It has now been just over a month since Russia first invaded Ukraine, and the rest of the world is watching. As Russian attacks rage on, people around the world are doing their best to remain informed about the conflict by regularly checking news sites or turning to their social media feeds for updates on the unfolding crisis.
However, it has become increasingly apparent that the coverage online is not always quite what it seems and misinformation is rife. While much of the fake content circulated on social media is initially created intentionally (for more on the difference between misinformation and disinformation, see our previous coverage here), it is often shared by people with good intentions who believe the content to be true.
A recent study revealed that the TikTok algorithm naturally directs users towards fake news about the Ukraine war. Analysts from anti-misinformation outlet NewsGuard found that the social media platform exposes users to disinformation within 40 minutes of scrolling the For You Page:
‘Toward the end of the 45–minute experiment, analysts’ feeds were almost exclusively populated with both accurate and false content related to the war in Ukraine – with no distinction made between disinformation and reliable sources’.
These videos ranged from repurposed footage from other conflicts, clips from video games being positioned as real, and pro-Russian accounts decrying legitimate footage as fake. TikTok commented that the study was limited as it did not mimic typical user behaviour (the analysts simply scrolled and did not interact with the content they were shown), but the quantity of un-checked fake news on the platform is undeniable.
This issue is far from isolated to TikTok – many social media platforms fall into the same pitfalls as controversial content is often highly interacted with, thus pushing it onto more people’s feeds. People obviously wish to stay informed on the current situation in Ukraine and are searching their social media platforms for information, but finding the truth is no easy task.
Bellingcat, the investigative journalism group that specialises in fact-checking and open-source intelligence, lists the four Ms of Russian visual disinformation: ‘misdate, misrepresent, mislocate and modify’. By changing the date, context, location – and even in some cases manipulating the content – of videos, footage from other conflicts can be strategically used to condemn or support either side. Most commonly, people have ‘recast’ footage from the Middle East and Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea.
Bellingcat reports that fake news tactics were used to provide evidence of Ukrainian aggression that would later be used by the Kremlin to justify the invasion. This extended far beyond simply altering footage and actually involved fraudulently engineering a crime scene for the purpose of creating false footage (please note that the linked investigation contains imagery that some readers may find disturbing). This highlights the potential dangers and far-reaching consequences of fake news used for political ends.
Repurposing videos is not only something used by the aggressors, the tactic has also been ‘employed by activists trying to win support for the Ukrainians.’ While such content is, in theory, well-intentioned, it muddies the waters and risks obscuring the realities of the crisis. Fake content is not needed to garner support for Ukrainians; the reality is enough.
With so much misinformation populating our timelines it can be difficult to identify the truth. When reading coverage of world events online, especially through social media, a little scepticism can go a long way.
For those who studied history, interrogating sources is likely a familiar concept. When reading a piece of news, no matter the context, it is always worth considering the aims of the piece – who wrote it? Who is the intended audience? When, where, and why was it written? What sort of bias or lack of knowledge might the author have?
It is always advisable to read pieces in full before sharing them as headlines rarely tell the full story. Earlier in the pandemic, Twitter launched a feature wherein users are reminded of this fact when they try to retweet a link they haven’t opened. This was met with mixed responses – a lot of feedback praised the attempt to combat fake news, but some users were concerned this was simply a way for Twitter to improve its clickthrough rates. Twitter responded to this stating that the prompt wouldn’t appear on advertising links and it was ‘designed to empower healthy and informed public conversation.’ While this feature is only a small change, the prompt to reconsider the sources you share could well help curb the accidental sharing of misinformation.
The constantly evolving nature of the conflict makes it incredibly difficult to offer accurate and up to date analysis of the situation. To make it easier to access first-hand reports, some news sites and independent journalists have compiled lists of those who are currently on the ground reporting from Ukraine. They can be found on Twitter and are reporting directly on events as they witness them.
As we all strive to remain informed about the situation in Ukraine, it is worth exploring a wide variety of verified sources and only sharing pieces you have strong reason to believe are true – such as those that have been independently fact-checked and consistently reported by multiple reliable sources. For stories found on social media, it is important to cross check them with reputable outlets before accepting them as fact.
