TikTok, Telegram and Twitter, among other social networks, have become uncomfortable witnesses for the Putin regime. Through the publications that appear in them, citizens from any part of the world can know what is happening in Ukraine and the dimensions of the human massacre. The video that accompanies this news item analyzes how the images of daily life that are disseminated on these platforms can be used to verify videos and photographs of the war, as well as the possibilities that these can be used as evidence in court against Putin and his army.
The vast majority of this audiovisual content is created by people who a few days ago used their cameras to take ‘selfies’ during their vacations or share what they had had for dinner the night before. Now, they turn on their camera to record the passage of a Russian convoy through their city or to show the explosion caused by a bomb near their home.
As told in the video, these images have been spreading at full speed through social networks for weeks. The verifiers are in charge of contrasting them and placing them in a place and time. There are projects, such as bellingcata research website, which has created a database to preserve and archive verified videos and photographs of the war in case one day they may serve as evidence of the commission of war crimes or crimes against humanity.
Can these images really be accepted as evidence? What legal path can they have? Will we ever really see Vladimir Putin in the dock at the International Criminal Court in The Hague? These and other questions related to verification are answered in this video.
CREDITS
Drafting and verification Marisa Lopez Gonzalez and Brenda Valverde
Edition Luis Manuel Rivas, Álvaro Rodríguez de la Rúa and Olivia López Bueno
graphics Eduardo Ortiz and Julia Jimenez
Image Saul Ruiz Mata
