Russia’s propaganda on Tiktok and why we shouldn’t trust everything we see

A 30-second video shows a woman waving an EU flag before violently throwing it to the ground with the caption — "The French will not die for Ukraine." Such a post — seemingly implying that French people are dying for Ukraine in such numbers as to spark protests — immediately incites emotions and the need to react in some way: comment, share it with friends, or retell it in a meeting with colleagues. Only later, perhaps if we are lucky to come across a fact-check, will we learn that this video has been taken out of context and does not actually concern Ukraine at all — and the caption has been added to manipulate. However, the information is already spread, and the emotion is imprinted.

TikTok helps spread propaganda and misleading information to a large audience. While tracking propaganda in text posts is possible, it is still more difficult to cope with short video formats. Since social networks are growing every day, there is a growing risk that such videos will significantly influence public opinion.

What is the problem?

Starting as an entertainment platform for a niche youth audience, TikTok has grown into a popular social network for all age groups. In Ukraine, as of 2023, over 12 million adult users were registered in the application.

The peculiarity of the platform is that although the user can specify their location, it does not play a significant role: the video feed is formed by algorithms based on the principle of previous preferences and the amount of time the user spends watching — the longer the viewing time, the more likely the algorithm will produce similar content in the future. Therefore, you can come across videos from everywhere: from the USA to Russia.

With the influx of popularity of the social network, it became apparent that Russian propaganda would master this platform for spreading disinformation. In 2023, the TikTok team discovered about 12,000 fake accounts spreading Russian propaganda in European countries, Ukraine, and Russia in local languages.

Creating deceptive videos is relatively easy. Authors use various methods for this: changing audio tracks that do not match the video, distorting or suppressing facts, constantly repeating similar narratives, and even humorous sketches in which they jokingly talk about sensitive topics for society. In particular, in March 2023, a fake account of a Ukrainian soldier was found on Tiktok — the videos were copied from his original page but were overlaid with text and audio tracks that spread distrust of the military and doubts about the morality of their actions.

Most often, in propaganda videos, the authors try to discredit Ukraine, its army, and representatives of the authorities in every possible way in an attempt to demoralize Ukrainians. However, anti-Western propaganda is also present and is aimed at rooting the image of almighty Russia.

What is the solution?

The TikTok team asserts they are working to combat such content and protect users. In particular, the online platform voluntarily joined the Code of Conduct on Disinformation created by the European Commission. Users have the option to file a complaint about a publication. Indeed, some videos that users previously detected as fake are no longer available on the platform. However, hundreds of new ones appear every day.

It is unlikely that the platform will be able to fully combat the influx of misinformation in the coming years. However, users can familiarize themselves with the fundamental rules of content verification and be critical of what they consume.

Rule 1. Check the source of information: is the account anonymous? Does it have links to other social networks, other publications?

Rule 2. Check the facts and quotes presented in the video. They may be distorted or taken out of context.

Rule 3. Assess the level of emotionality. Most of the time, manipulative messages use profanity or emotionally charged language to immediately evoke emotion and not give you time to think about the truth. Not all propaganda uses emotionality, but it is an important feature.

Rule 4. Look for the source of the video and photo. A random fragment of a video on a social network, captioned with text, probably cannot be considered a trustworthy source.

Rubryka monitored TikTok and highlighted the methods used by Russia for anti-Western propaganda and how these four rules help to avoid falling prey to disinformation.

How does it work?

Fake: Kyiv is planning to liberate Transnistria

The discussion about the start of military operations in unrecognized Transnistria, which borders Ukraine, began as early as 2023. At that time, Russia began spreading the narrative that Ukrainian troops were massed near its border with Transnistria and were ready to launch an invasion.

On February 28, 2024, the "authorities" of Transnistria once again convened a congress, at which they officially appealed to Russia with a request to protect them "from the pressure of Moldova." After that, Russian propaganda again raised the issue that not only Transnistria but also Moldova as a whole should join the Russian Federation. 

Propaganda authors in their videos claim that Moldova and Transnistria are a bargaining chip in the geopolitical war of Eastern Europe, and Ukraine is one of the states guilty of this. They remind that it was thanks to the former USSR that Moldova was freed from the occupying power of Romania during World War II, reasoning why Moldova should reach out to Russia, not Romania, which is part of the EU. All this creates a false informational background for the EU and Ukraine in relation to its neighbors.

Debunking

Back in June 2023, Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine does not claim the territory of Transnistria and can help Moldova only if there is a request from their authorities. He added: "They should unite with their state, with their history — that is, with Moldova." Oazu Nantoi, a Moldovan lawmaker, also asserts there is dialogue between Kyiv and Chișinău, and the conflict in Transnistria needs a political solution, not military.

Despite the complete debunking of the narratives about the "liberation of Transnistria by Kyiv," the Russian propaganda machine does not give up and, in 2024, relaunched misinformation about the need for Moldova to side with Russia and abandon its EU aspirations.

Manipulation: Ukraine no longer receives support from other countries

Some Ukrainian political figures comment on issues of Ukrainian politics on media platforms and, more often than not, on Russian ones. They present this narrative as emotionally as possible, addressing Russian and Ukrainian viewers. Some of them even claim Ukrainians do not know how to use the aid provided, "blaming everyone around them."

Debunking

Often, such pseudo-experts manipulate facts and distort reality: they take a fact and embellish it with false ideas or their own speculations. Knowing that the first part is true, a person who listens to this automatically treats everything that follows with greater trust.

According to statistics from the Institute for the Study of War, during the two years of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine received over $178 billion in aid. At the beginning of 2024, the country signed a multi-year agreement with Norway for $7 billion and received ten batches of military aid from North Macedonia. In February, at a special summit of EU leaders in Brussels, EU member states approved the decision to create a Ukraine Facility worth €50 billion.

The true part is that international partners' financial assistance is crucial in war. However, the processes do not always take place quickly —particularly, the world is now watching whether the USA will be able to decide on allocating more aid to Ukraine. That is why such messages broadcast to the Ukrainian audience are intentionally designed to cause despair, but should instead be conveyed to international partners that helping Ukraine should be a priority.

Manipulation: Ukrainians are treated well in Russia but not in Europe

"You all hate Russia and everything Russian so much… But here you can come and speak your own language: Ukrainian, Russian and even Chinese. No one will drive you out, and no one will look at you sideways. There is no hatred in people's eyes," the woman says in the video. She positions herself as a Ukrainian who allegedly left for Russia after the start of the full-scale invasion. She assures that cafes and restaurants with Ukrainian names throughout Russia serve Ukrainian cuisine.

This video was immediately picked up by Russian propaganda channels, broadcasting: "There is no war. The collective West seeks to disunite brotherly peoples who have lived peacefully together all their lives."

In addition to this, some Telegram channels distributed a video of a Ukrainian woman who went to Italy and allegedly could not find a job because everyone there treats Ukrainians with disdain.

Debunking

We learn from the video heroine's social networks that she has lived in Poland since 2020. Although she was actively posting on Tiktok before the full-scale invasion about work, life in the country, her posts are now limited to 2023, when she moved to Russia. They are focused on explaining why Ukrainians are to blame for the war, and Russia is "a country of good people." 

Her YouTube account starts with a video about how Ukrainians are not liked in Wroclaw, Poland, and an interview with the Russian channel Mriia — she does not say a word about the military aggression of the Russian Federation. She explains the deaths of Ukrainians by the fact that the Ukrainian authorities deliberately invited an attack on the nation. The woman's Ukrainian roots are actively used by Russian propaganda to whiten its reputation — claiming that Russia treats Ukrainians well and is always happy for them.

Such videos cause a stormy reaction among users. It is especially reinforced by comments written as if on behalf of Ukrainians who agree with what was said. The woman then uses all the aggressive answers as an example of the fact that Ukrainians are cruel and unrestrained.

The second case is the story of a girl in Italy. Indeed, in the video, she says she was once called and offered payment for providing sexual services. However, the girl emphasizes that such isolated cases happen everywhere, which is not an indicator of a bad attitude towards her or Ukrainians in general. The authors of the post changed her words in favor of the thesis about the terrible treatment of Ukrainian women in Europe.

Fake: In France, demonstrators protested, tearing the flag of the EU and NATO and shouting, "Macron, go to Ukraine alone"

Videos are circulating on Tiktok and Facebook, in which a group of people oppose French President Emmanuel Macron's statement about the possibility of sending French troops to Ukraine, demonstratively throwing and tearing the flags of the EU and NATO. Protesters chant: "Macron, go to Ukraine alone."

Debunking

As the StopFake disinformation project points out, there were no large-scale anti-Ukrainian rallies in France on that day. The video shows the action of the French right-wing radicals of the nationalist party "Patriots," which is clear from the colors of the flags and written slogans. They came out with the poster "We are leaving the European Union: Frexit," and since 2017, they have been actively lobbying for the exit of France from the European Union.

What is remarkable is that this is not the first time that Russian propaganda has used the rallies of this party to its advantage. Here, for example, is an excerpt from the video from 2023.

This example once again proves that Russian propaganda modifies information to suit its needs. In this case, it is an attempt to prove to the world and the Ukrainians themselves that no one supports them in this war. However, they did not find real videos of anti-Ukrainian protests in France, and since there were no such protests, they used an unrelated one.

Propaganda narratives use any method of spreading misinformation, which does not necessarily have to be a fake created from scratch. They often use storytelling on behalf of a specific person, change facts to suit their needs, take information out of context, etc. They especially like to repeat already stated and disproved theses because the longer the narrative continues repeating, the more likely it will be fixed in the audience's mind.