The Role of TikTok in Spreading Russian Falsehoods to a Wide Audience in the Ukraine War

The BBC has uncovered a Russian propaganda campaign on TikTok that involves thousands of fake accounts spreading disinformation about the war in Ukraine. These fake accounts post videos that attract millions of views and aim to undermine Western support for Ukraine. The videos make false claims, such as senior Ukrainian officials and their relatives buying luxury cars or villas abroad after Russia's invasion in February 2022. The fake TikTok videos played a part in the dismissal of Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov last September. TikTok has taken down over 12,000 fake accounts, including nearly 800 identified by the BBC. The campaign was discovered when Reznikov's daughter received a surprising call from her husband who had seen a TikTok video claiming she had bought a villa in Madrid. Similar videos alleging property purchases abroad were circulated among her friends as well. Investigations revealed that these videos belonged to a vast Russia-based network of fake TikTok accounts posing as real users from several countries, including Germany, France, Poland, Israel, and Ukraine. The network used stolen profile pictures, such as those of celebrities like Scarlett Johansson and Emma Watson. The investigation also found linguistic mistakes typical of Russian speakers and links to a website previously exposed as part of a Russian-linked network impersonating legitimate Western news websites. Many of the videos targeted Ukrainian officials, portraying them as corrupt and uncaring about the war effort. These false claims were aimed at undermining Western support and trust in Ukraine's leadership. While TikTok has taken action to remove the accounts, the app continues to recommend videos from the same network.