Can you get into politics in the Baltics with the help of TikTok? In Latvia, you can

When VDD called Rudakov for the first time, he was on a flight. Next time – at home. “I went down [pagalmā]. There were two men there, politely, asking all the same questions you are now. Why do I do it and what is my motivation,” says Rudakovs. When asked if the experience made him think more carefully about what he says on TikTok, Rudakov answers that he always does. “I grew up in a district where I always had to be responsible for the bazaar.”

VDD Re:Baltica mentions in a written response that every day, observing hundreds of statements on social media “expressing support for the aggressor country Russia.” In order to initiate criminal proceedings, the person’s “motivation, systematicity of activities, volume and damage caused” are evaluated. By mid-January, VDD has started seven cases for statements in the TikTok environment.

“I have humorous content, I joke, I have fun,” a woman known in the TikTok world with the profile Psih Oļa explains in a voice post on Facebook Re:Baltica. She has published several videos in which, with a patriotic melody playing in the background, Russian symbols, the president, the army, and pinned orders for soldiers are shown. Another video shows the TikTok profiles of many people with the Russian flag and the caption: “Europe and the whole world has risen. We are against supplying arms to Ukraine.” Psyche Olia’s profile has a million likes.

What Oļa does on a daily basis and whether this is her real name is unknown, as she refused a wider interview with Re:Baltica. Not trusting the media and fearing losing your job.

“We got spat on. We were humiliated. We were once again shown that we are the second class here,” concluded Yevgenia Shafraneka, a former associate of LTV’s Russian editorial office, after the video shot in a car of pushing flowers away from the Victory Monument with a tractor, which caused outrage in the Russian community. In her TikTok profile, she expresses confusion as to why Latvia will help with the rehabilitation of Ukrainian soldiers who suffered in the war, while “my best friend’s disabled child has been waiting for rehabilitation for three years. Three fucking years!” In another video, it is stated that Navalny is being punished in Russia “not as an opposition journalist, but for financial machinations. Which would not be possible in Latvia at all. The existence of such a Navalny would not be possible at all. I would close very quickly.”