In the Russian-Ukrainian conflict the front of social networks becomes central, also marking a real historical passage. Between the urgency of truth and the pitfalls of propaganda, the role of social media in war becomes more slippery than ever, reflecting its lights and shadows and relaunching its challenges for the future.
On the role of social media in war, public opinion is clearly divided.
Half of the citizens mainly track the beneficial effects, while the others believe the side effects to prevail. Thus, if one side values them as a real window on the atrocities of the conflict (43%, with peaks of 65% among the youngest), another considers them the outpost of disinformation and propaganda (34%).
An ambiguous role that of social networks in war, therefore, but for better or for worse a key role: as sources of information they surpass newspapers, double the radio and, among the youngest, follow television.
And by restricting the focus to active users only, for the majority the social networks represent a primary channel of information on the conflict and the hope prevails that the platforms will continue to give visibility to the war: this not only among the information bulimics registered on Twitter. (76%), but at significant levels also among the very young immersed in TikTok videos (55%).
Between generations, however, the choice of information content changes: if adults mainly catch the rebounds of traditional editorial products online (news, broadcasts, in-depth articles and reports), the youngest privilege disintermediation and hunt for videos, images and stories produced on the battlefield by ordinary citizens, to then re-launch them among their friends and followers.
Moreover, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict erupts at a delicate moment for the reputation of the platforms, torn by the rising accusations in the pandemic two-year period: for 6 out of 10 Italians these have in fact brought more harm than good to the management of Covid-19, guilty of having acted as a sounding board for falsehoods about the virus and vaccines.
Informative note Values expressed in%. Dates of execution: 8-11 March 2022. Survey method: CAWI survey on a national representative sample of 1,000 subjects aged 14-75.
Alessandro Scalcon Sociologist by training, specializing in social research methodology. In SWG he takes care of opinion polls, value and opinion observers, to read market trends within social dynamics.
Infographic by Matteo Riva