There is a clear and growing connection between Russian propaganda and online right-wing extremism worldwide, say researchers at George Washington University . The findings suggest that the Russian media's influence on these groups is hard to stop, says Neil F. Johnson, who co-authored the current report.
Russian propaganda works
“Our paper makes a connection between the propaganda of Russian media covering topics such as immigration or racism and a variety of extremists who listen to them.”
Neil F Johnson
These messages are often first distributed on fringe platforms, on encrypted chat apps and on gaming networks.
The results suggest that extremist hate groups that post links to Russian media tend to come from regions with large migration, including North America, Europe, South Africa, Australia and Nordic areas.
"The common theme is white frustration expressed in 'Who can I blame?' ends. They want to see if there are other online communities around the world that feel the same way they do.”
Neil F Johnson
4chan, Gab, VKontakte and Co
Large social networks like Facebook may host larger numbers of extremist groups compared to smaller platforms, but these groups are far less likely to share links to Russian media, likely due to stricter moderation. Less than one percent of identified ties to Russia were shared on Facebook. Hate groups on 4chan and Gab, both based in the US, share almost as many links to Russian state media sources as the Russian social media network VKontakte.
“Our analysis shows that you don’t need a huge organized campaign of bots to influence these types of groups and movements.”
Neil F Johnson
It would be enough if hate messages from Russia were received by extremists. They ensured that these messages spread widely.
This might also be of interest: Klöckner: “Asylum seekers receive more money than pensioners” (fact check)
Source: press release
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