Social Media Reporting on Russian-Ukrainian Conflict: Impact on Young South Africans

The Russia-Ukraine War is perceived as the world’s first TikTok war, the first social media war, as users spread information in real time. Both Russia and Ukraine are using social media platforms to rally support and spread information and disinformation. Caught in the crossfire are the social media audience who should decide for themselves whom to believe. The purpose of this article is to investigate the impact of social media reporting of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict to the African young adults. Since few Africans are directly experiencing the conflict, the majority are relying more on the social media to understand the conflict. The chapter was drawn from ongoing reports on social media platforms about Russia-Ukraine conflict. Additionally, the researcher interviewed some young Africans with the intention of getting the impact social media reporting of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict on these young adults. The young adults are perceived to be part of a generation growing up in a digital world and most likely to view news and other information on social media platforms. The results of the interviews indicate that the South African young adults’ responses to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict are being influenced by their own perceptions, which are formed by the publicity on the social media platforms.