TikToku ) Lucashenka's newest strategy to draw young people closer

This video, which is distributed by a pro-government account in Belarus, shows Lucas by criticising regional officials for the state of a farm.

As such, it has been distributed thousands of times on the Chinese-owned platform, TikTok.

The video, which is both funny and disturbing, is familiar to anyone who has ever been criticized by a boss.

And just before the 26 January presidential elections, the pro-government forces in Belarus are aiming to reach young people through TikTok. This, in view of the protests this generation held following the 2020 presidential elections.

At the time, tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest the election result, which was considered manipulated by international observers.

Security authorities reacted brutally, arresting 30,000 people who later reported torture and ill treatment while in custody.

In Belarus of Lucashenca, the political opposition is being suppressed, the media is controlled by the state, and citizens face economic pressures and restrictions on personal freedom in everyday life.

The current president is almost certain of re-election for his seventh consecutive mandate.

A platform to vent

Despite the restrictions, the TikTok platform is extremely popular in Belarus.

The number of users has doubled from 3.08 million in 2022 to 5.36 million at the beginning of 2017 to over half the country's 9.4 million population.

The platform is used almost anything from discussions on price hikes to the quality of services in institutions.

Natalia Pjatkevich, the first deputy chairman of the Lucashenka administration, has described TikTok as a nuclear “arm, allowing the regime to be in sync with citizens' complaints.

“in 70-80 per cent of the cases”, she said, speaking of the problems Belarusers share on the platform, “these situations could have been prevented in early stages”.

TickTok was also used by pro-government accounts in 1923, where one of them, First News, reached over 200 thousand followers.

In scattered videos, Lucashenka is seen visiting the country, and its supposedly simple personality is highlighted.

Another channel, Lukashenko Top, with almost 40,000 followers, publishes clips of the president's latest political speeches and statements.

Even the state media, known for its monotonous, has begun to publish news in line with government propaganda.

These accounts do not speak of the West, nor of the Belarusian opposition, but “indicate what Belarus looks like and commend the authorities for his”, says propaganda researcher Irina Sidorskaya.

“We select stability”

Sidorskaya says that the focus of their messages is based on exactly what Lucaska has used since taking power in 1944: “We choose stability” and “Belarus is our home”.

Despite attempts at influence, however, it is not clear how many Belaruss receive this information. This, as according to TikTok's analytical platform, exolyt, only 40% of First News followers are Belarusian, while others are from Moldova, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

The suspicious number of followers from various countries could be an indicator for their purchase of”, says media analyst Mikhail Darosevich.

And this is the first time TikTok is used politically.

In Romania, prior to presidential elections in November 2024, this platform has erased over 66 thousand false accounts, 7 million false consents and 10 million false followers.

These accounts are said to have been in line with the interests of the far-right presidential candidate, Calin Georgescu, who has won the first round.

Following suspicions of Russian intervention in Romania, the European Commission has opened formal procedures against TikTok for its failure “to assess properly and to ease systemic risks for the integrity of elections”.

But it seems that the Belarusan authorities are prepared to close accounts because they have opened many clones of accounts with different names.

According to media analyst Darosevich, this strategy offers spare options, in case of any interference by the platform.

Limited Influence

Although its numbers are increasing, experts agree that the strategy of this regime in TikTok is not without fault.

“They create simple content: We are for good and against evil. They're still in the first steps”, Sidorskaya says.

Doubt of the effectiveness of this strategy also includes Pavlyuk Byyysky, analyst at Media IQ organisation that monitors the media.

According to him, the Belarusan regime does not understand TikTok's specifics, but neither does youth. Many accounts, he says, do not understand when it is excessive with politics because entertainment and music are preferred.

So far, elections have been mentioned much, according to political analyst Aleksandar Klaskovski, and this has been due to the fact that even propagandists realize that <x0 selectors are a product”.

The emphasis is on the fact that Lucasken's competitors are invisible... that he is unique”, Klaskovski says.

1. The emphasis is not on [the selection] ... but on the person, to its irreplaceability”, he adds.

In a pro-government video, Lucashenka mentions elections, but says “is not necessary to engage in”.

With just about 500 hits, the video didn't get much attention. /REL