Constella’s team of intelligence analysts created a custom, proprietary dashboard available through our Dome Platform, visualizing selected dimensions of the digital public conversation related to the Ukraine crisis to identify fast-moving global trends emerging from the online debate and to better understand the narratives and critical players driving the digital conversation. Each week, Constella Intelligence will share notable findings from its dashboard on the Constella Intelligence blog. Below are key insights from May 17th to May 23rd, 2022 from the digital public conversation related to Ukraine. Over the period analyzed, the dashboard captured 8,255,101 results 1,626,832 users interacting in English.
KEY INSIGHTS – MAY 17TH TO MAY 23RD, 2022
Media, celebrities, politicians, and citizens drive over 1/3 of users in the conversation to cluster into a community expressing discontent with U.S. government
Allegations of corruption and mistrust of the government is a key theme that unites over one-third of profiles detected in the digital conversation. Within the context of the Ukraine conflict and congregating within a community expressing discontent with U.S. politics, high-profile figures like Elon Musk share news related to the trial of Michael Sussman, a former Clinton campaign lawyer accused of lying to the FBI and fabricating stories related to the Trump campaign’s alleged links to Russia.
American conservative political profiles amplify these messages and reassert claims of corruption against the media and the Clinton campaign—among them, Representative Marjorie Taylor Green and Jim Jordan. Other conservatives, like Lauren Boebert, drive discontent related to the spending packages approved to support Ukraine in the conflict.
American presenters and media such as Sahil Kapur (NBC) and Ken Klippenstein (The Intercept) drive conversations about George Bush misspeaking at a Dallas event, provoking a comparison between the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Russian media like, Russia Today (RT), is highly influential in this community, ranked 6th. Among RT’s most shared links include articles related to alleged U.S.—Ukraine aid money laundering and the U.S. recruiting ISIS terrorists. Canadian alt-media previously criticized for publication of false stories, The Post Millenial, appears in 7th place in this community.
Telegram ranks 3rd overall in the debate, shared over 55K times. RT is shared around 13.7K times total in the digital conversation.
COMMUNITIES DETECTED – MAY 17TH TO MAY 23RD, 2022
1. U.S. Discontent (35.5% of users): Community-led by Elon Musk. Messages express discontent towards the political class and accuse them of lying dominate within this community. Many messages alleged corruption and impropriety of figures like Hillary Clinton (using hashtags like #Hillaryforprison and #lockherup) and Hunter Biden, while the Democrats are criticized for financial aid to Ukraine.
- The Western press is also criticized for echoing Ukrainian government news and narratives about Russia, allegedly without examining the veracity of this information (in this case an Insider story is shared about the death of a 1-year-old baby who died after being kidnapped by Russian soldiers).
- American presenters and media such as Sahil Kapur (NBC) and Ken Klippenstein (The Intercept) drive conversations about the spread of George Bush’s slip in apparently mistakenly mentioning war crimes in Iraq at an event in Dallas while condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
2. Ukraine Support (20.6% of users): Ukrainian media and journalists are among the primary influencers in this community. There are critical reactions to the publication of the New York Times’ “The War in Ukraine Is Getting Complicated, and America Isn’t Ready” published on May 19 where Ukraine is asked to surrender. Dmyro Kuleba (Ukrainian Foreign Minister) also responded to this publication, claiming the right of legitimate defense of Ukraine. Mikhail Khodaryonok (defense columnist) is also broadcast on Russian state television condemning Russia’s war on Ukraine and his country’s international isolation.
3. US Support (9.9% of users): American community thanking Biden for defending Ukraine from the Russians. Several messages are also disseminated alluding to Putin’s loss of power, which is questioned by senior army commanders who consider the war lost. On the other hand, criticism of Trump’s ties with Russia and George Bush’s lapse in Dallas are also spread.
4. Global News (6.6% of users): Main influencers include The Associated Press, The New York Times, Reuters and BBC News (World). Content in this community disseminates George Bush’s slip-up as well as graphic evidence on the crimes committed by the Russian army.
5. U.K. Support (4.8% of users): Led by BBC journalist Francis Scarr. Mikhail Khodaryonok (defense columnist) is broadcast on Russian state television condemning Russia’s war on Ukraine and his country’s international isolation. Criticism surges regarding Boris Johson’s appointment of Evgeny Lebedev as a member of the House of Lords, whose father a former KGB agent and has been placed on Canada’s sanctions list for his ties to Putin.
6. Sports Community (4.8% of users): Focused on asking about Ukraine’s participation in the World Cup and spreading the supportive gesture of Manchester City player Oleksandr Zinchenko who placed a Ukrainian flag over the Premier League trophy.
7. Fundraising (3.5% of users): Marketing and diffusion campaigns to raise funds to support those affected by the conflict.
APPENDIX – MAY 17TH TO MAY 23RD, 2022
In the first iteration of this dashboard, we captured results related to the following 3 dimensions: Countries, Key Figures, Themes
- Selected countries currently in the dashboard include: The United States, Ukraine, Russia, China, Poland, Belarus.
- Selected Key Figures currently in the dashboard include: Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky, Joe Biden, Boris Johnson, Ursula Von der Leyen, Josep Borrell, Xi Jinping, Olaf Scholz. Any mentions to these key figures are captured in the dashboard and can be visualized across multiple dimensions of analysis.
- Selected themes currently in the dashboard include: Ukraine Citizens Impact, Economy, Cyberattacks, Migration Movements
Constella's Ukraine dashboard - Communities Module Preview
To see our full dashboard in action, Request a Demo with one of our geopolitical intelligence experts.
