co/sIIhIv1tz9
Alice (@alicegibbs_) February 24, 2022
Weeks before the Russian invasion, videos were already shown referring to a possible conflict, even making use of satire, a very powerful resource on this social network. In this regard, a user wonders if we are facing the first international conflict on TikTok.
And yes, it probably is. In fact, a specific profile has been created on TikTok about the war between Russia and Ukraine.
TikTok ad by Norah O’Donnell.
But not only is it necessary for citizens to use TikTok to show what is happening. The media have also joined in. This is the case of the American television network CBS. Host Norah O’Donnell posted this video on her TikTok profile where she explains that “the war in Ukraine has started.”
Journalism, propaganda and disinformation on TikTok
There are many media outlets that have invested efforts in this social network, especially since 2020, and are doing extensive coverage of this conflict in particular, adapting their narratives and messages.
Large Anglo-Saxon media update their content on Tik Tok about Ukraine. One more way to fight disinformation in a social network with more than 1,000 million users. pic.twitter.com/lGsFV0Asjo
Carmela Rios💛💙 (@CarmelaRios) February 26, 2022
Also the counterpart is using the same means. The RT news channel, designated as an actor and weapon of Russian propaganda, publishes content about the conflict on its TikTok channel.
And it must be taken into account that, due to its own characteristics, TikTok is a social network that also facilitates the spread of misinformation and requires detailed and differentiated work from verifiers.
There are already many cases and references in this regard. For example, the case of a video related to this conflict that had already been published on Instagram in 2016, according to verification agencies and the community of network users.
The phenomenon of using social networks as a vehicle for information in conflicts is not new, although the incursion of TikTok as a window of current affairs is.
Through social networks, the protests of the Arab Spring in 2011, citizen movements such as the 15M in Spain, the conflict between Israel and Palestine, the fall of the statue of Saddam Hussein or the direct death of a leader of Hamas.
More examples could be listed, and even go back to 1991, when there were no social networks but the military attack of the so-called “Desert Storm” operation could be followed live through the CNN network in which it is considered as the first war televised. In the previous examples mentioned, Facebook and Twitter were the reference social networks. TikTok is now the social network that broadcasts the war in Ukraine: «War in the time of TikTok».
A new setting with its own narrative style
Therefore, we are at a turning point in which TikTok stands as the reference social network to access images of an armed conflict whose repercussions have a global reach.
TikTok profile of the war in Ukraine. /
The broadcast of the war in Ukraine through TikTok gives the social network the value of information and immediacy, in a similar sense to Twitter, but with the social network’s own narrative, which gives a dimension little explored until now that goes beyond challenges, viral dances and frivolous content.
This article has been published in The Conversation.
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