War as seen on TikTok: Ukraine clips get views whether true or not

Ukraine footage on TikTok varies wildly, from satirical commentary to false footage and accurate news clips.

Pdotz, a popular British TikToker with more than half a million followers, has received about 3m views for his explainers on the conflict.

Other posts are from TikTok users presenting looped footage as live images from the conflict. An example of this included a video flagged by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) in which live footage purportedly from the point of view of a Ukrainian soldier was in fact on a loop. The account that posed the footage, and similar videos, received millions of views before disappearing. CCDH says it is problematic that TikTok videos do not show where a clip was posted, meaning that viewers are unable to discern whether footage ostensibly from the frontlines of the conflict is posted from Moscow, for instance.