KOLs are turning TikTok into a “cyber battleground” between Russia and Ukraine-Information Technology

Both the White House and the Kremlin are looking to capitalize on content creators with large social media followings.

Victoria Hammett (23 years old, an alumnus of the University of Southern California) has a habit of posting videos on TikTok on a daily basis, mainly about “politics and other” content. Hammett’s account has about 750,000 followers. She is the Deputy CEO of Gen-Z for Change, a group of about 500 TikTok characters with a total of half a billion followers.

Recently, Hammett posted a video about 30 seconds long stating his opinion that imposing a no-fly zone in Ukraine would risk escalation of the conflict. She made this view after attending a session shared by White House officials, along with dozens of other content creators.

Victoria Hammett is a famous TikToker. (Photo: Victoria Hammett)

This is perhaps the clearest example of how social media has changed the information war to control the flow of public opinion about the war between Russia and Ukraine – a “battlefield” on the internet. Internet with participants outside of traditional mass media channels.

According to Krishna Subramanian, CEO of data analytics company Captiv8, whether people agree with it or not, content creators and social media celebrities have become a source of news for many people, especially especially the young audience.

Earlier, on March 11, the organization Media Matters for America published a report listing 186 well-known accounts (KOLs) on social networks in Russia, which they believe are carrying out a war. Calling for support for Russia. The reason is that from March 4-8, these accounts posted nearly 200 videos using the caption “Russian Lives Matter #RLM” with content pro-Moscow.

On the other side of the line, social media celebrities in Ukraine and even President Volodymyr Zelensky are also making full use of these social networks to convey their messages. Many accounts, which previously only posted pictures of Gucci bags or makeup secrets, changed their content immediately when Russian troops entered Ukraine. An Instagram account in Ukraine with 1 million followers also posted instructions for making petrol bombs in its Stories section.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky regularly uses social media to broadcast messages. (Image: Getty Images)

Or like Ukrainian football player Oleksandr Zinchenko (playing for club Manchester City) posted an English video on his Instagram account with a number of other athletes, with the content urging NATO to establish a no-go zone. flying in Ukraine. Zinchenko’s account has 1.6 million followers.

Ukrainian football player Oleksandr Zinchenko.

Currently, many new regulations on fake news have been approved by the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin, causing some news agencies to leave Russia. Even TikTok had to stop video posting and livestreaming in Russia. Distributing fake news is subject to criminal prosecution in this country.

The use of TikTok as a media by Ukraine, Russia, and the United States has left this video platform filled with conflicting views, violent content, and a lot of information that is difficult to distinguish real from fake. A video that is said to be live from a war zone may actually be from many years ago, in another part of the world, or even not real.

* Summary from The Wall Street Journal