Fighting Digital Propaganda with Censorship during International Conflict

• In Event: Russian Interference

Abstract

Many liberal states have become greatly concerned with Russian propaganda and disinformation on social media. The Ukrainian government responded to this threat in 2017 by blocking access to several Russian websites, including Vkontakte, one of the most popular social media websites at the time. By exploiting a natural experiment in Ukraine, I find that the sudden ban reduced online activity, even among those users who are legally and technically capable of bypassing the censorship. Users with strong political and social affiliations to Russia are at least as likely to be affected by the ban as those with weak affiliations. I argue that the availability of online media — not political attitudes toward the state — is the main mechanism behind the response to the online ban. These findings suggest that this pragmatic view on censorship holds, even in the highly politicized military conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Author

• Yevgeniy Golovchenko, University of Copenhagen