Navigating Social Media In Wartime – Is The Truth Still The First Casualty Of War?

Social media has proved to be an essential channel for the spread of information in Ukraine since Russia launched its unprovoked attack last week. The various social platforms have even remained a communication lifeline for individuals on the ground, allowing them to remain in contact with the rest of the world.

Yet, at the same time, there has been no shortage of misinformation posted from the warzone. Navigating social media in wartime has proven even more challenging than normal.

"Social media can be both a good and bad thing in times of crisis, especially like the one happening in Ukraine. It can be a productive place to start political and activist organizing efforts and to report needs to the outside world," explained Julianna Kirschner, lecturer for the Master of Communication Management program at the University of Southern California.

"However, misinformation and disinformation run rampant, and it can be difficult to determine what is true and what is false. For example, the communication between those on Snake Island and the Russian warship went viral near the start of the crisis," Kirschner explained via an email. "The initial reports circulated on social media said those on Snake Island were killed. However, they were later revealed to have been captured after running out of ammunition. Social media played a role in distributing confusing reports, which makes the average user perplexed as to what is truly happening in Ukraine."

Communication is essentially about trust.

"That is true in both personal communication and organizational communication. Misinformation ultimately erodes trust while 'verifiable' truth builds trust. Especially in times of stress and crisis, communication and trust are essential," added John Born, visiting assistant professor and executive in residence at the Ohio University Master of Public Administration program.

There is no denying that social media has a trust problem. Born thus suggested that users focus on what they can control.

"Push information as fast, as often, and in as many ways as possible," he continued. "This is a competition for trust. Yelling from the stands in the game won't help move the ball down the field. Have a plan with truthful messages and get in the game and compete for trust. Prioritize and commit the time and resources necessary to monitor what is being communicated and correct and challenge misinformation as fast as possible."

It is also essential to enable an aggressive communication defense. Just because something is retweeted, shared or has thousands of likes doesn't make it factual. Misinformation will get through.

"Have faith that good and truth wins in the end," said Born. "You won't win every time or with everyone. Effective communication is a marathon that doesn't end."

The Power Of Social Media

Russia has made great strides to control the narrative of the story at home. That has included a crackdown of non-state media platforms, while it has attempted to sell Russians on the idea that its invasion was to "denazify" Ukraine and stop an ongoing genocide. Moscow has also suggested to its citizens that it hasn't targeted civilians and that it has been welcome as liberators.

However, the world knows the truth in no small part to individual Ukrainians posting to social media.

"The latest news reports indicate that the Ukrainians have been able to use social media to their advantage to embarrass the Russians and fortify support around the world," explained Dr. Mai-Ly Nguyen Steers, assistant professor in the School of Nursing at Duquesne University.

"So in this way, sharing social media posts have been a propaganda boon for the Ukrainians by helping to rally support," she added via an email on Friday. "Posts are often uncensored, at least initially, which can be helpful in disseminating information in real-time."

The worry remains that social media is filled with so much misinformation, and even worse disinformation, that the platforms have a serious credibility issue.

"One of the problems with social media is that it makes it difficult to discern the objective truth. According to confirmation bias, we often filter out information that supports or confirms our biases. As such, we can easily find articles to support a particular position," Nguyen Steers noted. "The World Health Organization has characterized the situation on social media as an 'infodemic.' That is, since there is too much information out to filter through and critically analyze, people are just sharing material that serves their confirmation bias, which can lead to the spread of misinformation."

What Can You Trust?

Given that there has been a lot of misinformation showing up – such as Ukrainians selling captured tanks on eBay – how can users know what is real and what isn't? Social media hasn't been able to successfully address the issue, and as a result the first casualty in war still very much remains the truth.

"Create resilience by approaching all information with a 'multi-source' authentication approach," said Born. "Purveyors and messages of misinformation aren't always easy to spot and often change their message and methods. Information trust needs to be earned so diversify your information sources. The concept is not only important with personal cyber-security, but also equally important in discerning truth from misinformation. Personal responsibility is key to trust and communication."

There are other things users can do to improve their experience on the platforms added Kirscher. "Curating their social media feed so they steer the algorithm to show content from reliable sources. For instance, they could like and follow more reliable users and content, and share content from such sources. Users can also find social content to help them process the situation in Ukraine."

Moreover, some of the platforms, notably Reddit and Imgur, have been known for comic relief, particularly in meme formats.

"Many of these memes are poking fun at political leaders and their decisions, and the more serious memes promote solidarity with the Ukrainian people and those protesting the crisis in Russia and around the world," Kirscher continued. "Social media can complicate an already complex crisis, but their content does offer some value. Users should take most, if not all, social media content with a grain of salt."

However, as with any serious news story, users should be sure to take a break from it. Social media doesn't allow anyone to actually do anything to solve the problem or help those in Ukraine, while constant attention to it can impact one in negative ways.

Nguyen Steers warned, "according to the mean world syndrome, frequently seeing posts about the war in Ukraine appear on our social media feeds can lead to declines in people's mental health and well-being since it leads to perceptions that the situation is more dangerous than it actually is."