Politics in Ukraine is increasingly fought through Facebook. The days of the official news release are dying out.
The social networking site gives politicians a 24-hour platform on which to present events directly to the public, uninhibited by journalists or their peers.
Facebook has become the fashionable way for political figures to accuse others of wrongdoing, launching popular campaigns or tout achievements.
“Yes, it’s true, Ukrainian politicians use it to break news,” said Maria Zhdanova, a Ukrainian PR consultant. “Euromaidan started from a Facebook post.”
Lawmaker Mustafa Nayyem, a former investigative journalist whose Facebook post is credited with launching the revolution two years ago, continues to mobilize his massive following on the site behind campaigns.
On Jan. 5, he called on his Facebook followers to boycott Coca-Cola after it first apologized to Russian Vkontakte users for not including occupied Crimea on a map of Russia, and then proceeded to add the illegally occupied territory.
Nayyem asked users to share the post with the hashtag #BanCocaCola. It received almost 11,000 shares, 18,000 likes and several hours later, #BanCocaCola was the top Twitter trend in Ukraine.
Spokespeople at Coca-Cola’s U.S. headquarters issued an apology, blaming the mistake on its Russian advertising agency. It removed the offending post.
But the limits of such campaigns are clear.
While Ukrainian Facebook users were onboard with boycotting the drinks company, other Ukrainians were queuing up the next day to receive free Coca- Cola drinks as part of a holiday giveaway on Sofiyivsky Square.
“I think that since the politicians, PR people and journalists are glued to Facebook. They think what happens on Facebook is reality,” said Zhdanova. “However, Facebook is a very small world, where only a minority of the population is represented.”
Political posturing among lawmakers on Facebook appears to be far more common in Ukraine than in many other countries.
This was epitomized on Dec. 14 when an argument broke out at a Council of Reforms meeting between Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and Odesa Oblast Governor Mikhail Saakashvili.
Avakov was first to break the news on Facebook, and claimed that Saakashvili had become “hysterical” when he was questioning him about why he had met a Russian oligarch about the Odessa Portside Plant, one of the largest chemical producers in the country.
“I refrained from hitting him and splashed his face with water,” read Avakov’s post at 10 p.m.
The meeting was recorded for state television and both sides demanded the video’s release so that the public could judge for themselves.
But the next morning, the presidential administration’s Press Secretary, Svyatoslav Tsegolko, wrote on Facebook that its publication would “disgrace the country”. Ukraine’s President, Petro Poroshenko, agreed and expressed his concern at the argument’s “xenophobic undertones”.
Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry’s Communications Director, Artem Shevchenko, posted a video which claims to show a meeting between Saakashvili and Dmitriy Mazepin, a Russian chemicals magnate.
Saakashvili and Mazepin deny the video is genuine, and say they have never met.
“I already have a complex about my weight, but this is just too much,” said Saakashvili at a press conference, pointing to his alleged figure in the footage.
On 16 Dec. ignoring the administration, Avakov decided to publish the video with Saakashvili on his page. He also took the opportunity to criticize his boss, the president: “Who are you accusing of xenophobia? Me? An Armenian who has been living in Ukraine since the age of three?” read the post.
The video where Avakov is seen throwing a glass at Saakashvili, immediately went viral and received 1.6 million views.
“I find this use of Facebook a little populistic… I mean, it’s interesting how in the US, for instance, it’s Katy Perry and Lady Gaga who are breaking the internet. And here it’s (leader of the Radical political party Oleh) Lyashko and Avakov,” said Zhdanova.
Equally, some of the information politicians publish on Facebook in Ukraine has, or at least should have, serious implications.
Sergey Leshchenko, another investigative journalist-turned lawmaker, has on several occasions posted evidence of corruption schemes between officials or members of parliament.
On Nov. 25, Leshchenko announced on Facebook that the following day he would present in parliament documents proving that Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s close ally and former lawmaker, Mykola Martenynko, is being investigated by the Swiss and Czech authorities.
The investigation relates to an alleged $40 million bribe given by a firm in exchange for an Energoatom contract- something which Martenynko had always denied.
Leshchenko continues to promote the case using his considerable Facebook following which has made Martynenko duly unpopular and led to a sharp opposition against Yatsenyuk because of his failure to investigate his close friend.
In what anti-corruption expert Vitaliy Shabunin called “just a pretty gesture,” Martynenko begged parliament to strip him of his lawmaker status on Dec. 22 but still no investigation into the bribe has been launched by the Ukrainian authorities.
“Given the evidence against him, he should be in prison and not giving up his mandate,” Shabunin told Kyiv Post on Dec. 22.
Kyiv Post staff writer Isobel Koshiw can be reached at [email protected]
