The youth movement Scarlet Swan, which emerged on March 14 and called for nationwide rallies on March 29 against internet censorship and the blocking of online services, became prominent on Telegram and TikTok within days. According to Verstka, a chat initially titled “Rally 29.03” appeared first, was then renamed, and the channel soon grew to more than 3,000 subscribers, while the chat reached 6,000 participants.
As Agentstvo and Verstka reported, TikTok became the movement’s main mobilization tool: it posted more than 50 videos, some generated with artificial intelligence. One clip drew 3.9 million views, according to Verstka. The project’s coordinators were described as teenagers and young adults aged 14 to 20, and reporters said the organizers included both former cadets and law students, as well as people linked to pro-government youth structures.
Internal conflict soon followed. One of the first organizers told Verstka that after receiving threats, he published the personal data of other coordinators in the chat. Later, the outlet said, he recorded a message expressing support for Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine. A moderator told Agentstvo that Scarlet Swan was not an opposition organization and did not criticize the current authorities. Posts from the movement also stressed that the rallies were aimed only at blocking measures, not at the government or the war.
Journalists also reported controversial calls for violence in the chats that were later deleted. At the same time, organizers tried to secure approval for rallies in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but Moscow officials reminded them that public events remained banned. On March 18, according to SotaVision, police visited 19-year-old chat administrator Sofia Chepik and 20-year-old Stepan Razin, who had been named as the organizer of the rally in notices submitted to city hall.
On March 23, the movement’s main Telegram channel appeared to have been hacked, with posts calling for financial support for the project. Organizers blamed representatives of Vladislav Pozdnyakov, founder of the Male State movement. After reports about project “clones” and accusations of fake channels, participants still offered no clear explanation of what would happen to the movement next.