How Russian and Ukranian support spreads through social media networks - an OSINT analysis
This is still a developing story and analysis. As further data becomes available, we will be updating this post.
We have analysed around 200,000 OSINT social-media posts focused on the #istandwithrussia hashtag. The data shows the spread of this hashtag starting in North America to quickly dominate other continents and countries like Kenya, South Africa, India, Nigeria and also many others in Europe.
Our data analysts are currently analysing how pro-Ukraine sentiment is spreading around the world. These findings will also be shared soon.
Update: Mar 7, 2022:
As promised earlier, the below animation shows how support for Ukraine is spreading around the world - based on the #IstandwithUkraine hashtag.
Some key observations:
The Ukraine support movement had already gathered support way before the pro-Russian hashtag started on Feb 20th, 2022.
The pro-Russian conversations originated from North America and spread quickly to other parts of the world. Countries like India, Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria dominated this conversation.
Majority of Pro-Ukraine conversations were driven by North America and Europe with minor support from other regions. These conversation volumes are also fairly stable throughout.
Notably, a few parts of the world are relatively quiet including large parts of South America and Australia. Data collection is always a challenge in China and Russia - so not surprisingly, these countries are not well represented.
What are your thoughts and conclusions?