While Russian troops are massed on the Ukrainian border, the social network TikTok
is a privileged witness.
Mobile video sharing application developed by a Chinese company, TikTok is much more than a simple tool used by teenagers to exchange humorous or grotesque clips.
Cross TikTok videos and satellite images
As explained Wiredthe platform is already considered a real source of information by many government agencies… and not just Chinese ones.
The many videos shared on the platform offer what some call ” open-source intelligence (OSINT), in other words, key strategic information captured and exploited to keep abreast of the situation of the world. In the present case, we talk a lot about the movements of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border.
Benjamin Strick, director of investigations at the Center of Information Resilience (CIR), a nonprofit organization that focuses on countering influence operations, says there are ” lots of data on TikTok. The CIR team was able to verify and map troop movements in Russia and Belarus.
To do this, the CIR analyzed numerous videos from TikTok and compared their content with satellite images and official data. In fact, the organization was able to establish real maps of the movements of troops and military equipment all around Ukraine.
Of the necessary caution in the face of these videos
The use of TikTok for this purpose is not new and since April 2021, the mobilization of Russian troops has been closely followed thanks to countless ” digital evidence “. While aerial photos or satellite images provide an overview, TikTok provides concrete “on the ground” evidence to highlight troop movements.
Eliot Higgins, founder of open-source investigative unit Bellingcat, has been exposing Russian espionage for years. It indicates that ” TikTok is definitely one of the main platforms used to document this “. Then the images end up on other social networks like Twitter. This is the case with videos of Russian tanks observed in Kursk, a Russian city about fifty kilometers from Ukraine.
Since early 2022, more Russian troops have headed into Ukraine and according to US and UK intelligence, an invasion of the country is imminent. Of course, a veritable war of nerves / information war is at work, but, on the ground, it is quite likely that many TikTok videos will be the first witnesses of the advance or retreat of the troops Russians.
Of course, the sharing application can also be manipulated in order to amplify information that has not yet been verified and Sandra Joyce, executive vice president and head of global intelligence at Mandiant, explains it very well: ” We will have to be information-wary consumers, cautious about the possibility of active measures designed to deceive us. “. Like many other media, TikTok is not immune to manipulation.
Evidence for the future?
It is indeed necessary to take into account the fact that alongside perfectly legitimate images and videos illustrating real scenes seen in Russia or Ukraine, significant efforts of disinformation can be deployed by one and the other. Thus, as shown by Bellingcat, Russian military satellite images had been published following the destruction of Malaysia Airlines flight 17 (MH17): the proof had been made that these images had been modified.
Among the possible risks of manipulation, Benjamin Strick also mentions the presentation of images qualified as ” less reliable “. He states that he ” can be old images, images that show the borders of Ukraine well, but from previous years, as well as images from other conflicts “. In fact, this kind of hijacked information can be used to shape current narratives.
One thing is sure, if Russia invades Ukraine, there will be more videos. As pointed out Wiredabout 61% of Ukrainians own a smartphone and, unlike the war in Syria for example, it is easier to have “ access to conflict sites “. International investigators risk being overwhelmed with information and, consequently, the media and the public as well. Still, in the world of open source forensics, speed and accuracy are paramount.
Eliot Higgins and the other members of the OSINT community have already made a point of saving as much digital evidence as possible of what is happening at the Ukrainian border. Bellingcat uses a Telegram channel to record as many links to TikTok videos as possible which can then be used for potential surveys. Of course, these troop movements may not result in anything illegal, but if a war should break out, key information could well be hiding in the many TikTok videos released today.
Sources: Korii
, Wired
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