War, Infodemia, and Digital Platforms: A Visual Culture Analysis

In a 2022 article on Artribune, Christian Nirvana Damato examines how digital platforms transform the perception of war, revisiting Susan Sontag's 2003 book "Regarding the Pain of Others." Damato argues that war photography has always been manipulated, not just through technical means but through selective framing by photographers. He traces a genealogy from Roger Fenton's 1855 Crimean War mission to the Gulf War and Afghanistan operations. Today, mainstream information has mutated into infodemia, amplified by digital media. Smartphones enable amateur documentation from the oppressed's perspective, often privileging video over photography due to its perceived authenticity. This shifts Sontag's paradigm: amateur videos can show deaths in real-time, not just posthumous bodies. Key platforms include Telegram (groups like Proof of War in Ukraine and Our Wars, Today), Instagram (Popular Front), and TikTok (ranging from tutorials on driving abandoned Russian tanks to propaganda scripts read by influencers). Damato notes that the Euro-Western gaze, accustomed to distant compassion, now confronts images closer to home. He critiques the subjective content shift on social media—switching from war videos to birthday photos—as a reflection of human contradiction rather than insensitivity. The emotional impact is not nullified but coexists with everyday life, as seen in European protests. He concludes with Sontag's call to question responsibility and avoid superficial engagement.