As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine unfolds, much of the world continues to watch via social media. In response, Russia has waged its own forces against major social media platforms and services in an attempt to control the narrative coming out of Ukraine.
In what we imagine is much to Russia’s chagrin, Ukrainian and Russian civilians seem to have found their ways around such measures, and the major platforms have taken firm stances against Russian state-sponsored messages. Below, here are all the ways the internet is standing up to Russia’s attacks.
Many big platforms have restricted Russia’s access in some way
Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have proven invaluable in helping spread awareness of what is actually happening in Ukraine. As such, Russia has tried to control them, with little success.
On Feb. 25, Russia’s communications regulator accused Facebook of censoring the accounts of four state-sponsored media sites. In response, the country moved to limit access to Facebook for its civilians.
Meta’s vice president of global affairs Nick Clegg said in a statement that Russia had asked the company to stop fact-checking and labeling posts from those four accounts, and when Meta refused, Russia chose to restrict access. Meta seems to remain staunch in its efforts to curb misinformation on its sites, and has also chosen to block Russian state media from running any ads on Facebook or to monetize in any way, according to NPR.
All three major platforms continue to monitor the situation in Eastern Europe and seemingly plan on taking action against any rule-violating activities. Twitter has also taken additional actions to increase security and protect the accounts of high profile journalists, activists, and government officials. According to NPR, Meta has created a special operations center to keep tabs on Russia’s activity on its platforms, and YouTube has already “taken down hundreds of channels and thousands of videos in recent days for violating its policies, including rules against ‘coordinated deceptive practices.'”
Online fundraising for Ukraine is active, and thriving via crypto
On Feb. 26, Ukraine’s official Twitter account said it would be accepting donations in the form of cryptocurrency. To date, more than $9.9 million has been raised in crypto for Ukraine, according to The Verge.
While this doesn’t guarantee a mass Ukrainian exodus from the potentially jeopardized app, the thread brings awareness to alternatives, as well as a feature within Telegram called “secret messages,” that would provide more privacy and security for those who remain on the service.
Internet infrastructure company Cloudflare also saw a massive spike in Signal usage just after midnight on Feb. 24, approximately the same time that the Russian invasion began. Signal’s messaging services promise end to end encryption, and is generally agreed upon by cybersecurity experts to be the most secure private messaging app.
To prepare for potential internet outages, many are also working to get around online censorship in Ukraine or Russia.
Yev Muchnik, a Ukraine-born lawyer who’s lived in the U.S. since 1988, told The Verge that he has been working with developers from PieFi and Ukraine United DAO to combat any attacks on internet access. Their goal is to “create peer-to-peer mesh networks to preserve internet connectivity, even if centralized internet service providers go down.” Privacy-preserving internet browsing service Tor also tweeted out an extensive thread detailing how private citizens can protect themselves against surveillance and censorship.
On-the-ground info continues to spread online, albeit with misinfo concerns
As people across the internet continue to seek out information, other social platforms like TikTok have offered a view of what is actually happening on the ground in Ukraine. Even before the official invasion in the early hours of Feb. 24, TikTok videos had been showing Russian military weapons and vehicles en route to Ukrainian borders, alerting military analysts and civilians alike to the upcoming threat.
As the invasion began in earnest, more social posts have cropped up purporting to highlight the true day-to-day life in Ukraine and Russia right now.
Independent Russian journalist Ilya Varlamov has used Instagram to document photos and videos of his account of Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Russian TikTokker Niki Proshin posted a video showing an anti-war protest in Russia. According to The Guardian, Ukrainian influencer Anna Prytula’s Instagram (which has now been made private) showed footage of missiles attacking in Ukraine.
But even as Ukrainian and Russian residents are publishing real-time, truthful videos, fake war pages and accounts on platforms like Instagram and TikTok have also taken the opportunity to reel in views and followers.
‘SNL’ opened on a solemn note with a moving Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York performance
Instagram has taken action by removing scam war pages for violating its community guidelines regarding inauthentic behavior, while TikTok told Business Insider, “We continue to closely monitor the situation, with increased resources to respond to emerging trends and remove violative content, including harmful misinformation and promotion of violence. We also partner with independent fact-checking organizations to further aid our efforts to help TikTok remain a safe and authentic place.”
While the platforms are presumably working to take down blatant misinformation, journalists like those at CNN are also actively fact-checking viral videos in order to ensure that any first person accounts from Russian military action is accurate.