this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2023
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What, in your opinion, are the most common outlets of Russian propaganda?
Bought or individually manipulated small content creators, in other words, astroturf. Believe it or not the FSB actually arrived in the 21st century and they know that the likes of RT are too on the nose to have wide-spread impact.
Also, targeted media amplification, like that Maersheimer video which suddenly went viral (and, ironically, was then amplified by, of all people, tankies. Must not have gotten the party memo that (rightly) decried geostrategic realism as imperialist apologia)
You're saying that small astroturfed internet personalities are the Russian Federation's primary means of legitmizing it's interests in the public eye? Bigger than oligarch-owned news station and media empires?
Can you name some of these bought or individually manipulated small content creators?
First off, you said "common", and yes there's definitely more of those than big media empires. Secondly, when it comes to impact, yes, I'd also say that they're having a relatively larger impact. RT can't even operate over here the institutional stooge of Russia over here is the AfD. To a lesser degree, Die Linke but they managed to deadlock themselves into arcane pseudo-pacifism, "Oh Ukraine should be helped but we shouldn't send weapons because we're Germany", the ultimate old guard new guard compromise.
It's kinda hard I don't want to say names because a lot of them might also be useful idiots. Like at least half of the tankiesphere on youtube, I have no way to tell whether Hasan has been groomed by Russia or is simply being an idiot on his own accord. If you look at the post history of random accounts commenting with Russian lines on youtube they very much look like bots.
Another rather more prominent example would be Elon Musk. He's definitely been worked over by Russia. Merely getting cold feet over starlink is one thing, suddenly using language such as "Lenin's mistake" in relation to Ukraine is a dead give away of direct exposure to Russian brainwashing. As to the rest of the platforms I wouldn't really know I don't frequent those.
The pattern of influencing is well-documented, though. There's a reason that "Russian bot farm" is a term (one of the first things that Ukraine blew up in Moscow, btw).