Analyzing Media & Misinformation about the Ukraine War across 12 Languages

• In Event: Social Media Misinformation: The Role of Language, Identity, and Marginalization

Abstract

Since the 2016 Presidential Elections in the United States, Russian information operations on social media have received significant academic and policy attention. Here, scholarship has focused largely on the covert strategies of the Russian-based Internet Research Agency (Howard et al 2018; DiResta et al 2018; Freelon and Lokot 2020; Lukito et al. 2020; Bradshaw & Henle, 2021). However, less research has examined overt propaganda and the role of state-backed media in contemporary influence operations (see Jamieson 2018, Elswah & Howard, 2020). As an integral part of Russia’s “full spectrum” information operations (Bradshaw et al 2022; Goldstein & DiResta 2022), Russian entities have made significant investments in the production of news, particularly for audiences in the Global South (Crilley and Chatterje-Doody, 2020; Ribello et al 2020). Despite millions of dollars spent in digital and broadcast news production for audiences outside of the United States and Europe, less research has focused on understanding the overt strategies and narratives used to shape news and misinformation in non-Western contexts.

Currently, it is an interesting time to study the role of Russian state-backed media in global misinformation and disinformation. Following the invasion of Ukraine, Russian state-backed media faced significant sanctions from the European Union (Pamment, 2022; Sauer 2022). Social media companies also took several steps to label, demote and suspend Russian channels from their platforms. However, there was significant criticism that platforms did not adequately limit the reach of non-English and regionally-specific channels, who continued to generate large volumes of engagement during the invasion (ISD, 2022). Our paper contributes to both the growing body of research theorizing and understanding the role of overt media in contemporary information operations, as well as the critical body of research on disinformation that examines enforcement disparities across language and geographies.

To make this argument, our paper analyzes Russian-state-backed media coverage of the Ukraine war across twelve different languages (Arabic, German, English, French, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Turkish, and Vietnamese) on Facebook. Using CrowdTangle, we collected all of the posts by official RT or Sputnik Facebook pages between January 2022 and November 2022 (or 264,835 posts from 26 Facebook pages). In addition to collecting the post data, we also extracted and translated the URLs contained in the posts. We then filtered our dataset to posts or articles that mentioned Ukraine (41,346 unique posts and articles). We apply a mixed-methods approach that uses topic modeling and qualitative content analysis, allowing us to measure and analyze how different narratives are constructed and spread to audiences across different regions.

While we are in the preliminary stage of analysis, our work has already found thematic differences in news coverage, audience engagement, and activity across regionally-specific channels. Our findings build on the academic scholarship theorizing the role of Russian state-backed media in overt propaganda campaigns by analyzing how these organizations shape news during times of conflict and increased sanctions. But, more importantly, this work also allows us to evaluate the reach and impact of Russian state-backed channels on social media across languages that have received significantly less scholarly and public attention, and that often face less robust content moderation enforcement efforts due to issues around platform capacity (and interest). While the narratives of Russian state-backed media have been explored in the context of the US and Europe, our comparative work extends a lens to the global context and under-studied regions in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East.

Authors

• Samantha Bradshaw, American University

• Dorian Christoph Quelle, University of Zurich

• Mona Elswah, University of Oxford