russia’s disinformation and propaganda efforts on social Media: Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation warns of growing danger on TikTok

The Center for Countering Disinformation at Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council has flagged TikTok as a more dangerous platform for spreading russian disinformation and propaganda than Telegram.

Alina Aleksieeva, Deputy Head of the Center, highlighted this concern during the “Fact-checking in the Regions: Challenges, Difficulties, and Prospects” conference organized by Media Center Ukraine.

“At the Center, we see Telegram as something we’ve already figured out—we understand its structure and how it operates. However, TikTok poses a far greater threat today. Its user base spans not only teenagers and young adults, but also, unexpectedly, individuals over 55. TikTok has become a significant concern for us,” Aleksieeva noted.

Svitlana Slipchenko, deputy executive director of Vox Ukraine, echoed these concerns, pointing out that russian disinformation is rampant across all social media platforms.

“Research shows that Ukrainians rely heavily on social media for news, with Telegram being a leading source. We often perceive Telegram as the primary culprit, given its abundance of anonymous russian channels and impersonation of Ukrainian ones. But the problem extends beyond Telegram—fake news is widespread on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. We’ve encountered misinformation on all these platforms, likely as much as on Telegram. The danger is focusing too narrowly on one platform while russian propaganda continues to thrive across the entire digital landscape,” Slipchenko stated.

Read more: https://mediacenter.org.ua/news