Ukraine war: Social media and the fog of war

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has featured on every social media platform. This conflict is the first one of this scale to unfold online, in real time, and unfiltered. The invasion of Ukraine has shown how connected we all are.

Using real time data from smartphones, Google Maps let us know the Russians had invaded Ukraine. The app captured road closures, heavy traffic, and suspended subway service. Roads heading from Russia into Ukraine lit up in red, letting us know there was a "traffic jam" at 3.15 am. A quick check of satellite imagery by Capella space allowed us to see massive columns of tanks. All before Vladimir Putin had announced the war. All before the Ukrainian government could ask for help.

In the first days of the war Tik Tok was flooded with Ukrainian posts and the worldwide support was overwhelming. The videos were all from the Ukrainian side and the comments were too. As the war entered the second week the Russians countered this. Tons of pro-Russian sentiment flooded Tik Tok. Most users chalked this up to robots but there is no way to know.

As the battle for Tik Tok bogged down, Ukrainians opened up a new cyber front, Google Reviews. The reviews circumvent state-run Russian media and communicate directly with Russian civilians who might be unaware or unable to access independent or credible news reports. Google Reviews of random restaurants and shops in Russia have Ukrainians posting “Terrific service but my day was ruined by the Russian bombings of civilians in the Ukraine.”

Online apps have been caught up in the fray. Soldiers' online chatter has provided insight into Russian plans. Media reports claim British intelligence services have been tracking the Russian equivalent to the gay dating site Grinder as well as the Russian version of Facebook. Unguarded comments on these sites leak Russian plans and even blood movement and the information is passed on to Ukraine.

The cyber battle for hearts and minds is going so badly that Russia's state communications regulator Roskomnadzor blocked Facebook, Twitter, and now Instagram. The move was said to be in response to Meta's decision to allow Facebook and Instagram users in the Ukraine to call for violence. Russia has now moved to recognize Meta as an "extremist organization".

To fight back against pro-Ukrainian posts, Putin passed a “fake” news law which banned all media outlets from using the word “war” punishable by 15 years in prison. In response, Tik Tok suspended all new Tik Toks from inside Russia. The cyber war rages on.

As fast as one front is shut down another one opens up.

Misha Katsurin is a Ukrainian but his father lives in Russia. When Misha called his father to talk about the war, he was shocked to hear that his father did not believe that the Russians were the aggressors.

Misha was so distraught that he launched a website, Papaover, to spread information about the war. Meaning “Father Believe”, it is aimed at getting Ukrainians who have parents in Russia to reach out to them directly. The New York Times reported that there are 11 million Ukrainian parents living in Russia. While this approach mixes 20th century phone calls with a 21st century website the idea is the same. Spread the word.

But what is real?

Videos on Tik Tok showing the “Ghost of Kyiv”, a Ukrainian fighter pilot who was credited with shooting down six Russian planes in the first 30 hours, have been shown to be from video games. Whether the Ghost of Kyiv is real or not we just don’t know. Viral footage of a Ukrainian farmer pulling a tank with a tractor? Also fake. While the Ukranians have recovered a lot of military hardware from the Russian army, a number of videos posted on Tik Tok of tanks being pulled by tractors, all used the same audio, meaning that those particular videos were not real. Was Russian military equipment abandoned in the Ukraine? Definitely. The Ukrainian government stated that citizens did not have to declare seized equipment for military purposes. With so many fake videos, reality is blurred and the fog of war has descended.

Information moves quickly and we all must be careful not to buy into everything we see. The popular rumour that Porn Hub pulled out of Russia, with the site posting a picture of a Ukrainian flag for Russian viewers was debunked by Snopes. This hasn’t stopped the rumour.

The battle for information is real. Russian police have been filmed stopping citizens and scrolling through their phones. This was confirmed by independent news outlet Storyful and has ominous implications for any Russians trying to post anti-war information or even for simply trying to have conversations about the war.

While we all must be vigilant in what we view we should also appreciate that we are allowed to view it at all.