1887
image of Activist translators as citizen journalists on social media

Abstract

Abstract

This article focuses on social media accounts operating on Twitter (currently X) and YouTube. The accounts disseminated information about the war in Ukraine by translating diverse media content, including videos, phone calls, and TV programs primarily from Russian into English and sharing their translations on social media platforms. The account holders are examined both as activist translators and citizen journalists. The data for analysis is drawn from translation-based tweets posted on two widely followed Twitter/X accounts over ten days during a two-month period in 2023. The analysis considers the content, form, and view count of the tweets and the videos linked to them. Findings show that the translations achieved a broad reach and responded to a demand for information on writings and speeches that would otherwise be inaccessible to people without source language skills. Through translation, the accounts contributed to shaping the perceptions and collective memory of the war.

Available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/ts.25046.hav
2026-02-02
2026-03-06
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/10.1075/ts.25046.hav/ts.25046.hav.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1075/ts.25046.hav&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Bader Eddin, Eylaf
    2020 “Translating Mourning Walls: Aleppo’s Last Words.” InThe Routledge Handbook of Translation and Activism, edited byRebecca Gould and Kayvan Tahmasebian, –. Routledge. 10.4324/9781315149660‑9
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315149660-9 [Google Scholar]
  2. Bai, Liping
    2022 ““Even More Reuters than Reuters”? A Case Study on the Quality of Blog Translation.” Babel (): –. 10.1075/babel.00250.bai
    https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00250.bai [Google Scholar]
  3. 2025 “Bloglator in the Era of Social Media: A Case Study of the Reports about the ‘Tragically Ugly’ Math Textbooks on What’s on Weibo.” Perspectives (): –. 10.1080/0907676X.2024.2343047
    https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2024.2343047 [Google Scholar]
  4. Baker, Mona
    2016 “The Prefigurative Politics of Translation in Place-Based Movements of Protest: Subtitling in the Egyptian Revolution.” The Translator () : –. 10.1080/13556509.2016.1148438
    https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2016.1148438 [Google Scholar]
  5. Boéri, Julie, and Carmen Delgado Luchner
    2021 “Ethics of Activist Translation and Interpreting.” InThe Routledge Handbook of Translation and Ethics, edited byKaisa Koskinen, and Nike K. Pokorn, –. Routledge. 10.4324/9781003127970
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003127970 [Google Scholar]
  6. Broersma, Marcel, and Todd Graham
    2013 “Twitter as a News Source: How Dutch and British Newspapers Used Tweets in Their News Coverage, 2007–2011.” Journalism Practice () : –. 10.1080/17512786.2013.802481
    https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2013.802481 [Google Scholar]
  7. Chadwick, Andrew
    2017The Hybrid Media System: Politics and Power. Oxford University Press. 10.1093/oso/9780190696726.001.0001
    https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190696726.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  8. Chang, Pin-ling
    2020 “Civil Resistance through Online Activist Translation in Taiwan’s Sunflower Student Movement.” InThe Routledge Handbook of Translation and Activism, edited byRebecca Gould and Kayvan Tahmasebian, –. Routledge. 10.4324/9781315149660‑30
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315149660-30 [Google Scholar]
  9. Charles, Mathew, and Stuart Allen
    2019 “Citizen Journalism.” InThe International Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies, edited byTim P. Vos and Folker Hanusch, –. Wiley Blackwell. 10.1002/9781118841570.iejs0048
    https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118841570.iejs0048 [Google Scholar]
  10. Chesterman, Andrew
    1997Memes of Translation: The Spread of Ideas in Translation Theory. John Benjamins. 10.1075/btl.22
    https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.22 [Google Scholar]
  11. Davis, Julia
    2022 “Julia Davis: Russian Media Monitor Says Propagandists Are War Criminals. Russia Tomorrow.” Interview byTV Rain Newsroom, October 15. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfYLO_CipZY
  12. . n.d.@JuliaDavisNews, Twitter (now X). AccessedAugust 2, 2023. https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews
  13. Dmitri
    Dmitri 2023a “How the ‘War Translated Project’ Sheds Light on the Ukraine War.” Interview byKarin Helmstaedt. DW News, March12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzrLfbf-1bs
  14. Dmitri
    Dmitri 2023b “The Brief, May 2: Ukraine Update: We Speak Dimitri [sic] of WarTranslated!”. Interview byMarkos Moulitsas and Kerry Eleveld. Daily Kos. May 2. Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXBYe2-dk8U
  15. Dmitri
    Dmitri 2023c “Several readers expressed concern about Ukrainian soldiers using ‘gay slurs’ in recent videos I published, asking them to be changed.” @WarTranslated, Twitter (now X), May10. AccessedAugust 7, 2023. https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1656​3032​47827​808257
  16. Dmitri
    Dmitri. n.d.@WarTranslated, Twitter (now X). AccessedAugust 2, 2023. https://twitter.com/wartranslated
  17. Gould, Rebecca, and Kayvan Tahmasebian
    2020 “Introduction: Translation and Activism in the Time of the Now.” InThe Routledge Handbook of Translation and Activism, edited byRebecca Gould and Kayvan Tahmasebian, –. Routledge. 10.4324/9781315149660‑1
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315149660-1 [Google Scholar]
  18. Guo, Ting
    2008 “Translation and Activism: Translators in the Chinese Communist Movement in the 1920s–30s.” InTranslation and Its Others. Selected Papers of the CETRA Research Seminar in Translation Studies 2007, edited byPieter Boulogne, –. CETRA. https://www.arts.kuleuven.be/cetra/papers/files/guo.pdf
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Jaakkola, Maarit
    2013Hyvä journalismi: Käytännön opas kirjoittajalle. [Good journalism: A practical guide to writers.] Kansanvalistusseura.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Jiang, Mengying
    2022 “Translating the Unspeakable: Activist Translation of Sexuality into Chinese via Social Media.” The Translator (): –. 10.1080/13556509.2022.2153433
    https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2022.2153433 [Google Scholar]
  21. Kim, Yeojin, and Wilson Lowrey
    2015 “Who Are Citizen Journalists in the Social Media Environment? Personal and Social Determinants of Citizen Journalism Activities.” Digital Journalism (): –. 10.1080/21670811.2014.930245
    https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2014.930245 [Google Scholar]
  22. Lefevere, André
    1992Translation, Rewriting and the Manipulation of Literary Fame. Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Olohan, Maeve
    2014 “Why Do You Translate? Motivation to Volunteer and TED Translation.” Translation Studies (): –. 10.1080/14781700.2013.781952
    https://doi.org/10.1080/14781700.2013.781952 [Google Scholar]
  24. Pérez-Gonzáles, Luis, and Şebnem Susam-Saraeva
    2012 “Non-Professional Translation and Interpreting: Participatory and Engaged Perspectives.” The Translator (): –. 10.1080/13556509.2012.10799506
    https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2012.10799506 [Google Scholar]
  25. Pym, Anthony
    2016Translation Solutions for Many Languages: Histories of a Flawed Dream. Bloomsbury Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Roslyng, Mette Marie, and Bolette B. Blaagaard
    2023 “The Boy, Who Wanted Broccoli: Alternative News and Acts of Citizenship within New Mediascapes.” Digital Journalism (): –. 10.1080/21670811.2021.2013125
    https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2021.2013125 [Google Scholar]
  27. Russian Media Monitor
    Russian Media Monitor. n.d.YouTube channel. AccessedJuly 18, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/@russianmediamonitor/about
  28. Tse, Chun Hong, and Roberto Spiezio
    2022 “News Values Revisited: A Comparison Between Citizen and Mainstream Media in Hong Kong.” Journalism PracticeNovember 15, 2022. 10.1080/17512786.2022.2145339
    https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2022.2145339 [Google Scholar]
  29. Toury, Gideon
    1995Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond. John Benjamins. 10.1075/btl.4
    https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.4 [Google Scholar]
  30. Tymoczko, Maria
    2010a “The Space and Time of Activist Translation.” InTranslation, Resistance, Activism, edited byMaria Tymoczko, –. University of Massachusetts Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. 2010b “Translation, Resistance, Activism: An Overview.” InTranslation, Resistance, Activism, edited byMaria Tymoczko, –. University of Massachusetts Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Valdeón, Roberto A.
    2022 “Gatekeeping, Ideological Affinity and Journalistic Translation.” Journalism (): –. 10.1177/1464884920917296
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884920917296 [Google Scholar]
  33. Wall, Melissa
    2015 “Citizen Journalism: A Retrospective on What We Know, an Agenda for What We Don’t.” Digital Journalism (): –. 10.1080/21670811.2014.1002513
    https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2014.1002513 [Google Scholar]
  34. War Translated — Ukraine War Archive
    War Translated — Ukraine War Archive. n.d.YouTube channel. AccessedAugust 2, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/@WarTranslated/about
/content/journals/10.1075/ts.25046.hav
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/ts.25046.hav
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keywords: activist translation ; citizen journalism ; social media
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error