Ukraine vs. Russia, is big in the picture. In the video, orange flashes fly through a dark sky, as if it were an artillery shell. Planes fly over, a siren blaring in the background.
The video has been viewed seven million times. It’s just not an image from the war in Ukraine – it’s an animation, although you can barely see it.
The social media app TikTok has become the most popular app among teens and young people in just a few years. Worldwide there are a billion people, of which about three million in the Netherlands, according to a recent study by consultancy firm Newcom.
When these young people open the app these days, they come into extensive contact with the war in Ukraine. Apparently you can follow the war closely on the app. Videos appear constantly on the Movies app that allegedly come from the front lines of the conflict, from dancing soldiers to long lines of tanks and rockets flying overhead.
Only: the image that TikTok users get of the war is in many cases questionable. A lot of misleading videos have been circulating on TikTok in recent days. Users looking for likes and money are helping a lot of fake material into the world.
The videos often show artillery flying through the air, or large explosions. A frequently recurring topic is a bridge that is said to have been blown up by a Ukrainian soldier. Dramatic music or a voice-over is often used behind it: part of the appeal of TikTok is that the app makes it easy to edit videos in a comedic way.
Video game
The disadvantage is that it is very easy to create misleading videos. The Dutch Marieke Kuypers, who has had a fact-check account with 100,000 followers on TikTok for some time, has also kept a long list at with videos that she has found to be incorrect. A video showing a missile has been viewed 10 million times, but appears to be from the video game Arma 3. There are also videos showing the major explosion in the port of Beirut in August 2020 as part of the Ukraine conflict. . A parachute landing that has been viewed 27 million times is a video from 2016.
“There is really a lot going on right now,” Kuypers says on the phone. She’s not surprised at the proliferation of questionable videos. According to her, TikTok differs from other social media in that accounts with very few followers can still be influential. If you post a video that a few people watch completely, the algorithm ensures that it reaches even more people. For example, obscure accounts can be influential very quickly. “TikTok is about looking forward to something. And especially sensational things are looked forward to.”
Kuypers thinks that many people make fake videos simply to attract attention and generate followers – or because they think they are dealing with a real video, which they then repost. It is also relatively easy with TikTok to ask for donations. That in turn creates a lot of fake live streams of people pretending to be in need. “For example, you see people packing a suitcase. But they pack the same suitcase for three days.” Meanwhile, the donations are pouring in.
Read also the live blog about the war in Ukraine
It is difficult to say whether governments have also discovered TikTok to spread fake information through accounts. Kuypers has the impression that a few more pro-Ukrainian videos are appearing on the app. NRC came across a few times a video of the Ukrainian president Zelensky dancing in a leather suit, in which he is ridiculed.
In any case, one type of source of potential misinformation has disappeared from the platform since Tuesday morning. After the European Union announced on Sunday that it would ban Russian state media in Europe, the accounts of, for example, Russia Today disappeared on Monday evening. They were active on TikTok during the first days of the conflict, without mentioning that they were state media. Such a warning is common with other social media such as Twitter and Instagram.