A serious man looks into the camera. It looks like his head is glued to a brick wall. – I woke up in this basement. They say I will get my sentence, says the man. A soldier raises a heavy hammer and strikes the man’s head. The camera fades to black There are 14 different video versions of the execution on TikTok. This screenshot was taken just before the mercenary Yevgeny Nusjin is executed by men from the Wagner Group. Photo: Screenshot The organization NewsGuard has looked through 160 videos that pay tribute to the feared Russian militia the Wagner Group. The videos show executions, brutal use of violence and clear support for the disputed group. Altogether, the violent videos have reached over a billion users, according to NewsGuard. Sharing executions It is Russian Yevgeny Nushin who is killed on camera. Nushin is said to have been recruited to fight in Ukraine by the Wagner group while he was in prison in Russia. He then switched to the Ukrainian side. It is unknown how he ended up in Russia, where he will be executed in October. – He betrayed his people and betrayed his comrades, said the leader of the Wagner group Yevgeny Prigozhin about the execution. He has since denied that the group has anything to do with Nusjin’s death. Recruiting new soldiers Tens of new similar videos are published every day. Of acts of violence or incitement to kill Ukrainians. All marked with support for the Wagner group. Some of the videos lead to websites that recruit mercenaries for the group. They fight side by side with Russian soldiers in Ukraine and are known for their brutal behavior. The group first became known in 2014, when Russia occupied parts of eastern Ukraine. The Wagner Group is led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, one of Vladimir Putin’s closest associates. Photo: Sergei Ilnitsky / AP Breaking TikTok’s rules TikTok “does not allow the use of the platform to threaten or incite violence, or to promote violent extremist organizations or actions,” according to the guidelines. TikTok is owned by China’s ByteDance, which is partly owned by the Chinese state. TikTok is banned in China, but is used by around 750 million people worldwide. After Facebook and Instagram, TikTok is the world’s third most used social media platform, and the fastest growing. TikTok writes to NewsGuard that they will remove all violent content. Photo: Michael Dwyer / AP A propaganda war In the report released today, NewsGuard also found about 500 music videos inciting violence against Ukrainians, including claims that Ukrainians are Nazis. This claim has been used, among other things, by Russian President Vladimir Putin to justify the war against Ukraine. TikTok is blocked in Russia, but the service is still popular. That’s what Natalia Moen-Larsen at the Norwegian Foreign Policy Institute (Nupi) says. Surveys show that around 25 percent of Russia’s population uses TikTok every day. They need to use VPN to log into TikTok. – So there are many millions of people in Russia who can potentially see the Wagner videos, says Moen-Larsen to news. Natalia Moen-Larsen, Nupi researcher. Photo: NUPI She says it is impossible to say how effective videos trying to recruit to the Wagner group can be. Other social media, such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram are banned in Russia.
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