TikTok’s most obvious expressions of variously pro-Russia and pro-Ukraine propaganda have not gone unnoticed by reporters.
Open up the TikTok app, and you’ll be greeted with unabashed expressions of mis- and disinformation: clips from video games, recycled images from past conflicts involving other countries, de- or re-contextualised photos, misleading audio tracks, which are all passed off as genuine footage from the ‘frontlines’ of Ukraine.
As Vox reporter Rebecca Jennings points out, it’s difficult to determine how many of these videos are genuine. There are thousands of examples of soldiers defending their country, alleged footage of the now debunked ‘Ghost of Kyiv,’ and even a growing number of videos of people dancing in bunkers and bomb shelters. In a tweet thread, mis- and disinformation researcher Abbie Richard lays out a few more striking examples:
A fake TikTok from Ukraine has garnered over 5 million views in 12 hours.
It features a couple repeating “oh my god, oh my god” then there’s a loud explosion, screaming and he saw “ow my leg.”
I found this exact audio on another video from the 2020 Beirut explosion. pic.twitter.com/fP20IdtfX7
— Abbie Richards (@abbieasr) February 25, 2022
TikToks, like memes, aren’t merely the provenance of the young, trend-conscious, or brand marketers; they’re the lingua franca of a world that’s all but completely mediated by digital communication. TikTok can be as serious as Facebook or Twitter, and this has been true for a long time, even if the seriousness is sometimes delivered in formats we’d normally clock as comedic or “for kids.”
It’s rare that I agree with mainstream analyses of what is or isn’t disinformation or misinformation, as they themselves are so often party to their own agendas. However, these watchdogs and journalists are right that something isn’t right here. Where my thinking diverges is that I believe something’s been up for a long time: this issue extends well beyond spliced video game edits on sock puppet TikTok accounts. And that doesn’t just mean the ridiculous accusations of “Russian bots” so common in progressive American discourse, either.
A little over a year ago Slavic, though more often than not, Russian, personalities began blowing up on TikTok. There was nothing out of the ordinary about these accounts; popular themes included riffs about Russian versus American parents or girlfriends, half-serious dating advice about why Russian women were able to demand more from relationships, quips about Babushka disapproving of your short skirts, and how if your man really cared about you, he would buy you a Birkin — look at how we treat our Russian boyfriends.
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SubscribeI’m not on TikTok.