Putin’s invasion of Ukraine changed everything, especially the information war
This week, a well known U.K. podcast asked me to be a guest on their show. The interviewer wanted to talk about information warfare and Ukraine. “Don’t you think Ukrainians are being so clever about their information war?” he asked me. I wasn’t sure what he meant, because I had assumed they were just trying to survive.
“But don’t you think they are using really interesting tactics on social media?” he pressed me. All the stories, he said, were so human and touching, a new level in the whole disinformation struggle.
The host was, obviously, still catching up. After all, Putin’s terrifying invasion of Ukraine did change everything, including the disinformation game. The story of Ukraine right now, I tried to explain, packs in so much drama, so many heroes and such an obvious villain that it has shifted the global narrative overnight.
Of course, there’s no shortage of disinformation on both sides, I agreed. And yes, Ukraine does happen to have a president who is not just jaw droppingly brave but is also an astonishingly effective communicator. But no, I told the podcast host, Ukrainians were not being clever. They were simply doing exactly what most of us do: creating a digital record of this moment in their lives. Theirs just happened to be a hell of a lot more eventful.