TikTok’s Role in the Conflict in Ukraine
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not the first social media war. But it is the first one to play out on TikTok. Facebook and Twitter aided in the 2011 Arab Spring. In 2018, videos of Syrian children choking from the smoke from chemical weapons filled social media. And the Taliban’s capture of Kabul, Afghanistan––with all the chaos that wrought––was live-tweeted last year. Content showing unbelievable tragedy and horrors and circulating online is not new.
However, the current conflict between Ukraine and Russia is a different kind of social media war. This conflict is fueled by TikTok’s transformative effect on the old norms of tech.
TikTok’s popularity stems from the fact that it is both visually appealing and instantaneous. While the invasion of Ukraine is not the first social media war, it is the first to play out on TikTok. TikTok’s popularity rises due to its easy-to-use functions like its in-app editing. This feature makes it easier than other platforms to capture and share the world around us and shape perceptions of how a conflict is unfolding. With most people obtaining their news via social media, the impact of this immediacy is a significant issue.
TikTok & Fake News
Research has shown that fake news travels 6x faster than legitimate news on social media due to its ability to trigger a strong emotional response. TikTok is designed to monopolize attention by throwing users into an immersive, endless stream of quick content. However, immediacy can evoke emotional responses, which can cause people to overlook whether or not the information is legitimate. Combine that with a younger, sometimes less media-literate audience, and the spread of disinformation is at risk.
Content circulating online needs to be verified quickly to ensure false information doesn’t shape narratives, which often forms within 24 hours. To combat this problem, TikTok has partnered with independent fact-checking organizations to combat disinformation but has struggled to slow the spread of fake news.
Social media is undoubtedly being weaponized. That includes dis- or misinformation, designed to intimidate or profit from the huge consumption of war content. From deceptive live streams to video game clips being repurposed as on-the-ground footage of the invading forces, TikTok has come under scrutiny for its inability to police content.
TikTok can help people understand what’s going on in the world. But when the app’s systems have been manipulated, it can spread disinformation and confusion. Part of that could be a result of TikTok’s inability to process the scale of information it has created. On a platform where millions of videos are posted each day, an algorithm and content moderation system with 99% reliability would still allow huge numbers of videos to slip through.
Why marketers should care
Understanding social media platforms’ reactions to ongoing crises and treatment of content are of utmost importance to marketers. The insane popularity and usage of TikTok — especially in times of crisis — brings up the good and bad of social media.
Furthermore––while this may be hard to believe––there is a connection between fake news and marketing. Marketing and advertising have always been about selling your product or service. The way brands do this varies wildly, depending on their audience, what they’re selling, and where the campaign is being pushed. In the past, some companies have used “fake news” and manipulative tactics to push their products.
Such marketing tactics can have a negative effect on your brand. People can lose trust in you, which is the most important thing to keep when you want your customers to keep coming back. There's only one thing to do in this time of fake news, deception, and misinformation: tell the truth.
With the world consuming social media with a heightened awareness of fake news, brands need to ensure that whatever marketing communications they’re sending out right now are honest and real. When browsing TikTok, people are far more concerned with the unspeakable horrors occurring in Ukraine and elsewhere globally than with your brand. However, this preoccupation with sensitive, high-stake circumstances makes consumers aware of when brands mess up. One wrong move, and your brand comes across online as insensitive and uncaring. Not good PR, in my opinion.
Let’s look at an example — Applebee’s and CNN and that controversial ad placement.
During a CNN live broadcast, the network’s commercial break consisted of a split-screen airing a happy-go-lucky Applebee’s commercial alongside news footage of air raid sirens sounding in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Criticism, disappointment, and disbelief flooded social media afterward in response to the poorly placed ad.
While this example deals more with ad placement than fake news, it exemplifies that during times of tense conflict, advertisers and marketers must be overly aware of how, where, and when their marketing promotions are being seen. As you figure out what channels to place your advertising, make sure to double-check that placement. You don’t want to send the wrong message and seem insensitive to an unfolding situation with an ill-placed ad or message.
Brands should build trust and demonstrate their value to potential customers. While brands should be enthusiastic in their marketing and advertising, they should give their consumers authenticity and transparency rather than stretch the truth.
