Ukraine Organizes Online Anti-Russia Pressure

Ukraine has unleashed an army of online warriors in its war with Russia, and one of their duties is pressuring companies not to do business with Russia.

In an internal podcast, Wall Street Journal reporter Patience Haggin described how Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation claims to have recruited 300,000 “digital volunteers” from around the world to advocate for Ukraine in social media and other forums.

Part of this advocacy includes putting pressure on companies not to do business in Russia. Nestlé stopped making items like Kit Kat candy there, but is continuing to make what it deems essential items like baby food. “The users are tweeting things at Nestlé like, continuing to finance war criminals harms your reputation,” Haggin said.

She said that several of the companies targeted by these campaigns have in fact cut back or discontinued operations in Russia. However, she added, none of them acknowledged that social media campaigns played any part in these decisions.