The invasion will be TikTokked | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Wednesday
July 09, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
WEDNESDAY, JULY 09, 2025
The invasion will be TikTokked

Thoughts

Stephen L Carter, Bloomberg
01 March, 2022, 01:15 pm
Last modified: 01 March, 2022, 01:15 pm

Related News

  • Sacked Russian transport minister found dead in his car with gunshot wound
  • Trump, disappointed by call with Putin, to speak with Zelenskiy on Friday
  • Russia becomes first country to recognise Taliban government of Afghanistan
  • Trump, Putin reiterate positions on Ukraine war in phone call, Kremlin aide says
  • Ukraine voices concern as US halts some missile shipments

The invasion will be TikTokked

It is not the first conflict to be broadcast on social media, but Russia’s attack on Ukraine feels like a watershed moment in how the world watches a war

Stephen L Carter, Bloomberg
01 March, 2022, 01:15 pm
Last modified: 01 March, 2022, 01:15 pm
Illustration: TBS
Illustration: TBS

Russia's war for Ukraine's territory is being waged with tanks and artillery, but the battle for the world's hearts and minds is being fought largely on social media — and there, at least, Vladimir Putin is losing.

Cell phone videos of desperate Ukrainians huddled in subways have a power difficult to convey in words. Images captured by ordinary citizens have helped spark concern about Russia's possible use of (illegal) cluster munitions. And Ukrainian President Zelenskiy has used social media to assure the country that he's still in office and still fighting.

Nobody believes the silly videos posted by Russia in an effort to justify its unprovoked attack. But everyone believes the videos posted by his targets. Tank columns, explosions, wrecked buildings, armed volunteers — pick a topic, and even the cable news stations are likely sharing plenty of amateur video illustrating it.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

During the Civil War and World War I, the only way to get news from the front was to grab the latest edition of the local paper, which likely published huge headlines over skimpy wire reports. In World War II, people listened for radio bulletins, and Edward R. Murrow of CBS became one of the most famous journalists in the world. By the Vietnam era, we waited for the latest details on the evening news. To keep up with the 1991 Gulf War and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq just over a decade later, we turned on cable news any time we wanted.

Through all those changes, there was one constant: Information was delivered, for better or worse, by reporters employed by professional news organizations.

That's all changed.

Social media users are often less engaged than those who turn to legacy sources for news. But maybe that’s old news. This is not the first war to be broadcast on social media, even if feels like it to some. Photo: Bloomberg
Social media users are often less engaged than those who turn to legacy sources for news. But maybe that’s old news. This is not the first war to be broadcast on social media, even if feels like it to some. Photo: Bloomberg

Ordinary people caught up in Russia's invasion of their country have become, with their cell phone cameras, what the law professor and blogger Glenn Reynolds, much earlier in the internet age, memorably labeled "An Army of Davids": individual auteurs whose ability to document in real time the effects of Putin's grand strategy might be the most effective weapon in uniting the West against him.

It's difficult to overrate the difference this evolution makes. As someone once wrote, modern warfare has increasingly separated ordinary people from what's happening on the battlefield. 

But that's all over. Social media posts from Ukraine represent the apotheosis of the trend toward bringing the battlefield to us. The citizen journalists are making the struggle, in the words of one veteran, "the most documented war in human history."

Nowadays, close to half of U.S. adults get their news from social media. Moreover, recent years have seen a sharp rise in consumption of user-generated videos, especially among the younger generation. And social media users are more likely to engage with content that doesn't include a lot of text and does include splashy and colorful images.

Splashy and colorful images: like videos.

True, there are risks to watching the war unfold online. For one thing, social media users are often less engaged than those who turn to legacy sources for news. But maybe that's old news. This is not the first war to be broadcast on social media, even if feels like it to some.

For another, not all the videos are reliable. Given that TikTok videos with the hashtag #RussiaUkraine have already been viewed over 130 million times, we should hardly be surprised by the existence of a large number of fakes, including some that recycle audio from older TikTok posts.

But video has its virtues, and we're seeing them here. Foremost among them: the evidence that when we learn of a terrible event that happens to a group of which we aren't a member, we're more likely to be moved to anger and activism after viewing video of the event than after reading about what happened. Thus we see the link from the outrage around the world over George Floyd's murder in May of 2020 to the outrage around the world over Putin's murderous invasion some 21 months later: Once we've seen the video, it's harder to turn the page.

 During the Vietnam War, those on the pro-escalation side often insisted that had World War II been televised, the G.I.'s would have been brought home from Europe long before the job was done. I thought the argument false then and I think it false now. What will be interesting in the weeks to come is whether the social media images that have so outraged the West will cause similar outrage among ordinary Russians, and thus possibly, just possibly, put an end to what military historian John Keegan called the "poisonous intoxication" of wartime fervor.

Even before the invasion, Putin was rushing to establish control over the operation of social media outlets within Russia's borders. No doubt he has the same intentions for a conquered Ukraine. Let's all hope that whatever barriers the regime might construct, Ukraine's army of Davids will find a way through.


Stephen L. Carter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is a professor of law at Yale University and was a clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

Ukraine / Russia / invasion

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • The photo was taken in Jatrabari on 18 July 2024. Photos: Mehedi Hasan/TBS
    Jatrabari horror: BBC reveals police role in killing protesters during 2024 July Uprising
  • Finance Adviser Saluhuddin Ahmed spoke at a post-budget press conference at Osmani Auditorium in the capital today (3 June). Photo: Rajib Dhar/TBS
    Many obstacles in financial sector reforms, not only driven by IMF, World Bank: Finance adviser
  • Mahmud Hasan Khan Babu. Photo: Collected
    BGMEA requests meeting with CA to seek appointment of lobbyist to address US tariff

MOST VIEWED

  • None saw it coming: What went wrong in Bangladesh’s tariff negotiation with US 
    None saw it coming: What went wrong in Bangladesh’s tariff negotiation with US 
  • File Photo: Rajib Dhar/TBS
    Bangladesh faces economic impact as US introduces 35% tariff on exports
  • Representational image. Photo: Collected
    Bangladesh reserves above $24b even after making $2b ACU payment 
  • Electric buses for capital: Tk2,500cr to be spent in 2 years
    Electric buses for capital: Tk2,500cr to be spent in 2 years
  • Representational image. Photo: TBS
    35% US tariff to be disastrous for Bangladesh's exports, say economists and exporters
  • Clashes took place between police and protesters in Sylhet on 2 August. Photo: TBS
    Hasina authorised deadly crackdown on protesters during 2024 July uprising, BBC verifies leaked audio

Related News

  • Sacked Russian transport minister found dead in his car with gunshot wound
  • Trump, disappointed by call with Putin, to speak with Zelenskiy on Friday
  • Russia becomes first country to recognise Taliban government of Afghanistan
  • Trump, Putin reiterate positions on Ukraine war in phone call, Kremlin aide says
  • Ukraine voices concern as US halts some missile shipments

Features

Dr Mostafa Abid Khan. Sketch: TBS

Actual impact will depend on how US retailers respond: Mostafa Abid Khan

1d | Economy
Thousands gather to form Bangla Blockade in mass show of support. Photo: TBS

Rebranding rebellion: Why ‘Bangla Blockade’ struck a chord

1d | Panorama
The Mitsubishi Xpander is built with families in mind, ready to handle the daily carpool, grocery runs, weekend getaways, and everything in between. PHOTO: Akif Hamid

Now made-in-Bangladesh: 2025 Mitsubishi Xpander

2d | Wheels
Students of different institutions protest demanding the reinstatement of the 2018 circular cancelling quotas in recruitment in government jobs. Photo: Mehedi Hasan

5 July 2024: Students announce class boycott amid growing protests

4d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Not only Hasina but also Awami League should be tried: Mirza Fakhrul

Not only Hasina but also Awami League should be tried: Mirza Fakhrul

9m | TBS Today
Trump considering sanctions on Russia

Trump considering sanctions on Russia

1h | TBS World
Iran receives missile shipment from China

Iran receives missile shipment from China

2h | TBS World
Will JPA be able to survive in the political arena?

Will JPA be able to survive in the political arena?

16h | TBS Stories
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net