After the Ukraine war – and its fight – on social media

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, social networks have been filled with videos from both sides. Cell phones are close at hand, and soldiers and civilians document the war as it unfolds. Social media has become part of the battlefield. So far, Kyiv is winning.

Ukrainian photographer Valeria Shashinok usually posts videos of her travels, fashion shoots or nights out with friends on her TikTok account. But since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the twenties’ tale of her daily life under bombardment in the city of Chernihiv, about 100 kilometers north of Kyiv. She listens to music with a dash of black humor, describing an “ordinary day in the air” raiding a shelter” or giving advice on “what to buy at the supermarket during a war” to her 300,000 followers.

As Ukraine continues to face multiple attacks and the number of people fleeing the country exceeds 2 million, Shashenok videos may sound great, even deaf, but in the age of social media, when cell phones allow us to fight a direct war, they are generating millions of people. opinions.

Dancing Soldiers Even Ukrainian soldiers use Instagram, TikTok and Twitter to tell their stories from the battlefield, and with 4.3 million followers, Alex Hook is the most famous of them. Residing in the eastern Donbass region, he regularly posts videos of himself and fellow soldiers dancing to Nirvana songs or preparing for battle.

The Ukrainian military also has its own Twitter account that provides hourly updates on the war to more than 350,000 followers. The country’s armed forces display pictures of fighting, but also of captured Russian soldiers, something prohibited by the Geneva Conventions.

The use of social networks in the war turned into combatants. During the Arab Spring and the ongoing Syrian Civil War, it was used by various parties to organize demonstrations and influence public opinion to their advantage.

The difference today is a new kind of storytelling. With more and more people carrying cell phones and regularly documenting their days on different social platforms, war has become a topic like any other. Young people use their own emoji and slang to share their experiences in real time. Amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, some Ukrainian influencers – formerly better known for their beauty lessons than their political stances – have turned into fighters, v2.0.

Anastasia Lina, Miss Ukraine 2015, has ditched her elegant dresses and now shows herself in combat clothing and holding a machine gun on her Instagram account, urging her compatriots to defend their country.

Actress Nadia Dorofeeva, who has 5 million followers, stopped publishing photos of private beaches and private parties, and appeared on her account crying to demand a halt to the fighting. “I will stay in Ukraine, in Kyiv! I ask everyone to be calm, not panic, hold together and only read official sources! And support each other like never before!” I wrote next to this photo.

Andrei Khlevniuk, lead singer of Boombox, one of Ukraine’s most popular bands, grabbed attention by singing a traditional hymn with a gun on his shoulder. The star abandoned his American tour to fight the Russian army.

Victory in the digital battle Ukraine’s leaders also realized that fighters were Vughton’s social networks, and until recently, Russia had mastered the art of disinformation with the help of armies of pro-Kremlin trolls, but was outdone by Moscow during the invasion.

Videos and posts by and about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have gone viral on the Internet, leading to sympathy for the globe in Ukraine. His Twitter account grew from 300,000 to 5 million followers in just a few days.

The former comedian-turned-head of state has shown himself outdoors among residents in Kyiv – in stark contrast to images of Russian President Vladimir Putin turning away from even his most trusted advisers and hating Russian allegations that he fled the Ukrainian capital.

Zelensky addresses his fellow Ukrainians and the world at large daily, urging them to continue the resistance, and Putin, in contrast, appears distant and militaristic, sitting at a comically stretched table or accompanied by a few officers standing on guard. Ban access to Facebook and restricted access to Twitter. He also signed a law banning the use of the word “war” in reference to Russia’s actions in Ukraine and punishing anyone who spreads “false information” with up to 15 years in prison.

The Russian government has also attempted to orchestrate a campaign of support for the invasion, and according to Reddit, dozens of Russian influencers have posted similar videos repeating the Kremlin’s baseless claims of a “Donbass genocide” against pro-Russians. separatists.

Russian “influencers” on TikTok defended the invasion of Ukraine by giving the same exact propaganda rhetoric as each other pic.twitter.com/dJo3lIdhT5

– Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) March 4, 2022 Some Russian celebrities have chosen to express their disapproval of the government’s actions despite the risks. Actor Danila Kozlovsky, known for his role in the series “Vikings”, did not hesitate to oppose the war in a message he shared with his more than 1 million followers on Instagram.

Oxxxymiron, one of the country’s most popular rappers, announced on Instagram that he had decided to cancel six concerts in Moscow and St. Petersburg. “I can’t entertain you while Russian missiles are falling on Ukraine and some people in Kyiv are being forced to hide in basements or in the metro while others are dying,” he said in a video clip.

American philosopher Susan Sontag explained in her 2003 article “Concerning Others’ Pain” that the Spanish Civil War led to photojournalism – taking pioneers like Robert Capa and Gerda Taro Lica to the front lines – and that a few decades later the Vietnam War was the first to be broadcast On TV every day, and today wars are fought not only on the battlefield, but also on social networks.

The war in Ukraine will go down in history as the first war to be documented in real time. But what will remain of the images of these refugees on the road, children under bombardment or exhausted fighters?

Many of the images may evoke “simply our confused consciousness, a feeling of sympathy that only lasts long enough to keep us scrolling,” writer Kyle Chikorot writes in a New York article titled Watching the World’s First Tik Tok War. But as Russian forces approach Kyiv, major media organizations are “dragging their journalists to safety.”

“Social media is an imperfect advocacy in wartime,” Chaika said. However, “in some cases, it may also be our most reliable source.”

This article was translated from the original in French.