Author(s): Adrian BARBU
Publication name: Romanian Intelligence Studies Review
Publisher name: Mihai Viteazul National Intelligence Academy
Publication type: Journal article
Publication date: June 30, 2020
Pagination:
Issue/ Volume: 23/2020
DOI:
Abstract
In an age where information means power, combat with weapons from the
battlefields seems to have moved online. The main tools that actors use in the
information battle are the same as those used hundreds of years ago – propaganda and
disinformation, but the place in which they are promoted have been transformed due to
technological developments. Now, the virtual environment and especially social media
have become extremely attractive areas for those who want to promote fake messages in
order to influence or mislead the opponent. Since 2011, with the anti-government
protests in Russia, the Kremlin has invested heavily in the social media area,
transforming it into an essential component of its information campaigns for the control,
monitoring and influence of the virtual environment. Among the favorite targets of the
actions subordinated to the information operations commanded from Moscow are the
states in the immediate vicinity of the Russian colossus, respectively the states of Central
Asia, the Caucasus, the Baltic states and Belarus, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine,
as well as the former communist states of Central Europe and of the East, including
Romania. In the Romanian media, Sputnik Moldova-Romania is seen as the symbol of
Russian propaganda. Not few were the cases in which journalists and Romanian experts
proved how texts published on the news platform were created or cosmetized in order to
mislead or generate favorable feelings for Moscow among readers. The Sputnik news
agency, respectively its platform in Romanian, is one of the main promoters of Kremlin
propaganda messages in the public space in Romania. This paper analyzes the way in
which the most important representative of Russian propaganda in the local media acts
in relation to Romanian online communities on the Twitter micro-blogging platform. In
this regard, the activity of the Russian news agency’s account has been assessed from a
dual point of view: network analysis – how users coagulate around it and what are the
characteristics of its ecosystem; content analysis – what are the main lines and messages
diffused on the Twitter platform.
Keywords: Disinformation, Propaganda, Russia, Twitter, Network, Sputnik
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