Social Media Warfare: Monetization and Materiality in the Ukrainian Armed Forces Since February 24, 2022

Throughout history, combatants in many conflicts have received support from families, diaspora communities, and sympathetic strangers worldwide. These combatants have also sought to increase that support by writing letters, sending photographs, or doing speaking tours. Today, however, both the methodology and the impact of encouraging support are different. This paper will use ethnographic interviews with both former and currently serving members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to explore two inexorably linked developments in this space. Firstly, it will analyze the ever-expanding role of social media in this conflict. Secondly, it will explore the “feedback loop” wherein military units undertake combat operations that generate desirable social media content that can be monetized to support operations, both to make good their losses incurred during the events now being monetized, and to prove that donations are being well-used, thus simultaneously creating the expectation for future material on the basis of continued support.