A TikTok star by the name of Ellie Jane Zeiler made a video attempting to educate her followers about what’s happening in Ukraine. This comes on the heels of the White House announcing a zoom call where they would “brief” TikTok stars on the overseas conflict. Mainstream media outlets in the United States did not refer to the zoom meeting as a propaganda call, but they did refer to the Kremlin briefing TikTok stars about the conflict as propaganda. One might say that both the U.S. and Russia want social media stars to push forth their own versions of propaganda. And Ellie Zeiler most certainly did not do a great job of explaining whatever it was that the White House wanted her to.
Ellie Zeiler had the main objective of convincing her large social media following that the rise in gas prices was not the fault of the Biden administration. She did what the mainstream media have been trying to do for the past few weeks now – blame Vladimir Putin. This is the same old tried and true “Russia, Russia, Russia” narrative. According to Zeiler, the Ukraine conflict has caused Russia to lose international partnerships when it comes to purchasing its oil/gas products. The truth is that this only applies to the United States. Europe depends on Russia for 35% of its natural gas. Zeiler also blamed the pandemic by saying people are just now starting to travel again so gas usage is up. She didn’t mention anything about decreased energy production due to Biden administration policies.
SOURCES:
House passes bill offering nearly $14 billion in aid to Ukraine | Fox News
Factbox: What are Europe’s options in case of Russian gas disruption? | Reuters
Biden is using TikTok to fight back against Russia’s reported use of influencers to spread propaganda | Fortune
Russian TikTok Influencers Are Being Paid to Spread Kremlin Propaganda
TikTok stars receive White House briefing on Ukraine – The Washington Post
White House drafts TikTok stars to blame Putin for rising gas prices | Fox Business
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