“War Is Coming”: Mysterious TikTok videos scare Sweden’s children
In Sweden, children and young teenagers are experiencing unusual anxiety. Some can not sleep. Some ask their parents if Russia is about to attack their country. Where did they get that idea? Tick thanks.
“War is coming”, say some of the videos that the social media platform feeds young Swedes. Other videos tell their Swedish users that Russian forces will bomb their country or even invade. No wonder the kids get worried. The Chinese-owned, algorithm-driven platform is, in fact, the perfect tool for a country that wants to weaken another country’s morale.
This weekend, a question posted on Twitter turned into a collection of adults who were worried about things they had picked up from their nine-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-year-old children and students. Is it true that information that says that war will come to Sweden is pumped out on TikTok? a Twitter user asked. The question prompted dozens of parents to report that their young children had suddenly begun to question whether Russia was about to invade.
“My 11-year-old was extremely scared yesterday and asked if there would be a war soon,” wrote one mother.
Other parents reported that their children suddenly seemed anxious. When they asked what was wrong, it turned out that the children had seen the same type of videos on TikTok. Teachers in primary school reported that students had mentioned similar concerns. Other parents checked with their children and of course they had seen them too.
On Saturday, the Swedish daily newspaper Aftonbladet reported that BRIS – a nationwide Swedish organization that works for children’s rights and runs a telephone hotline for children and teenagers – had started receiving phone calls from children and teenagers who are worried about an impending invasion. BRIS social worker Marie Angsell told the newspaper that TikTok’s effective algorithm, which has perfected individualized flows, means that children and teenagers who watch such videos are once again fed more of the same thing and become overwhelmed by fear of a threatening conflict. Angsell recommended that adults tell the children in their lives how the app works, to dampen the sense of impending disaster.
Children and teenagers suddenly overcome for fear of war, in a country that last saw a war more than two centuries ago and last assembled large territorial defenses in the 1980s? Someone is trying to weaken Sweden’s determination by scaring children. To be sure, anyone can be worried about news reports about last week’s failed negotiations between NATO and Russia, Russia’s veiled threat of “catastrophic consequences”, and Poland’s warning that Europe is on the brink of war. But few children, tweens and teenagers read the magazine: in Sweden, three percent do it daily. A few 30 percent, however, use TikTok.
So who is behind the scary videos? As with most other disinformation, no country has taken responsibility, but Russia has a clear interest in sowing fear and confusion in a country that in recent years has begun to build up its defenses. Last week in Sweden moved additional soldiers to his Baltic island Gotland. The source of TikTok’s fear campaign can of course also be another country that wants to weaken Sweden’s determination – China is thinking about – or it can simply be dissatisfied with TikTik who has nothing better to do. But in the fight against misinformation, the most urgent goal is not to find the perpetrator, it is to find an antidote to the lies.
Fortunately, Sweden has a new psychological defense authority tasked with doing just that. The Swedish Psychological Defense Authority was launched on New Year’s Day to strengthen the public’s resilience to disinformation. It is important that it will also carry out the complicated work of identifying and exposing the perpetrators of disinformation. With TikTok’s disinformation campaign in full swing, the Psychological Defense Agency will need to quickly provide advice – if TikTok perhaps – to children, teenagers, parents and teachers.
In fact, other countries should consider a similar step. If the war anxiety machine has not already reached their children, it will come soon. Social media makes the saying that everything is fair in love and war easier than ever to implement.