How Russia and Ukraine are using social media as the war drags on
Putting social media in the mix
Mass communication began as political communication intended toestablish and control empires.
Whether it was Darius the Great imposing his image on buildings and coins to help control the Persian Empire; Henry VIII’s inspireduse of portraiture, or the well-documented use ofradio and film in World War II– media technologies have long been used to spread political ideas.
Social media has added another element to the mix, and brought immediacy to strategic political communication.
In asymmetric conflicts (such as the one we’re seeing now in Ukraine), a successful social media account can be a useful weapon against an adversary with many guns and tanks.
The local uprisings in the 2010 Arab Spring, especially in Egypt and Tunisia, were among the first campaigns wheresocial media played a pivotal role.
Advocates of democracyused Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to maintain networks of communication and openly criticized their governments for the world to see.
It didn’t take long for governments to realize the power of social media. And they responded both by restricting access to social media as well as using it themselves.
Social mediaalonemaynot be capable of instigatingwidespread change, but it can undoubtedly play a role.
Information warfare
The tension between Russia and Ukraine has a long history, and washighly charged on social mediawell before the latest invasion.
Pro-Russian accounts have circulated disinformation about Russia’s role in the Donetsk region since before 2014,fuelling confusionand destabilization, and assisting Russia’s takeover. This was in fact a critical element of Russia’s “hybrid warfare” approach.
Russia’s strategic actions, and counteractions by Ukraine, have been studied widely by researchers. Unsurprisingly, the research has overwhelmingly found each side to be framing the conflict invery different, and divergentways.
Research has also found social media can sustain, and even aggravate, the hostility betweenUkrainians and Russians online.
For example, after Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by Russia over Ukraine, ananalysis of 950,000 Twitter postsfound a plethora of competing claims online, creating a struggle for the truth that continues today.
As early as 2014, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Philip Breedlove,describedthe Russian communication strategy in Ukraine as “the most amazing information warfareblitzkriegwe have ever seen in the history of information warfare”.
These efforts have escalated since Russia’s recent expansion of its invasion into Ukrainian territory. And with so much noise, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for users to make sense of the deluge of contradictory, emotive and (often) difficult-to-verify information.
It’s even more difficult when the tone of posts changes quickly.
The Ukraine government’s Twitter account is a study in contrasts of both content and tone. Set up in more peaceful times, the profile cheerily states: “Yes, this is the official Twitter account of Ukraine. Nice pics: #BeautifulUkraine Our music: #UkieBeats”.
But the account now posts a range of content, images and video related to the war as part of its strategic communication campaign.
This has included serious news updates, patriotic allusions to historic events and people, anti-Russian material, and – prior to the recent reports of mass deaths –quite a lot of humor.
Why use humor?
Humour has a long history of being used as an element of communication andpublic diplomacy–even during wars.
For instance,humor was used effectivelyby the Serbian Otpor resistance movement in its campaign to overthrow dictator Slobodan Milošević at the turn of this century.
Humour is particularly effectiveon social platforms because it producesvirality.
And in the case of Ukraine’s defence, it displays defiance. After all, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (a former comedian) was famously thrust into the political spotlight thanks to a satirical television production. In it he played the role of a teacher whose secretly-filmed rant about corruption goes viral, leading the character to become President.
Zelenskyy’sTwitter accountis now the most immediate and reliable way for many Ukrainians to get crucial information on the invasion and negotiations between Zelenskyy and other leaders.
The thousands of “shares” the posts receive are helping Ukraine’s communication campaign.
Zelenskyy’s recent address to the Grammy Awards reinforces that he understands the necessity of remaining visible to the world at this critical point. His speech has produced much support on social media (as well as cries of “propaganda” from Russia’s supporters).
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Twitteraccounthas been dormant since March 16.
This article byCollette Snowden,Senior Lecturer, School of Communication, International Studies and Languages,University of South Australia, is republished fromThe Conversationunder a Creative Commons license. Read theoriginal article.
Story byThe Conversation
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