MONDAY, MARCH 7 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A
war in ukraineBY RACHEL LERMANWhen Ukraine was attacked on
Twitter, the German Embassy
couldn’t just stay quiet.
On Twitter, official Russian
government accounts defended
the country’s actions in invading
Ukraine, including one from the
Russian Embassy in South Africa
that read, “We appreciate your
support and glad you decided to
stand with us today, when Russia,
like 80 years ago, is fighting Na-
zism in Ukraine!”
The tweet thanked South Afri-
can followers for supposedly
sending letters supporting the
Russian invasion. The German
Embassy in South Africa clapped
back on Twitter, accusing Russia
of “slaughtering innocent chil-
dren, women and men for its own
gain.”
“It’s definitely not ‘fighting Na-
zism’,” @GermanEmbassySA
tweeted on Saturday. “Shame on
anyone who’s falling for this.
(Sadly, we’re kinda experts on
Nazism.)”
The tweet, which has been
largely praised online and shared
over 15,000 times, is one of many
posts from usually staid official
government accounts that during
the war have shed formality for a
distinctly more casual and sharp
social media tone, one that is
generally more common between
individuals or corporate brands
snapping back at each other.
Ukraine has used its official
Twitter account, @Ukraine, not
just to share battle and safety
information, but also to encour-
age citizens and people around
the world to rise up against Rus-
sia online. Days after Russia in-
vaded the country, Ukraine
tweeted directly to supporters:
“Tag @Russia and tell them what
you think about them.”
People complied, tweeting
President Vladimir Putin “must
be stopped” and “not cool man” to
Russia. But others also pointed
out how remarkably Internet-
speak the tweet was. “Never in my
life did I ever imagine that a
country would cyberbully an in-
vading country,” one user wrote.
“What a time to be alive,” another
posted.
Social media has become a
weapon for both Ukraine and
Russia during the war. Ukraine
has used it to rally troops, de-
mand support from foreign gov-
ernments and companies, and to
try to stoke rage against Putin
within Russia by posting often
gory videos of captured soldiers.
It has already had an effect on
encouraging Western companies
to cut ties to Russia, recruiting
soldiers and spreading memes
and messages supporting
Ukraine around the world. Rus-
sia, which is known for its tight
control on media and propa-
ganda within the country and for
its cyber prowess, has not kept up
with Ukraine’s a cumen in gaining
social media support during the
war.
At the same time, however,misinformation from Russia and
other sources has run rampant
online, leaving social media com-
panies to once again scramble to
stem the tide on misrepresented
posts of photos and videos.
Governments around the
world have official accounts on
Twitter. They usually have multi-
ple accounts for everything from
their executive offices to embas-
sies to parks departments. The
main accounts are often run by
communications teams or for-
eign affairs departments. Some-
times, countries let ordinary citi-
zens take over accounts to share
their views of their homelands.
Twitter labels official govern-
ment accounts with a small flag
and note for accounts from cer-
tain countries, including Russia,the United States, other G-7 coun-
tries and some others, but
Ukraine is not on that list. In-
stead, the accounts have just the
familiar blue check mark when
Twitter has verified they are who
they say they are.
The @Ukraine Twitter pres-
ence has been so conversational
that some have urged caution,
even though it has been verified
by the social media company.
When @Ukraine tweeted a call
for cryptocurrency donations last
week, one crypto leader told peo-
ple to be wary until they verified
the call was real. (It was real.)
The country’s digital transfor-
mation leader, Mykhailo Fedorov,
has run a master class in the
social media campaign in the past
month, urging executives andcompanies directly to support
Ukraine. He first tweeted about
accepting crypto donations be-
fore the main account picked it
up.
Ukraine’s flagship account has
gained more than 1 million fol-
lowers in less than two weeks,
jumping to 1.7 million followers
from about 347,000 on Feb. 24.
The account has been posting
memes and using Internet humor
to reach followers for years. In
2017, the account was operated by
three millennials working with
the government, Yahoo News re-
ported. It’s unclear who is behind
the official @Ukraine account
now.
It also regularly engages with
followers. On Feb. 26, it replied to
a user asking why Ukraine fol-lows the official account of the
state of New Jersey. “cauz they’re
cool,” the account wrote. The
state is known for using its Twit-
ter account to clap back at “hat-
ers.”
Governments and politicians
have become more relaxed with
their social media use in recent
years, using the sites to talk with
constituents in more conversa-
tional ways. And some elected
officials, notably former presi-
dent Donald Trump, had no
qualms about using the forums to
bash or call out political enemies.
One of the most popular tweets
of the 2016 presidential election
was a clapback from Democratic
candidate Hillary Clinton, who
tweeted the common Internet re-
buke “delete your account” to
Trump when he posted a tweet
disparaging her chances of win-
ning. Still, the Internet rhetoric
used so far during the war in
Ukraine has been notable for its
conversational tone and online
slang.
“Obviously, social media is crit-
ical for the Ukrainians to use,”
said Paul Argenti, a professor of
corporate communication at the
Tuck School of Business at Dart-
mouth College, pointing out that
the government was using the
platform to communicate direct-
ly with citizens and the outside
world while it lacks other tools for
reaching people en masse.
But, he cautioned, “you need to
really think about your tone if
you’re doing that. You can’t be
flip. You can’t be glib.” The tweet
from the German Embassy in
South Africa used an inappropri-
ately glib tone in referencing the
German role in killing millions
during World War II, Argenti
said.
A spokesperson for the embas-
sy said that Germany has learned
from its past and today works to
stand up for the values the coun-
try once let down and that it felt a
responsibility to post the tweet. A
spokesperson with the American
Jewish Committee tweeted sup-
port for the embassy’s post, call-
ing on the embassy’s social media
manager to be given a raise. Gov-
ernment agencies within Ukraine
and Russia did not respond to a
request for comment.Governments strike a more casual tone in hitting back at Russia on Twitter
ED JONES/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
Members and supporters of the Ukrainian community protest in New York on Saturday against the Russian invasion. Governments’ social
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