Please share: 🧪#PolComm To learn more about the group's research on Russia's informational influence abroad, visit their website: www.rusinform.uni-passau.de/en/ #RUSINFORM

A highly recommended read: policyreview.info/articles/ana...

[New paper] Facebook, the EU and Russia’s war: Challenges of moderating authoritarian news, By @jkling288.bsky.social, University of Passau, and @sergepoliakoff.bsky.social, University of Amsterdam. policyreview.info/articles/ana... #Russia #Ukraine #EU #Facebook #Misinformation

A new paper of ours on one of the successor organizations of Russsia's infamous Internet Research Agency (IRA) has been published: Congratulations to my (former) doctoral students and co-authors @sergepoliakoff.bsky.social and @jkling288.bsky.social! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Two papers being published the same day, what a coincidence! This study was published at Internet Policy Review. Together with @sergepoliakoff.bsky.social, we investigated the consequences of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Russia’s Russian-language news ecosystem on Facebook.

We demonstrate how russia has transitioned from outsourcing troll farms to setting up a publicly funded, centrally managed disinformation/propaganda ecosystem overseen by the presidential administration. 3/3

Publication Alert 🚨 About ANO Dialog and practices of Russia’s digital control. It is open access!

My new article, “ANO Dialog: Innovation in Controlling Russia’s Digital Information”, is out in Post-Soviet Affairs in Open Access. With @florian-toepfl.bsky.social & @jkling288.bsky.social, we extend our OSINT CV analysis method of Prigozhin’s troll factory to a new case doi.org/10.1080/1060... 1/3

I am officially a Doctor of Social Science! 3.5 years and 5 articles, from Prigozhin's troll factory to ANO Dialog. All written under the careful supervision of @florian-toepfl.bsky.social . Special thanks also go to @jkling288.bsky.social and @kevinlimonier.bsky.social Stay tuned for new articles!

Fascinating new research reveals what became of Prigozhin's Patriot Media Group following its leadership’s failed mutiny against Putin.

What happened to the PMG after Prigozhin’s mutiny?

People ask about my research on Prigozhin's Patriot Media Group: what happened to the PMG after the mutiny? Here's a detailed answer: new data on the CVs of former PMG employees (Oct 2024), the PMG's role in the mutiny, and how ANO Dialog won the competition against Prigozhin doi.org/10.31205/RA....

Seriously?!

In Georgia, students are being expelled from university for protesting for the country’s freedom and European future.

A Russia-based disinformation network published 3.6 million online articles last year for the primary purpose of influencing AI chatbots' output — and succeeded, according to a new report.

Just got an email from the Fulbright Association. As of right now, funding has been cut off to 12,500 US citizens currently abroad and and more than 7,400 foreigner scholars and students in the United States

[New Research] Here are the leading sources of pro-Kremlin narratives on Telegram. Our analysis shows that only a handful of Russian-based Telegram acc. (10) dominate this news ecosystem, influencing the framing around the Russian-Ukraine war on Telegram & beyond. conflictmisinfo.org/leading-spre...

The fact that this communication is now necessary ... for conferences happening in the *US* ... shocking.

I'm in the process of putting together a review article on how historians have analyzed Russia's War against Ukraine. In the process, I've read A LOT of what has been out there. Allow me to highlight some of my suggestions to help people understand Russia's War in Ukraine:

There are more than $6 million active National Science Foundation and National Institute of Health research grants in the Twin Ports and Fond du Lac Reservation.

Bellingcat is currently working with universities to develop open source investigation courses in various fields and creating student-led investigative hubs at those universities, which seems well timed.

Inauthentic news-pravda websites from Russian Portal Kombat network are now creating accounts on Bluesky. I created a moderation list, it would be nice to help me to share it. Please do not hesitate to send me new accounts. Ping @moderation.bsky.app bsky.app/profile/did:...

Russische #Desinformation steht vor der #Bundestagswahl in den Startlöchern: rund 100 Webseiten, gefüllt mit KI-generierten Texten, warten auf ihren Einsatz. Mehrere Fakes wurden schon aktiviert - einige erinnern sich vielleicht an die Deepfake-Schmutzstory über Habeck? correctiv.org/faktencheck/...

More tech guardrails are coming down ... "Google has told the EU it will not add fact checks to search results and YouTube videos or use them in ranking or removing content, despite the requirements of a new EU law, according to a copy of a letter obtained by Axios." www.axios.com/2025/01/16/g...

Interesting! Just tested it myself from #austria

“The Great Decentralization — the migration away from large, centralized one-size-fits-all platforms to smaller, ideologically distinct spaces — is fueled by political identity and dissatisfaction.” www.noemamag.com/the-great-de...

Today, the deadline for this job announcements has expired. Please feel free to apply up until the end of this week, as we will start reviewing the candidates these days!

#CommSky #AcademicSky

The Kremlin earned some €3 billion in 2023 in tax from European Union companies that were, and sometimes still are, active in Russia, according to a report published Monday.

When people believe in conspiracies, mysticism, and magic, we shouldn't be surprised by strange election results. It's not just about foreign interference.

Jobangebot am Lehrstuhl für Kommunikationswissenschaft an der Universität Passau für Prae- oder Postdocs: stellenmarkt.sueddeutsche.de/job/wissensc...

Serge Poliakoff examined the 818 curricula vitae (CVs) of the Patriot Media (Prigozhin media arm) former employees. With its links to the Internet Research Agency it blurred the lines between a “troll farm” and a media outlet www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

NEW: Over 60 German & Austrian universities have announced today they are quitting X/Twitter. The backlash against Musk is growing after he endorsed Germany’s Far Right. Germany’s Feberal Court of Justice has also quit the platform, as well as top German football clubs & labour unions.

If you are so inclined, here's "How to delete your Facebook account and take your data with you. Meta has buried account deletion and deactivation within your Facebook settings, but we found them." www.popsci.com/diy/how-to-d...

Und da heute Freitag ist: Hier ein Starter Pack mit Accounts von Forschenden unserer Universität. #FollowerFriday #Servicesky go.bsky.app/8QEXuUr

Just a kind reminder that Georgians took to the streets on November 28 to protest the regime’s decision to halt negotiations with the EU and have not stopped for 43 days, despite brutal crackdowns, mass arrests, repressions, and the much-loved Christmas holidays. #GeorgiaProtests 1/2

Want to know what happened to the Russian trolls associated with the Internet Research Agency after they interfered in the 2016 U.S. election? Here's a new study by @sergepoliakoff.bsky.social on the organization of Prigozhin's Patriot Media Group that may answer some of your questions.

Great comments from my @qutdmrc.bsky.social colleague @timothyjgraham.bsky.social on the substantial limitations and flaws of the ‘community notes’ model that #Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg is wearing as a fig leaf while he’s cozying up to the Trumpist ‘alternative facts’ mob. www.abc.net.au/news/...

This will also have an impact on foreign information influence. It will likely make it much easier for propaganda to get past the gatekeeper. Given the important role that Meta's platforms still play around the world, this decision could be a game changer.

⚡️YouTube traffic in Russia drops 80% as authorities try to curb access. The ongoing slowdown, reportedly implemented by Russian regulators to restrict access to the service, has made the platform nearly unusable in the country.

About the deadly attack in Magdeburg and the #AfD

Interested in updates from researchers who are committed to advancing the methods of communication research and related disciplines? The Count has something for you... go.bsky.app/ByqiKgq Feel free to share and comment, if you want to be added.

Register on the link to join me in Brussels at this conference, where I will be speaking on a method for analysing russian disinformation/propaganda organisations without physical access to the field.

This sounds desperate: Russia using AI-generated fakes of world-renowned academics to spread pro-Russian #disinfo. A shortage of useful idiots? Or just another attempt at tailored #propaganda?

A day after Trump announces that he disagrees with Ukraine having the right to strike Russian territory, Russia hits the people of Ukraine with one of the largest missile attacks of the war. With an estimated cost of $1 billion the attack targeted purely civilian infrastructure.

Hi 🦋! Short intro: I am a researcher and PhD student at the RUSINFORM research group at the University of Passau (🇩🇪). I study russia's #propaganda and #disinformation, in particular how russia's "troll farms" (such as Prigozhin's Internet Research Agency) are organised. #commSky #poliSky #polcom

Excited to advertise a new (post-)doctoral position in my team at Uni Passau in a new @bidt.bsky.social-funded project on "Authoritarian AI: How LLMs Align with Russia's Propaganda". Looking forward to all types of applications! shorturl.at/vc43x

South Korea has just declared martial law edition.cnn.com/2024/12/03/a...