From laughing to learning: How TikTok genres influence American youth understanding and sentiments about the war in Ukraine

Abstract

The Russo-Ukrainian war has often been called “the first TikTok war” by the media. TikTok was widely used for sharing content during a full-scale invasion, and the number of videos filmed in Ukraine and about Ukraine has increased significantly since February 2022. This study examines the impact of native TikTok video genres on young Americans’ perception of the war in Ukraine, with a specific focus on cynicism, political efficacy, empathy, and knowledge. Experimentally (N = 794), this study explored the effects of satirical and explainer TikTok videos on public understanding and sentiment regarding the war. The findings indicate that TikTok videos generally increased cynicism about the war, and both types of video genre contributed to increased knowledge about the Russian invasion compared to a control condition. Moreover, the effects varied based on political affiliation: explainer videos increased empathy and knowledge scores among Republican participants. This article employs mediatization theory to demonstrate that platform-specific affordances and vernacular act as gatekeepers, limiting short-term persuasive effects. It further challenges the assumptions of direct media effects by showing that pre-existing political identity is a significant moderator of video influence.