The Significance of Social Media in the First Weeks Following Russia’s Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine – An Exploratory Overview
The Significance of Social Media in the First Weeks Following Russia’s Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine – An Exploratory Overview

Summary/Abstract: The article describes the functions of social media in the first weeks following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Based on document analysis and online monitoring, it examines user practices, corporate actions, and the circulation of disinformation. The findings indicate that social media performed key informational, mobilising and aid-related functions: they enabled the organisation of refugee support, fundraising, and the exchange of reliable data. At the same time, they became a space for propaganda, manipulation, and disinformation. Social media platforms co-shaped wartime communication by deciding which content to promote or restrict, thus becoming geopolitical actors. The conclusions suggest that these media complemented the activities of public institutions and NGOs, contributing to the emergence of an incipient “fourth sector”, defined here as civic online self-organisation.

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