The Ukrainian authorities, by a clever use of the media and social networks, have taken over Russia in the “Information” field, says the expert Peter W. Singer.
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On social networks, the images of the war in Ukraine are omnipresent. Humoristic or poignant, posted by official accounts and by simple Internet users or soldiers in the field, they testify to the violence of the Russian invasion, highlight the resistance of the Ukrainian people and contribute to the support of international opinion. The authorities like citizens perfectly exploit this news, explains Peter W. Singer, one of the best connoisseurs of these questions, expert in the American reflection circle New America Foundation and author in particular of Likewar (“how social networks are Having a weapon “, Eamon Dolan-Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018, not translated).
Do you think the Ukrain e is winning the war of the information?
Peter W. Singer: Ukraine does not win this war of the information, she has already won. It does not mean that she will win the war, but she has established a speech to rally her population against what Vladimir Putin hoped to be an easy and fast operation. The Ukrainians cemented the idea in the West of Russia as the evil invader. This has not only contributed to massive sanctions, but to historical change in defense policy, particularly in Germany, or at The acceleration of the will of Finns and Swedes to join NATO . Still Switzerland and Monaco join the sanctions, that Shows that you lost the battle of the story.
How would you describe the use by the Ukrainian authorities of social networks? Is it effective?
We have long focused on the concept of “cyberguerre”, networking hacking. What is actually more important is human hacking: the ability to ensure that ideas become viral. Whether in terms of marketing, political campaigns or pure war, strategies are the same.
We see him in Ukraine: we have the story of “the man of the people” with regard to Zelansky: we see him on the ground, taking risks with his soldiers, his compatriots. There were viral videos of Ukrainian citizens resistant to Russian soldiers in a very “compatible meme” way: defenders of the island of snakes, who say to the Russians to go “getting fucked” , at the “babushka”, who goes to the front of Russian soldiers, while being filmed on YouTube, asking them to take sunflower seeds in their pockets so That something beautiful grows after their death … I noticed a dozen categories of messages in this campaign.
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