Ukrainians Use Tinder to Counter Russian Propaganda
Contributed by: kellyseal on Friday, April 15 2022 @ 09:39 am
Last modified on Friday, April 15 2022 @ 09:47 am
As Russia bans more social media platforms, Ukrainians are turning to dating app Tinder to break through the country’s propaganda network.
The U.K.’s Express[*1] said that Ukrainians are using Tinder’s Passport feature to match with Russians, and then sharing images from the war over the app to counteract Putin’s propaganda campaign. Russians have been told via state TV that there is no war, and that Russia is “liberating” people in the Ukraine. Putin has banned the use of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram in an effort to control the narrative.
A Slovakian media agency noted the trend in Tinder and is making it easier for Ukrainians to participate by launching its “Special Love Operation” movement that encourages people to match with Russian singles and flood them with images from the war in Ukraine, so they know what is actually happening.
The agency’s website[*2] walks Tinder users through the process, which includes changing your location to a city in Russia, taking a selfie holding a photo of the war in Ukraine, and then using the bio the agency provides for the “About Me” section.
The agency has provided twelve war images to choose from so you don’t have to find them yourself, along with the pre-written bio that is written in Russian and reads: “Dear Russians, the West does not hate you. We hate the war. We hate the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. The Russian army is killing innocent people while Putin is lying and hiding the truth from you.”
The website states: “Show love, not hate and Swipe Right them all.”
Tinder has been used to fight back against the Russian invasion from the start of the war, according to Express. Originally, single Ukrainian women who were using Tinder noticed that Russian soldiers were matching with them on the app. They accepted the matches and used them to acquire information, like where the soldiers were located and what they were doing.
From there, Ukrainians began to use Tinder as a way to reach Russians outside of the banned social media apps, encouraging them to resist the propaganda and fight their leaders about the war. Currently, using the word “war” to describe what is happening in Ukraine is illegal in Russia, and carries a severe jail sentence.
The website for Special Love Operation states: “Russian official channels are lying while innocent people are murdered. Putin ignores the whole world, but maybe he will not ignore own people.”
It continues: “We found a way to bypass the censorship on Tinder. Let’s show that love and truth are stronger than war.”