2026-09-24T03:51:05Z https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-uni-passau/oai

oai:kobv.de-opus4-uni-passau:1960 2025-11-20 bibliography:false doc-type:PhDThesis open_access ddc ddc:302

Social Networking Sites as Intermediaries of Authoritarian State Propaganda: How Facebook and VK Disseminated Predominantly Kremlin-Friendly Political Content Before and During Russia’s Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine 0000-0002-5273-7384 Julia Kling 302 social networking site Russia propaganda platform governance Previous research on Russia’s use of social networking sites to influence foreign audiences has primarily focused on US-based platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, the activities of Russia’s “troll farms”, as well as Russia’s foreign broadcasters, RT and Sputnik, and their audiences. By contrast, little research has examined the global reach of Russia’s state-aligned domestic news content, specifically on US- and Russia-based social networking sites that significantly differ in the level of the Kremlin’s control over information flows, and how the activities of novel Russian disinformation production organizations support this reach. In my dissertation, I addressed these gaps in the extant research literature in the fields of political communication, social media, and Russia studies in four distinct research papers focusing on the reach of and engagement with Russian-speaking political content, including Russia’s domestic news content, and the activities of ANO Dialog, Russia’s novel disinformation production organization with close links to the Russian government, on US-based Facebook and Russia-based VK. To do so, I used innovative qualitative, quantitative, and computational research methods to create knowledge on Russia’s informational influence on the two platforms before and after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The findings highlight that, despite differing levels of Kremlin control, both of the social networking sites studied functioned as conduits for the dissemination of Russian-speaking, predominantly Kremlin-friendly political content, including state-aligned domestic news. This content reached audiences both within Russia and abroad in the lead-up to and during the full-scale war in Ukraine. While VK primarily served Russia’s users, Facebook disseminated Russia’s state-aligned news mostly to audiences outside Russia, particularly in former Soviet countries, in the lead-up to the invasion. During the war, Facebook continued to host critical perspectives on Russia’s war crimes, in contrast to VK, where such content was blocked. However, Facebook was banned in Russia in March 2022, limiting domestic access to dissenting views. With the war ongoing as of May 2025 and organizations such as ANO Dialog intensifying their efforts to influence both domestic and foreign audiences on platforms such as VK and Facebook, it is likely that Russia will further strengthen its information control. Universität Passau Passau Innstrasse 29, 94032 Passau Florian Toepfl Anatoliy Gruzd 2025-10-17 2025-11-20 PhDThesis Text urn:nbn:de:bvb:739-opus4-19601 application/pdf eng Creative Commons - CC BY-SA - Namensnennung - Weitergabe unter gleichen Bedingungen 4.0 International thesis.doctoral Universität Passau Passau Sozial- und Bildungswissenschaftliche Fakultät 1 https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-uni-passau/oai/container/index/docId/1960 https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-uni-passau/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1960