{"id":2915,"date":"2025-02-09T12:39:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-09T09:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/factcheck.lt\/?p=2915"},"modified":"2025-05-02T09:47:46","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T06:47:46","slug":"","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/factcheck.lt\/eng\/news\/tiktok_marafon_edinstva_hashtag\/","title":{"rendered":"Analysis of the use of the hashtag #\u043c\u0430\u0440\u0430\u0444\u043e\u043d\u0435\u0434\u0438\u043d\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0430 on TikTok","raw":"Analysis of the use of the hashtag #\u043c\u0430\u0440\u0430\u0444\u043e\u043d\u0435\u0434\u0438\u043d\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0430 on TikTok"},"content":{"rendered":"

On September 17, 2024, the nationwide “Unity Marathon” campaign was launched in Belarus. The official date of the upcoming presidential election was announced on September 23, 2024, so it could be considered part of the pro-government election campaign.<\/p>\n

As the Director General of the National Library of Belarus, member of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly, chairman of the “Belarusian Society ‘Knowledge'” Vadim Gigin characterized<\/a> this campaign:<\/p>\n

The “Unity Marathon” campaign will be held in all regions of Belarus on behalf of the Head of State. Large-scale meetings and concerts are planned. The events will continue the patriotic forum held in Minsk on the Day of National Unity and will cover at least 13 cities. Famous Belarusian artists, musical groups, experts, as well as renowned figures from other countries are involved. The “Unity Marathon” is one of the proofs that Belarusians are forming their own political culture without looking back at the West’s opinion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The current regime decided to work with society using non-traditional methods<\/a>, especially with young audiences. In recent years, TikTok has become one of the most popular social networks in Belarus, particularly among youth. Belarusian state media actively use TikTok to promote official narratives and propaganda. In the lead-up to the 2025 elections, they published videos aimed at “humanizing” Alexander Lukashenko’s image, showing him in informal settings and emphasizing his closeness to the people. Additionally, authorities engage popular bloggers to promote early voting and other election-related initiatives. This allows them to integrate propaganda messages into entertainment content, making them more appealing to young audiences.<\/p>\n

A. Lukashenko also noted the importance of developing TikTok in Belarus. He mentioned that specialists from the United Arab Emirates and China asked him to facilitate the platform’s development in Belarus, which emphasizes TikTok’s strategic importance for Belarusian authorities.<\/p>\n

Thus, TikTok has become an important tool in the Belarusian authorities’ arsenal for engaging with voters, especially youth, and promoting official narratives in a format attractive to modern audiences.<\/p>\n

TikTok’s operation as social media is largely built on the use of hashtags. Therefore, let’s analyze the hashtag used in this electoral cycle, such as #unitymarathon<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A dataset of 4,354 posts made by 1,076 authors was collected.<\/p>\n

Views dynamics and number of posts by day:
\n\"\"