Kony 2012 gets 70m hits in a week

Video on Lord's Resistance Army warlord Joseph Kony praised and criticised as aid group raises $5m in 48 hours after upload
Kony 2012 campaign posters are boxed and ready to go at the Invisible Children Movement offices in San Diego. Photograph: John Mone/AP
If everyone who saw it donated a pound, the annual US aid budget for Uganda would have been raised in barely a week.

Since Monday, 70 million people have watched Kony2012, a viral web video about Joseph Kony, the Ugandan warlord of the Lord's Resistance Army militia, which has won enthusiastic praise from millions of viewers but also criticism from human rights activists and Ugandan journalists.

For Invisible Children, the aid group that produced the video, the viewing figures represent money in the bank: the group raised $5m (£3.2m) in just 48 hours after uploading the film, which makes an explicit call for contributions.

What will happen to those funds is unclear: financial statements for Invisible Children show that only 32% of the $8.6m it raised last year went to direct services in northern Uganda. Invisible Children did not return calls for comment.

Maria Burnett, a researcher on Uganda for Human Rights Watch, said: "What it leads to remains to be seen, but the goal to bring pressure on key leaders, to protect civilians and to apprehend LRA leadership is important."

Jonah Peretti, a social media expert, founder of the social publishing site Buzzfeed, said Kony2012's success was due to its focus on social media itself rather than gruesome images. "The horrific stuff is only shown very briefly. And then the video quickly transitions to inspiring things you can do to change the situation. There's this upbeat music and … an emotional high.

"People care about these tragedies but they also want everyone to know they care. Sharing the Kony2012 video is a great way to tell all your friends that you are someone who cares about the world, wants to make a difference, and is participating in fighting evil personified."