Social media and global conflicts and emergencies - statistics & facts
Social media makes it easy for people to share experiences from the front lines of conflicts, as well as consume that content from almost anywhere in the world. As with most online spaces, social media has a dark underbelly of information. It can sometimes feel that all the positive that comes from constant connection is outweighed by the negative. Climate change denial minimizes the urgency of the issue, and ambiguous definitions of what constitutes freedom of speech lead to unrestrained discriminatory content. The online world can be a dangerous place with real-world implications.
Conflict research in this report focuses on the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas war as this was the information available at the time of creation.
Conversations on X (formerly Twitter) about nuclear war, peace negotiations, and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant increased between February and March 2022. In February 2022, 55.51 percent of the posts on X that mentioned the word “nuclear” displayed negative sentiments. By October 2022, related to the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, 68.43 percent of tweets including the word evoked negative connotations.
The beginning of November 2023 saw the accumulation of around 46 million views on TikTok for videos with the hashtag #standwithisrael, and 29 million views for videos with #standwithpalestine. TikTok has since removed the ability to see how many times a video has been viewed.
The language around climate disinformation has also changed over time. On YouTube in 2023, the most common denialist claim was that climate science and the climate movement are not reliable, followed by the claim that climate solutions will not work. Additionally, between 2018 and 2023, there was a 20 percent decrease in statements on YouTube that the weather was too cold for climate change. Clean energy not working and harmful climate policies are other claims that were present on YouTube. On X in 2022, there were around 850,000 tweets or retweets that contained climate-skeptic terminology, a 286 percent increase since 2020.
Social media enables those in precarious situations to communicate with the outside world and allows those looking towards conflicts to share their support. However, denialism, propaganda, and false information with real-world consequences can also be shared and reshared at the tap of a finger.
Conflict research in this report focuses on the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas war as this was the information available at the time of creation.
Russia and Ukraine: Online conversations change with the situation on the ground
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine started on February 24, 2022. In Russia, Facebook and Instagram were banned after a Moscow court labeled Meta Platforms an extremist company in March 2022. Overall, 16 percent of Russians fully supported this ban, while 26 percent absolutely did not support it.Conversations on X (formerly Twitter) about nuclear war, peace negotiations, and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant increased between February and March 2022. In February 2022, 55.51 percent of the posts on X that mentioned the word “nuclear” displayed negative sentiments. By October 2022, related to the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, 68.43 percent of tweets including the word evoked negative connotations.
Israel and the Palestinian territories: Hashtags as a symbol of support
The Middle East conflict is the United Nations’ longest-lasting peace mission. Social media is a place where people can share their support and thoughts, often by using hashtags, used to ensure content can be found in relation to that topic. In November 2023, Facebook had over 11 million posts with the hashtag #freepalestine and 282,000 posts with the hashtag #standwithisrael. There were approximately six million posts on Instagram using #freepalestine and 230,000 posts using #standwithisrael.The beginning of November 2023 saw the accumulation of around 46 million views on TikTok for videos with the hashtag #standwithisrael, and 29 million views for videos with #standwithpalestine. TikTok has since removed the ability to see how many times a video has been viewed.
The war on social media
The online world is not a safe space for all users, and social media conversations reflect the rise of the far right. According to a study conducted in 2023, 86 percent of posts on X that were reported for containing hate speech were still hosted by the platform. Moreover, 90 percent of X accounts that were publishing hate speech posts remained active. There was substantial growth in discriminatory posts against Muslims on X throughout October 2023, as well as a surge in antisemitic posts on X and Facebook.The language around climate disinformation has also changed over time. On YouTube in 2023, the most common denialist claim was that climate science and the climate movement are not reliable, followed by the claim that climate solutions will not work. Additionally, between 2018 and 2023, there was a 20 percent decrease in statements on YouTube that the weather was too cold for climate change. Clean energy not working and harmful climate policies are other claims that were present on YouTube. On X in 2022, there were around 850,000 tweets or retweets that contained climate-skeptic terminology, a 286 percent increase since 2020.
Social media enables those in precarious situations to communicate with the outside world and allows those looking towards conflicts to share their support. However, denialism, propaganda, and false information with real-world consequences can also be shared and reshared at the tap of a finger.
