Who Is Marta Vasyuta? Ukrainian TikTok Influencer Using Her Account To Give War Updates

Who is Marta Vasyuta: Social media is part of the history-making during war in a digital age. The internet has become a place of rapid communication and information dissemination against the context of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with real-time updates being exchanged globally. TikTok, abundant with influencers making trendy short-form content, has become one such place where news of the Eastern European war is being covered.

Marta Vasyuta, a 20-year-old TikToker, is one such young Ukrainian using her platform purposefully for the moment. Though she is not in her war-torn country, she is sharing videos of events as they unfold in Ukraine to spread awareness to a millions-strong audience.

"My phone is completely filled with all the videos, all the news I found," she said, as quoted by the BBC. She sourced some content from Telegram, where people were reportedly sharing live information, and shared it to TikTok. It received millions of views overnight. In a matter of a few hours, Vasyuta's account has gone from having a couple hundred followers to two lakh more and counting.

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Vasyuta is one of many Ukrainian influencers using their online reach to generate support for their cause. While some are teaching followers how to make molotov cocktails, others are calling for peace efforts.

One influencer, Nastya Tyman, who has a million followers on social media shot videos from inside a tank, giving an explainer on how to operate captured or abandoned Russian military vehicles. Meanwhile, travel blogger Alina Volik has veered her content towards the war, sharing tutorials on managing first aid during emergencies, besides other information.

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Misinformation and disinformation campaigns, however, are rampant in context of the war. According to a report by ABC News, fact-checkers have been busy at work since Russia began invading Ukraine, busting false claims through approximately 500 articles published across the world.

While there are viral videos attributed mistakenly to the Russia-Ukraine war on the internet popularised by netizens sharing and reacting to them, there is also misinformation propaganda being pushed by Russia. Reports suggest tech giants are curbing the extra noise through action, with Twitter suspending multiple accounts that came under 'manipulated' content and Facebook-owner Meta restricting access to Russian state-media channels like Sputnik.