![]() “Political expression on TikTok is so quintessentially personal,” Literat wrote in an email. It’s a shift that has been compared to the sudden centrality of Twitter and Facebook in the Arab Spring of 2011. The platform’s accessibility and algorithm combined with its easy-to-use video creation tools, where anyone or anything can go viral with ease, make it a perfect place to capture and share bite-sized moments of major world events. The app now counts more than 1 billion monthly active users, with roughly 78 million of those users residing within the United States.Īnd while politics and current events have previously occupied a small corner of the app, Literat said it is logical for TikTok to take on a new role during the war in Ukraine. TikTok’s humble beginnings as an app for dance trends and lip-syncing have given way in recent years to a platform that is now generally recognized as a rival to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in the battle for our attention. “Emotive videos, emotional videos, can really make people skip the verification stage and not give enough thought to the accuracy of the video and not really exercise their media literacy,” said Ioana Literat, an associate professor of communication at Teachers College, Columbia University. The videos rarely provide context or a greater narrative for the conflict, leaving viewers to do their best to interpret what they’re seeing. TikTok’s algorithm is designed to flood users with content that has high engagement, so many people’s feeds are now deluged with videos of the conflict in Ukraine. It’s common for one trend or topic to take over TikTok for days or even weeks. Realistic video game footage and videos predating the conflict masquerade as TikToks set in present-day Ukraine, while TikTok users outside the combat zone are cashing in on misleading livestreams and viral trends like a mythical Ukrainian combat pilot, the “ghost of Kyiv.” While there are several prominent examples of Ukrainian content creators using TikTok to communicate their lived experiences, viral videos about Ukraine on TikTok are also largely a mixed bag of misinformation. In recent weeks TikTok has become essential viewing for people seeking information on the war, offering a look at the front lines of major cities as well as daily life in Ukraine - Molotov cocktails and all.īut Umney’s content is now competing with a wave of other videos purporting to be about the conflict. Umney, like many Ukrainians, has embraced TikTok as a way to provide a window into the on-the-ground reality he now faces. “At the moment I’m making my Molotovs and I’m ready in case the Russians do come.” They are expected to attack any time within the next day or two,” Umney said in a voice memo shared over Telegram. “The Russians are now just across the river from where we are. He has continued to post updates from Ukraine to his audience as the war has escalated. Umney, 28, documented his trip back to Ukraine on TikTok, where he has since accrued more than 200,000 TikTok followers.
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