Now no one is afraid

"Medusa" tells how Alexey Navalny and rallies collapsed to the Russian Tiktok - and whether the tickcers themselves plan to go out into the streets

Aleksey Navalny, after returning to Russia, is in the investigative insulator. The shares not agreed with the authorities in its support, scheduled for January 23, became one of the main trends in the Russian Tiktok segment. The video, one way or another associated with Navalny, watched more than 200 million times. And Roskomnadzor demanded that Tiktok delete "Materials calling for minor users of the social network to participate in illegal protest mass events." "Medusa" tells how bloggers with the help of rallies are trying to increase their recognition - and is it possible to consider ticktok an effective protest tool.

Aleksey Navalny at the beginning of the week released a video message in which he called on supporters to go to rallies on Saturday, January 23. It was recorded by the politician on January 18 right in the police department, where the visiting meeting of the Khimkinsky District Court, who sent Navalny into custody for 30 days.

After that, hashtags associated with the detention of a politician and protests began to gain popularity in Tiktok. Only the three most popular - #freedom, #23 January and #Navalnyzhivi - scored more than 200 million views. For users who were previously interested in political content, the tape was almost completely filled with such videos.

In most videos, collecting hundreds of thousands and millions of likes and comments, they urge to go to rallies on January 23 and share tips on how to participate in street promotions. Many videos are recorded for the song of the rapper Face "Labyrinth". There is such a line in it: "To be against the authorities does not mean being against the homeland."

Several popular bloggers laid out almost identical videos criticizing Navalny. They were suspected of working on power

At the beginning of the week, several popular bloggers (making content for both tiktok and other social networks) posted short videos in their instagrams, in which they criticize Navalny. These bloggers have from several hundred thousand to several million subscribers in Tiktok or Instagram (for example, Roman Gritsenko, a former participant in Dom-2, 1.1 million in Tiktoka ). At the same time, these bloggers did not speak on political topics, and in the videos about Navalny some of them used almost identical phrases that after the detention of a policy against Russia they can impose new sanctions. Bloggers accused Navalny himself of this.

In the contacts of these bloggers, two advertising agencies are indicated: Wow Media and Wildjam. After the journalists drew attention to critical videos, the head of the Wildjam agency Yaroslav Andreev said that the agency was stopping cooperating with these bloggers. “It is very sad that bloggers fit into such a thing,” he said, and added that the agency is engaged only in advertising brands at bloggers, and not “propaganda and political advertising”.

At the same time, previously Wildjam clients were already in scandals due to the videos related to politics. For example, before the mayor’s elections in Moscow in 2018, Nikolai Sobolev shot a laudatory video in which he told how the park had changed. Gorky over the past few years - after which the videos followed from other bloggers. They were accused of hidden advertising Sobyanin.

Medusa contacted six bloggers, who in January 2021 posted critical videos addressed to Navalny - but none of them agreed to give a comment. One of the bloggers said that he was not ready to answer questions. The Wow Media agency also did not answer Medusa. Wildjam reported that the head of the agency Yaroslav Andreev is now unavailable for comments.

On Wednesday, January 20, there were reports on social networks that tickers allegedly offer to publish similar posts with criticism of Navalny for money - 150 thousand rubles per video. At the same time, as an example, users did not give ticklers, but Instagram-blogger Anastasia Ostanin (more than 46 thousand subscribers on Instagram, he stopped leading the tickte). Ostanina laid out the screen of the correspondence where she was offered to shoot a video where she should say that Navalny is “not a patriot”. Ostanina told subscribers that she refused advertising.

“Selling your personal position and principles for 150 thousand is unacceptable for me. Politicized and especially paid content for and against the authorities - for me this is also unacceptable. And to use bloggers and media persons for money to advertise politicized content is a wrong strategy, ”she said to Medusa.

According to her, Ostanina thought for a long time whether to lay out this correspondence on the social network, but after the post of refusing political advertising, the number of her subscribers grew by 200 people, and a lot of support came to personal messages - however, one of the bloggers asked for a link to the account, which promised 150 thousand for the advertising post, because “he needed money” (Ostanina did not transfer this information to him).

At the same time, the user who offered Ostanina political advertising has already deleted his account. He himself contacted Medusa and stated that this proposal to Ostanina was Prank: “It was just a way to find out how such fake news spread in Russia.”

The administrator of the Tictopers community (180 thousand subscribers on VKontakte, publishes news about the life of ticklers) Misha Komkov in a conversation with Medusa said that political advertising in Tiktoka is a very real phenomenon: “Otherwise, they have no means for existence. The fees for political advertising are several times higher than ordinary fees. ”

Most tiktockers joke over Putin and admire Navalny. And some tickts helps to find a company to participate in promotions

In hashtags associated with Navalny or rallies on January 23, in Tiktok you can find not only opposition videos. Some bloggers use popular tags to advertise their account. There are those who oppose rallies, as well as those who simply ironically comment on the agenda (especially the investigation of the Palace of Putin ).

A student from Moscow Valeria told Medusa that she accidentally came up with her friends a joke about a rally and laid her out in a ticktok for her three thousand subscribers. The girl did not expect that the video would become popular, but it gained 200 thousand views (usually Valeria’s videos were 100 times less).

“In general, I am even annoyed by such a number of views on the video, because it seems to me that the authorities are negative about criticism, and I'm not sure of its safety,” Valeria said Medusa. She herself, most likely, will not go to the rally, because there, in her opinion, will be “unsafe”.

Another popular Tiktok about Navalny was laid out by the schoolgirl Victoria. In it, she removes a portrait of Putin from the school board - and hangs a portrait of Navalny instead. Now this video is deleted. Victoria explained to Medusa that she had problems because of the video (which ones, she did not explain). “After the situation at the school, I’m generally afraid to open my mouth once again,” she added, noting that the school principal “does not share my opinion” of students about politics.

They are trying to intimidate not only minors of ticklers. A deputy from Novosibirsk Helga Pirogova published a video in Tiktok, where she wrote that on January 23, “every city of the country comes out on the streets.” For this video, she was summoned to a commission on deputy ethics, since Pirogov “calls to participate in rallies” with his actions. At the same time, the mayor of Novosibirsk, a member of the Communist Party Anatoly Lokot personally complained about Pirogov.

In a conversation with Medusa, the deputy noted that such a complaint looks "like a sort of friendly court from the USSR is ridiculous and pointless." Despite the complaint, Pirogova plans to “take a walk in the city center” on January 23.

A significant part of the thictockers who communicated with Medusa plans to go to rallies. One of them-16-year-old Nastya-is studying at a law college in Moscow. She has been following Navalny since 2017. “His activity is delighted, to be honest. Many will be covered by me, but I admire him what he and his team do. What is happening to him is terrible, monstrous! ” - says Nastya "Medusa."

In Tiktok, Nastya posted a video where she urges people to go to a rally on January 23. The video scored 24 thousand likes; Previously, her political videos have never attracted such public attention. “I have always been interested in both politics and jurisprudence in general. I want to connect my life with her. But when I watch how my state is wiping about the legislation of my state, I cannot be silent. I am a citizen of the Russian Federation, I do not want to live in a country where they spit on laws, ”she says. “Where, if not in Tiktok, can you express your opinion with impunity?”

The world of 19 years - she, like Nastya, began to shoot videos about politics even before this topic began to bring popularity in Tiktok. The girl posted in her account a video about protests in Belarus and amendments to the Constitution. On January 23, the world will go to the rally, although she has an ambiguous attitude towards Navalny: “I largely disagree with his politics and opinion, but what is happening to him now, lawlessness. Such a barbaric violation of human rights is unacceptable. It doesn’t matter whether it is Navalny or any person from the street. ”

Recommendations in Tiktok 22-year-old student Nikolai Shekhirev from Nizhnevartovsk began to be filled with videos about rallies on Tuesday, January 19, like many other users. At first, Shekhirev decided that this was connected with some kind of meme, but then he read the comments and realized that people seriously plan to reach the protest. “Apparently, I just realized that now no one was afraid,” he says to Medusa.

The young man eventually also shot a video about a rally, although he had not recorded political videos earlier, and he "treated Navalny to Alexei Navalny." “I support him for this courage, his courage delights him. Thanks to him, we now have so many tiktoks in which people are not afraid to express their civic position - knowing that they can negatively respond to this at school, at the university, even in the family, ”says Shekhirev.

According to him, in Nizhnevartovsk there is no headquarters of Navalny - there will be no organized rally on January 23. However, Shekhirev still intends to “go for a walk” in the city center-and hopes that with the help of Tiktok, residents of small cities will be able to find like-minded people: “Someone will meet others, and we will become more.” Shekhirev himself, according to him, thanks to Tiktok, he had already found such associates, with them he will go on a “walk” on January 23.

In Tiktoka, “police officers” appeared, tearing off the shoulder straps - just like in Belarus. True, one of them bought a form in the "jokes"

Several videos also appeared in Tiktok, in which young people in the form tear off epaulets - similar videos published in the course of Belarusian protests. In social networks, such ticklers were mistaken for current police officers and praised for the manifestation of a political position.

However, as Medusa found out, young people from two popular videos are not working in the police now.

One of them is Ruslan Agarkov-a 19-year-old blogger and a student from Krasnodar, who removes draws for Tiktok and Instagram. He told Medusa that he had already had a police uniform - he bought it once in the “jokes store”. The video in which Agarkov is torn off his shoulder straps, gained more than two and a half million views and 400 thousand likes. In a conversation with Medusa, the blogger said that this was his first “political video” - and he did not expect it to become so popular.

“I do not belong to politics. Now he took off what was setting. But in general it makes no difference. Such videos in Tiktok are shot to get into the rivers , and I shot the same. Because when I see that it is gaining views, everywhere all about this rally, I want to continue to shoot for the sake of views and coverage the same. Although someone thought I was working as a police officer, ”the blogger said.

Now Agarkov has already deleted a video with a police uniform from Tiktok (he did not explain to Medusa why he did it). According to him, he is going to go to the rally on January 23 with his friends. According to his plan, they will also put on a police uniform in order to take off the next video: according to the plot, they must break the hands of Ruslan and take him away. “I will continue to shoot this, because the growth of [subscribers] is going on. I’ll go to the rally not to rally, but to remove jokes. I do not understand politics - I am a blogger, ”he said.

Another Tiktoker, who shot the video in police uniform, is 23-year-old Vladislav Larichev. Six months ago, he really worked in the police - in the city of Kuznetsk, the Penza region. As the young man “Meduza” said, he quit, because “the system makes you act against your will” and “the more you serve, the more you begin to understand that this is not yours.”

According to him, he shot a video where he was breaking off the shoulder straps, so that others are still acting-the police “thought about what they are doing”: “Having watched my video, someone would remember their oath and think about their actions. I know that there are many good employees in the police, they are simply afraid to lose their job. ” According to him, he supports Navalny - and believes that the politician "opened his eyes to all the people of Russia."

After the publication, it became known that the Ministry of Internal Affairs intends to bring to administrative responsibility ticklers who shot videos in police uniforms.

How Tiktok will affect the number of protesters, no one knows. But Roskomnadzor already demanded to remove all calls to go to stocks

On Wednesday evening, on January 20, at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office, Roskomnadzor sent to Tiktok the requirement to delete “materials with calls for minor users of the social network to participate in illegal protest mass events” (the VKontakte social network also received the same requirement).

The next day, the Prosecutor General’s Office demanded to block sites with such calls, and Roskomnadzor threatened social networks with fines up to four million rubles for “involving adolescents in illegal activities”. In Roskomnadzor, Interfax was clarified that the calls to minors to participate in unauthorized shares were discovered in Tiktok, VKontakte, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Yetube. The department caused representatives of resources for the preparation of protocols under Article 13.41 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation .

Tiktok officials in Russia did not comment on Medusa this situation. The ally of Alexei Navalny Leonid Volkov in a conversation with Medusa was not surprised at the following actions of Roskomnadzor: "They do not know how, except to block."

Earlier, Medusa wrote about the attempts and plans of the Russian authorities to use Tiktok for political agitation. Volkov told Medusa that Navalny’s supporters also experimented with Tiktok: the regional headquarters of the policy released the video specifically for this application. In addition, Navalny has a ticktok , now the politician has more than half a million subscribers.

However, according to Volkov’s observations, previously the social network reduced political content in the issuance - and now, he suggests, the algorithms lost so many videos associated with the bulk: “Tiktok is grown in China and knows how to filter content well. If the political video begins to gain views there, then it immediately ceases to come across people in the tape, in the recommendation - and remains in a small bubble. And now, obviously, there was a gap of bubble. ”

Political strategist Ruslan Modin, in a conversation with Medusa, noted that Tiktoka algorithms aggressively promote content, which theoretically may like the user. That is why many Tiktok’s tape now almost fully consists of videos about Navalny and rallies, he believes. At the same time, Modin doubts that such activity will significantly increase the number of people at rallies: “You will be excited in Tiktok, but the absolute majority must be led by the hand [to the rally]. In Tiktok, this is quite difficult to do, so technically mobilization itself is still behind other social networks and instant messengers. ”

Volkov also carefully speaks out about the offline effectiveness of Tiktok: “How much the viral wave in Tiktok is capable of being a wave on the streets, we do not know - and no one knows. This will be the first important experiment. Now it becomes clear whether the Tiktok is a platform for the distribution of political content about the events in Russia. This will become known in the next 48 hours. ”

Alexandra Sivtsova