Russia’s war on Ukraine will get uglier very, very soon. A large explosion destroyed a government building overnight in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, killing at least 7 and as many as two dozen hurt, including one child. CNN reports a second wave of Russian invaders is on its way and likely to overwhelm defenders. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in a Tuesday speech to the European Union said “we are fighting for our life.”
Meanwhile, outgunned Ukraine has managed to win the international messaging war. “Please take note of how dramatically Twitter has changed since the freezing of Russian assets,” Heather Coc Richardson observed this morning. “Suddenly all those anti-Biden ‘American patriots’ have disappeared.” Not all, perhaps, but Facebook and Twitter are working on it:
Facebook removed profiles related to News Front and South Front in 2020, and the company confirmed to NBC News that the new group shared connections to the accounts that were previously banned. Both websites have pushed misleading articles, questioning the results of the 2020 presidential election and the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines. The State Department identified the websites as Russian disinformation outlets in a 2020 report.
Zelensky’s team includes hackers and, apparently, enough social-media savvy supporters to command in cyberspace what it holds more tenuously on the ground.
Peter W. Singer, author and Senior Fellow at New America (not the Australian bioethicist) Tweeted a 10-step short course (Threadreader) Monday on what Ukraine is getting right in outmatching Russia in messaging.
1) Pre-Bunking
2) Heroism
3) Martyrs
4) Man of the People
5) Civilian Harm
6) Civilian Resistance
7) Bandwagoning
8) Humanizing
9) Card Stacking
10) Mockery
Mockery as in the image at the top (adapted from a meme). And this:
It’s hard not to see how Democrats as a party could benefit from messaging like this that is less policy and more eye-catching message.
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