Abstract

The Russo-Ukrainian War had its beginnings in 2014, which was escalated by Russia into a full-blown invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It sparked an interest in online activism that is mostly advocating for Ukraine. This paper examines how pro-Ukrainian activists utilize social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and X/Twitter to fact-check disinformation from Russia, create online fundraising efforts to send humanitarian aid to Ukraine, and raise awareness of the impacts of the war on Ukrainians by using viral hashtags like #StandWithUkraine. Some online communities used humour and memes as a way to advocate for Ukraine and hold pro-Russian figures accountable on social media platforms. One of the online communities is the North Atlantic Fellas Organization (NAFO), an online organization that posts pro-Ukrainian memes on X/Twitter. The efforts of pro-Ukrainian activists on social media platforms show how useful social media is during times of war.

Introduction

The Russo-Ukrainian War has lasted for over a decade, and its beginnings can be traced back to 2014 when Russia invaded Crimea in February and March 2014 before illegally annexing it on March 18^th, 2014, even though Russia had previously recognized the European agreements and principles after resolving some issues. It caused other countries to condemn Russia’s actions by suspending the country from the G8 club of rich countries. It also caused Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin to be excluded from joining a meeting with the other world leaders (Waterfield et. al, 2014). 8 years later, a full-scale invasion was launched by Russia on Ukraine on February 24th, 2022, which sparked one of the most significant wars in the history of Europe (Crawford, 2022). As a result, Russia was condemned once again, this time by the United Nations (UN), which was supported by 143 countries in total who voted against the condemnation of Russia.

35 countries abstained from voting while 5 countries, including Russia, voted against the UN condemning Russia (Al Jazeera, 2022). It has also caused several numbers of pro-Ukrainian activist movements that aim to bring an end to the war, where pro-Ukrainian activists have used social media platforms to rally their support for Ukraine. This paper argues that pro-Ukrainian activists effectively utilize Instagram, Facebook, and X/Twitter to advocate for Ukraine as a way to prevent further destruction and genocide of Ukraine and its citizens by countering propaganda and false information from Russia, sending humanitarian aid to Ukraine, and raising awareness and advocacy through digital campaigns.

Section 1: Countering Propaganda and False Information from Russia

One of the ways that pro-Ukrainian activists make use of Facebook and X/Twitter to show advocacy for Ukraine is by countering Russian propaganda and misinformation regarding the Russo-Ukrainian war from the Russian media. The activists utilize several methods to dispel pro-Russian propaganda and misinformation regarding the conflict, such as fact-checking, reporting false content, and sharing verified information from credible sources. According to an article by Paul (2022) from The Guardian, an activist group named the Real Facebook Oversight Group actively monitors the policies of Facebook, and they have urged Facebook to take stronger measures against misinformation about the Russo-Ukrainian war from the Russian media outlets. The activist group has also urged Meta to completely block access to Russian state-funded media and to suspend any pro-Russian accounts that attempt to justify the aggression of war. Additionally, the Real Facebook Oversight Group requested additional information on the amount of resources that are allocated by Facebook to content moderation in Russia and Ukraine, particularly in local languages. Users of VKontakte (a Russian social networking site that is similar to Facebook) and other social media platforms reposted a photo that was taken in Lviv. The reposting occurred in March 2014, and according to a description of one of the reposts, it stated that an elderly woman was trampled by some

people when she was about to lay flowers at Lenin’s monument. StopFake, an organization that aims to dispel any false news from the Russian media, debunked the photo where they said that there had been no monument of Lenin in Lviv for more than two decades. Plus, the event of the elderly woman in question is actually a man, and he was not beaten up by others. Instead, he and other people were in a participation of a public performance during a protest against illegal immigration in 2009, which has no connection to the Russo-Ukrainian war at all (Mejias and Vokuev, 2017). The work of these pro-Ukrainian activists shows the power of online advocacy in combating misinformation, which is shown through the efforts of pro-Ukrainian activists on Facebook and X/Twitter. It also shows the importance of social media in dispelling Russian propaganda and misinformation during the Russo-Ukrainian war, where pro-Ukrainian activists try to push strict policies against Russian media and pro-war narratives, to ensure that certain accounts on social networking platforms are held accountable for spreading disinformation. Hence, not only do these digital efforts help to combat misinformation from Russia, but they also help to maintain the truth about the Russo-Ukrainian War, which ensures that credible news sources are able to deliver the latest updates on the situation regarding the citizens and military of Ukraine during the war.

Section 2: Sending Humanitarian Aid to Ukraine

Furthermore, pro-Ukrainian activists have utilized social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook to mobilize humanitarian aid for the Ukrainians who are affected by the Russo-Ukrainian war. According to a study done by Khardikova (2023), social media has played an important role in raising awareness on the war, particularly through activism. As the Russo-Ukrainian war escalated, the activities of pro-Ukrainian activism and content creation surged to mutually support one another. The Ukrainians who live inside and outside of their home country shared content on Instagram regarding the impacts of the war on their daily lives. Due to the constant shelling from Russia, traditional activism has transitioned into digital activism, which allows Ukrainians to create petitions, making announcements, spam major brands, and block pro-Russian propaganda, with the help of online networking, which is also one of the ways for Ukrainians to reach out to international media. The contents that were shared by Ukrainians on Instagram showed their current life situation, with lots of bombings and

shootings, along with the destruction of Ukraine’s infrastructure, and call for aid to support those who are affected by the war. The constant digital activism through constantly posting and re-sharing content regarding the war caused the Russo-Ukrainian war to become a viral news on social media. As a result, Ukraine received a huge media attention, which led to the country receiving financial and military support, along with humanitarian aid from other countries. The huge support that Ukraine received after the war became a sensation on social media has also helped Ukrainians to survive by being guided out of war zones, receiving medical aid, and getting evacuated out of the country to safety. Apart from Instagram, Facebook has also played a major role in mobilizing humanitarian aid during the Russo-Ukrainian war. According to an article by Ronzhyn et. al (2023), social media platforms have become important tools for activism and response to crisis. As the war escalated, fundraising became the most common initiative that is organized on social media. Several humanitarian organizations such as Come Back Alive, Razom, Hospitallers, Pidtrymai Armiyu Ukrayiny, and Armiya SOS actively used Facebook to raise donations on fundraisers for humanitarian aid. Few public figures suchas Dorje Batu and Serhiy Zhadan were also involved in online activism through fundraising on Facebook. The personal Facebook profiles of these two individuals received high engagement from audiences, with some profiles of other public figures reaching nearly 8% engagement from their audiences, particularly the official Facebook page Serhiy Prytuly Charity Foundation, which is operated in a similar manner as a celebrity page due to the great influence of its founder even though it is officially a charity organization. However, the Facebook pages of the aforementioned organizations had a lower rate of engagement that is around 0.8%. Despite that, their reach is able to be expanded through being tagged in Facebook posts. Visual content played a great role in boosting the rate of engagements, where videos mostly generated the engagement from the audience. The posts regarding war efforts and updates on the fundraising were also quite effective on the engagement from audiences, particularly those that features stories from volunteers, soldiers, and civilians. Thus, social media platforms have proven to be powerful tools for pro-Ukrainian activists from all over the world to mobilize humanitarian aid during the Russo-Ukrainian War without being physically involved, which can possibly put the activists in a dangerous situation with the Russian military.

Section 3: Raising Awareness Through Digital Campaigns

Moreover, pro-Ukrainian activists have also raised awareness of the effects of the Russo-Ukrainian war on Ukrainians through digital campaigns on social media platforms. According to the findings of an article by Odejide et. al (2024), the effectiveness of these digital campaigns is strongly supported by the data that is presented in the article. The data collection of the article involved asking respondents about how much they engage with posts from humanitarian organizations on social media in terms of liking, sharing, or commenting on posts. The analysis of the study from the article shows that a huge majority of respondents who participated in the data collection believed that hashtags such as #StandWithUkraine and #StopRussianAggression played a great role on in raising awareness about the dire situation in Ukraine on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and X/Twitter. 41.5% of the respondents evaluated the hashtag as “Effective”, while 23.5% of the respondents considered the hashtag as “Very Effective” when it comes to raising awareness on the current situation in Ukraine. These results proved how a strategic use of a hashtag is important for maintaining social movements and capturing the attention of the media and public. Additionally, memes have also played an important role in showing advocacy for Ukraine. For example, the North Atlantic Fellas Organization (NAFO) organizes and run digital campaigns with the aim to show their advocacy for Ukraine by creating and sharing tongue-in-cheek memes on X/Twitter that depicts Ukrainian soldiers as “Fellas” (a cartoon Shiba Inu dressed in Ukrainian military gear) which mocks and trolls Russia (Smalley, 2022). During one instance on Twitter in 2022 after Russia occupied the Crimean Peninsula and parts of the Donbas region in Ukraine, Mikhail Ivanovich Ulyanov, a Russian foreign service officer who has served as Permanent Representative to international organizations in Vienna for Russia since 2018, said on his twitter account where he has no mercy for Ukrainians. It captured the attention of the NAFO, where they flooded his comments that mocked him and they also made memes about him because of his support for the genocide of Ukrainians. It resulted in Ulyanov becoming frustrated with the NAFO, where he replied to one of the NAFO members by infamously saying, “You pronounced this nonsense, not me”. His reply became a meme to the point where it became the official slogan for NAFO (Sweeney, 2023). Therefore, the importance of the role of pro-Ukrainian activists in raising awareness about the impact of the Russo-Ukrainian war and advocating for Ukraine on social media platforms like X/Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram is shown through the usage of hashtags such as #StandWithUkraine and #StopRussianAggression has proven to be essential in showing support for Ukraine, which shows that Ukraine’s struggle for freedom receives a huge amount of international support on social media.

The emergence of online communities such as the NAFO shows how effective humour and the meme culture are in fighting against Russian propaganda and holding pro- Russian figures responsible for their anti-Ukrainian statements online.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this essay proves that the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has emphasized the importance of online activism on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and X/Twitter. These digital platforms have become a common place for pro-Ukrainian activists to fight against Russian propaganda, raise awareness on Ukraine’s struggle, and provide humanitarian support for Ukraine. Through the efforts of fact-checking possible misinformation from Russia, creating online pro-Ukrainian campaigns, and fundraising events has shown how online activism played a great role in influencing public opinion and showing global support for Ukraine. Not only did social media platforms provide a platform for advocacy, but they also ensured that Ukraine’s resistance against the Russian invasion remains a global priority. As Ukraine continues to fight for its freedom, maintaining the role of pro-Ukrainian activism on online platforms is essential for Ukraine to continue gaining international support. With that being said, continuous online activism and advocacy for Ukraine allow Ukraine’s fight for freedom and sovereignty to remain important in a global sense, which reinforces the hope for the future of Ukraine that is built on justice, resilience, and peace.

References

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