A Few Observations About State-Centric Online Propaganda
Jukka Ruohonen

TL;DR
This study analyzes pro-Kremlin propaganda from 2015 to 2021, revealing target audiences, geographic focus, thematic trends, and the impact of digital shifts on propaganda volume and content.
Contribution
It provides a detailed observational analysis of state-centric online propaganda, highlighting geographic, thematic, and temporal patterns over a six-year period.
Findings
Propaganda targets both domestic and foreign audiences.
Most discussed regions include Russia, Ukraine, US, and parts of Europe.
Propaganda volume decreased after 2016 but increased again with Ukraine conflict.
Abstract
This paper presents a few observations about pro-Kremlin propaganda between 2015 and early 2021 with a dataset from the East Stratcom Task Force (ESTF), which is affiliated with the European Union (EU) but working independently from it. Instead of focusing on misinformation and disinformation, the observations are motivated by classical propaganda research and the ongoing transformation of media systems. According to the tentative results, (i) the propaganda can be assumed to target both domestic and foreign audiences. Of the countries and regions discussed, (ii) Russia, Ukraine, the United States, and within Europe, Germany, Poland, and the EU have been the most frequently discussed. Also other conflict regions such as Syria have often appeared in the propaganda. In terms of longitudinal trends, however, (iii) most of these discussions have decreased in volume after the digital tsunami…
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Taxonomy
TopicsMisinformation and Its Impacts
