The ongoing invasion of Ukraine from Russian forces is marking a monumental shift in European politics through an invasion on the scale that has not been seen since the second world war. During this difficult period, it is important to recognise and analyse the way in which the situation is playing out. One of the most dramatic social technologies of the modern age is social media, and the ability for anyone to share anything in a matter of seconds. Due to the speed and means at which this occurs, people no longer rely solely on newspapers or news reports that travel through third parties to get their information. As a result, this has led to what is perhaps the first instance of what may be considered internet meme and meme culture being used as official propaganda during a time of war. 

 

Propaganda often has negative connotations of spreading misleading information, but this is not necessarily the case. This article will discuss propaganda simply in terms of a piece of media which attempts to influence towards a certain cause. 

 

Most of this takes place on Twitter, the platform that allows people to share a maximum of 280-character messages with attached photos or videos. During the invasion, the official Twitter account for Ukraine, has been actively making posts on the platform during the invasion by sharing information, propaganda and warning about Russian misinformation. 

 

One interesting use of propaganda is through a satirical cartoon shared by the account featuring a caricature of Hitler smiling and touching a caricature of Putin’s face in such a way that suggests a father and son, drawing parallels between the malicious and unprovoked territorial expansion caused by both leaders. While political cartoons are nothing new, and have been used during war extensively throughout history, this marks a significant time where such an item of propaganda is directly shared to a global audience by a nation which is being actively invaded by an aggressor. 

 

The use of internet terminology and language can be seen most evidently in a Twitter post made by the Ukraine on the 26th of February in response to Elon Musk, the billion-dollar tech entrepreneur of companies such as Tesla and SpaceX, who stated on Twitter that “Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route.”. This was prompted after a request from the Ukranian vice prime minister to enable the ‘Starlink’ programme to secure internet access within Ukraine. ‘Starlink’ is a system of satellites which orbit earth in the goal of providing fast internet access, especially for remote regions. The Ukraine twitter account thanked Musk for his response writing: “thanx, appreciate it”. The colloquial form of ‘thanx’ instead of ‘thanks’ signifies an interesting point in the way Ukraine wishes to be perceived and the influence of the internet on war time propaganda. Meme culture on the internet is extremely informal, and often has a ‘homemade’ aesthetic in the sense that anybody, even without expertise, could have created and posted the content. This general sense is similarly evoked through the use of ‘thanx’ in the tweet. 

 

Overall, this seems to be an effective use of language because it reminds readers of the inherent humanity behind the post; it makes one view the Ukraine not just as a state but as a collection of people just like oneself. The tweet reads like it could have been posted by a friend you know instead of somebody whose job it is to manage the country’s digital presence.