RT, the Russian news service, has recently raised the issue of war videos on TikTok and their spread on the Internet. The website is used to make short videos that promote the work of a single user. According to reports, RT uses the service to promote its own videos. However, the platform is reportedly removing such content on a whim.
RT editor-in-chief uses TikTok to promote her videos
RT’s Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan has been using TikTok to promote her videos. However, TikTok hasn’t banned her, or any other accounts linked to the Russian state, from posting.
RIA Novosti, a Russian state-controlled news agency, has also been sharing content on TikTok, despite being restricted in the country. The RIA Novosti account has 131,000 followers. They publish similar content to Sputnik and RT.
The RIA Novosti video has been viewed two million times. The video echoes blatant misinformation. The video claims that President Volodymyr Zelensky fled Kyiv for Lviv, despite his own statement that he is still in Kyiv. The RIA Novosti video also cites a quote from Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin.
The Russian state media often features misleading quotes. Earlier this week, RIA Novosti posted a video claiming that the Ukrainian government covered up bio-warfare projects financed by the U.S. This video is a remix of a recording of Victoria Nuland’s testimony in the U.S. Senate. The RIA Novosti video also claims that the Ukrainian military is refusing to treat wounded civilians in Mariupol.
RIA Novosti has published misleading posts on TikTok over the last four days. One video titled “Ukraine lied” cited a quote from the Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Veledin. The video also claimed that the Ukrainian military was setting up Grad rocket equipment in a residential area.
RT’s Editor-in-Chief has twice as many views on TikTok as YouTube. TikTok hasn’t publicly addressed the issue. But TikTok has added labels to identify Russian state-controlled media. The labels are semi-translucent gray boxes at the bottom of the screen. When a user sees a label, they can click on it to read more.
Misinformation is being spread
During the war in Ukraine, TikTok has been the source of a flood of misleading material. But the app, owned by Chinese tech firm ByteDance, has not been able to control the influx of false videos on the platform. In fact, TikTok has been accused of being the source of some of the worst disinformation on the internet.
A NewsGuard report found that TikTok was not doing enough to combat the spread of misinformation related to the war in Ukraine. The firm found that the app was recommending misleading content within 40 minutes of a user joining the network. The researchers also did not find any signs of effective moderation of misleading information.
The report looked at a variety of content on the site. It included videos peddling misinformation and a few legitimate pieces of content.
The news media has noticed an increase in the amount of misinformation being spread online. They’ve also noticed a proliferation of viral videos that depict a variety of events, including the war in Ukraine. They’ve reported that Facebook and Twitter have a high level of misinformation amplification. This amplification is caused by a number of factors, including engagement, mechanisms for “virality” on platforms, and the ability to reach new audiences.
However, it’s not always easy to tell whether a video is real or not. Users often point their cameras at nondescript scenes, which gives the impression of a conflict. Some users even loop the same audio clip over and over again.
TikTok does not disclose how many human moderators are involved in the content-moderation process. But NewsGuard reports that there is not much data to indicate how many people are actually monitoring the network. It’s not surprising, then, that the platform is not doing enough to stop the spread of misinformation.
Misinformation is being removed on a hoc basis
Seeing the same footage several times in a row is no longer a novelty, thanks to the social media app TikTok. The platform’s round-the-clock monitoring has kept a close eye on the war in Ukraine, which has resulted in a flood of misleading content. It’s not unusual to see livestreams that show CGI footage of missile strikes on Ukraine, along with dramatic audio from an on-camera interview. Some users even use the same clip with new footage.
The latest slew of misleading material is a bit of a head scratcher. Although TikTok has stepped up its game in response to the onslaught, the company’s tally of fake videos has exceeded its grasp of reality. A whirlwind of misinformation has blighted the platform, and a recent survey by NewsGuard reveals that the platform’s algorithm was only able to stoke the horns of controversy in 40 minutes after new users signed up.
In a bid to weed out the faux pas, TikTok has upped its ante in response to recent spikes in false information, and increased the resources it deploys to combat the scourge of misinformation. It has also teamed up with an independent fact-checker to sift through the content on its network. Nevertheless, the site still has much work to do to weed out the fakes. The best way to tell if a video is fake is to check out its “For You” page, which allows viewers to vote on the top posts. The site’s infamous spam filters are also in place, but it’s still a battle of good intentions versus bad science.
It’s also a good time to remind the board of the SMM (social media monitoring) related acronym. In a bid to curb disinformation, platforms should make the process of removing harmful content easier, and remind their shareholders of the need to act responsibly.
Misinformation is being added to computer-generated or otherwise banal videos
Hundreds of millions of people have been exposed to a new wave of misinformation on TikTok, a popular mobile app that lets users interact with each other. The video-sharing platform has been inundated with conflict-themed footage since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Some of the videos use realistic video game footage as a substitute for real war footage. Others pass old footage from war films or training manuals as live. And the audio track for gunshots, uploaded before the war began, has been used more than 1,700 times.
The popularity of these false videos has prompted a growing concern about the authenticity of the material. And TikTok is trying to address the problem. It has boosted its resources to respond to harmful misinformation. It also collaborates with independent fact-checkers. However, it has not provided any transparency to academics or researchers about its efforts to combat misleading information.
Researchers have also found that the TikTok search engine is feeding millions of young users with health misinformation. An investigation by NewsGuard revealed that a user could be recommended a misinformation video within 40 minutes of joining the network.
But while the platform has made an effort to crack down on misinformation, it has also been found to be susceptible to manipulation. For example, the site has been allowing fake livestreams to thrive. Rather than being removed from the site, these fake streams blend in with other information and can be difficult to identify.
Another problem with the videos is that users may not realize they are fake until it is too late. They may have seen a dramatic video, but don’t realize it is a fake until they read comments from other TikTok users.
Misinformation is being used to add more realistic sounds of war to computer-generated or otherwise banal videos
Among the many things social media has been doing for years is spreading misleading information. Earlier it was used to spread political messages, rumor, and dangerous slurs. Now, the Internet is a breeding ground for misinformation and fakes.
The ability to make a convincing fake video is not new, but recent technologies have made it cheaper and easier. For instance, a popular video on TikTok uses computer-generated imagery to depict scenes of war.
There’s also been a rise in the number of videos that contain a “deepfake” – a video produced by an artificial intelligence process. Deepfakes mimic the effects of Photoshop and add a person’s likeness to an existing video. This has the effect of raising the probability that a video depicts a particular event, even if the event is false.RT, the Russian news service, has recently raised the issue of war videos on TikTok and their spread on the Internet.
A good example of this is the fake livestream that has flooded the Internet since last year. Some fake livestreams use clips from real war films, while others use videos from YouTube. Some have been looped. The one that has gained the most attention is a video that purports to show intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces. The video has more than 7 million views.
Other misinformation on TikTok has included scenes from video games. The “Arma 3” game, which is highly realistic, has been used for some of the videos. In addition, footage from a flight simulator has been shown as evidence of the war.
While some of these videos have a lot to offer, they have not been well studied. For instance, a popular video on the site features the sound of a chemical explosion from 2020.
A video supposedly showing a row of armored vehicles being destroyed by missiles has been seen, but the actual footage was actually recorded in Chechen capital Grozny.