Playing Both Sides: Russian State-Backed Media Coverage of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement

Abstract

Russian influence operations on social media have received significant attention following the 2016 US presidential elections. Here, scholarship has largely focused on the covert strategies of the Russia-based Internet Research Agency and the overt strategies of Russia's largest international broadcaster RT (Russia Today). But since 2017, a number of new news media providers linked to the Russian state have emerged, and less research has focused on these channels and how they may support contemporary influence operations. We conduct a qualitative content analysis of 2,014 Facebook posts about the #BlackLivesMatter (BLM) protests in the United States over the summer of 2020 to comparatively examine the overt propaganda strategies of six Russian-linked news organizations—RT, Ruptly, Soapbox, In The NOW, Sputnik, and Redfish. We found that RT and Sputnik diverged in their framing of the BLM movement from the newer media properties. RT and Sputnik primarily produced negative coverage of the BLM movement, painting protestors as violent, or discussed the hypocrisy of racial justice in America. In contrast, newer media properties like In The NOW, Soapbox, and Redfish supported the BLM movement with clickbait-style videos highlighting racism in America. Video footage bearing the Ruptly brandmark appears in both traditional and new media properties, to illustrate, in real time, civil unrest across the US. By focusing on overt propaganda from the broad array of Russian-affiliated media, our data allows us to further understand the “full spectrum” and “counter-hegemonic” strategies at play in contemporary information operations.

Detection and Discovery of Misinformation Sources Using Attributed Webgraphs

“…Previous research and government reporting has demonstrated how IRA trolls amplify both extreme left and extreme right sources to sow discord and increase polarization (Bradshaw, DiResta, and Miller 2022). Training separate classifiers for left-right and extreme-center dimensions of political bias enables a more fine-grained discovery approach.…”

“Information disorder” campaigns in natural hazards and extreme events –a form of foreign influence and a hybrid threat?

“…So far, "information disorder" campaigns related to emergency crises and natural disasters have generally been more grassroots than those from foreign influence and state actors (Johansmeyer, 2023 February 20). However, influence operations coordinated by States have already been deployed during periods of vulnerability, mainly in the periods preceding and following elections or during civil unrest (Bradshaw et al, 2022;Faleg & Kovalčíková, 2022;Siegle, 2021Siegle, , 2022. It must be noted nonetheless that such operations have not yet been identified during disasters.…”

Untitled

“…Although it neither points out vulnerabilities nor makes procedural recommendations or considerations, it is fundamental in identifying the peculiarity of "information disorder" campaigns, based on rumours and conspiracy theories, during disasters and emergency crises in democratic states.So far, "information disorder" campaigns related to emergency crises and natural disasters have generally been more grassroots than those from foreign influence and state actors(Johansmeyer, 2023 February 20). However, influence operations coordinated by States have already been deployed during periods of vulnerability, mainly in the periods preceding and following elections or during civil unrest(Bradshaw et al, 2022; Faleg & Kovalčíková, 2022; Siegle, 2021 Siegle, , 2022. It must be noted nonetheless that such operations have not yet been identified during disasters.…”