* Young TikTok users are posting videos of the Ukraine conflict
* Ukrainian influencers give a glimpse of life during the invasion
* Researchers warn misinformation about Ukraine is widespread
By Sheila Dang and Elizabeth Culliford
March 1 (Reuters) - When Russia invaded Ukraine last week, some of social media's youngest users experienced the conflict from the front lines on TikTok.
Videos of people huddling and crying in windowless bomb shelters, explosions blasting through urban settings and missiles streaking across Ukrainian cities took over the app from its usual offerings of fashion, fitness and dance videos.
Ukrainian social media influencers uploaded bleak scenes of themselves wrapped in blankets in underground bunkers and army tanks rolling down residential streets, juxtaposed against photos of blooming flowers and laughing friends at restaurants that honored more peaceful memories of their hometowns.
They urged their followers to pray for Ukraine, donate to support the Ukrainian military and demanded Russian users in particular to join anti-war efforts.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which it has called a "special operation," is the latest example of the central role TikTok has played in bringing news and current events to the app's large Gen Z audience. Its famed algorithm is known for serving trending content even if users do not follow certain people, allowing topics to quickly go viral among its 1 billion monthly users.
The app has become so influential in this conflict that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appealed to "TikTokers" as a group that could help end the war, in a speech https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/london-playbook/breaking-putin-bombs-kyiv-declares-war-blasts-rock-major-cities directed at Russian citizens. Some TikTokers picked up where the politician left off.
A Ukrainian travel blogger named Alina Volik, who has over 36,000 followers on TikTok, took a break from posting highlights of her trips to Egypt, Spain and Turkey, to upload videos of life in the invasion, of emergency backpacks filled with first aid supplies and of sealed windows to protect against glass shards in a blast. In TikTok videos posted on Monday, Volik also urged her international followers to watch her Instagram Stories to "see the truth" about Ukraine.
In an email to Reuters, Volik said she wanted to combat misinformation in the Russian news that the country's actions were a "military operation" rather than a war that is hurting Ukrainians.
Montages of residential buildings destroyed by missiles, empty grocery store shelves and long lines of cars piled up outside gas stations could be seen on the TikTok pages of top Ukrainian influencers.