This week, fresh warnings have been made about the dangers of oversharing military secrets on social media, not just because of the U.S. officials who were part of a group chat on Signal that inadvertently included Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, in which plans for military strikes in Yemen were carried out.
Instead, Ukrainian officials have cautioned citizens from posting videos of their aircraft, notably of the U.S.-made F-16 Fighting Falcon.
“Do not help the enemy hunt our pilots: Air Force Command. We emphasize that some publications with combat aircraft flights posted on social networks can significantly help the enemy. Even a few seconds of publicly available video can become important intelligence,” cautioned a post on X.
Information Overload Continues to Circulate
Since the start of the more-than-year-long conflict, social media has allowed individuals in the besieged nation to share real-time reports from the frontlines. That ability to post updates and share videos has helped ensure that the first casualty of this war isn’t the truth.
In addition, pro-Kremlin military bloggers have posted details about Russia’s setbacks, often being highly critical of Moscow’s handling of the war while still supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Both sides have employed social media to tout victories large and small, and the so-called “war porn” videos that show the destruction of an adversary’s tank or other vehicles have become a staple of what is essentially the first social-media war.
Information Dumping as a Military Tactic
Just as citizens were warned during World War II that “loose lips sink ships,” Ukrainians are now being warned not to post videos or even images of the nation’s combat aircraft.
Last November, the Russian-made Sukhoi Su-57 was scrutinized on Chinese social media when it arrived before the 5th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition.
The situation could be far worse at the frontlines, as operational secrets could be made public for the enemy to see.
“The concern is not hypothetical,” warned Bulgaria-Military.com. “Videos showing military aircraft, particularly high-value assets like the F-16s recently delivered to Ukraine by Western allies, could reveal flight paths, base locations, or operational patterns if analyzed carefully. Russian intelligence, known for its sophisticated reconnaissance capabilities, could use such information to pinpoint targets or adjust its strategies.”
Ukraine, too, has carefully monitored what is being posted on the Telegram social messaging app and other platforms. At the same time, it has used data from cellular phones to target high-value assets.
At least two Russian generals were killed after mobile phones gave away their positions.
The concern is that it isn’t what can be gathered from a single video or source but that multiple videos can paint a far bigger picture for the enemy.
“One person films from one spot, another from a second spot, and a third from a third spot. This is called triangulation,” explained Yuriy Ihnat, a Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson, in a February 2024 interview with the Center for Countering Disinformation.
Hard to Keep this Information Hush-Hush
It isn’t just potentially compromising videos that are now a significant concern. In recent years, video gamers have “over-shared” classified or otherwise restricted information about tanks, planes, and other military hardware with disturbing regularity, often posting the information on public forums to prove that games like War Thunder were inaccurate.
Oversharing and offering too much information have long been problems on social media. Still, the danger now is that it could save lives and even give an enemy a military advantage.
“Loose lips sink ships,” warned technology industry analyst Roger Entner of Recon Analytics.
“Every piece of information that one side, voluntarily or haphazardly, shares publicly will be used by the other side to their advantage,” Entner told The National Interest.
“There is virtually no case where soldiers or civilians sharing military images or videos in times of war is beneficial to their side.”
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He hascontributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites, with over 3,200 published pieces and over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author at [email protected].
Image: Shutterstock/ Photowalking.