Googling in Russian Abroad: How Kremlin-Affiliated Websites Contribute to the Visibility of COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories in Search Results

Authors

  • Florian Toepfl University of Passau
  • Anna Ryzhova University of Passau
  • Daria Kravets University of Passau
  • Arista Beseler University of Passau

Keywords:

search engines, Google, Russia, conspiracy theory, disinformation, COVID-19, algorithms

Abstract

Research that audited search algorithms typically deployed queries in one language fielded from within only one country. In contrast, this study scrutinized 8,800 Google results retrieved in November 2020 from 5 countries (Russia, the United States, Germany, Ukraine, and Belarus) in response to queries on COVID-19 conspiracy theories in Russian and English. We found that the pandemic appeared similar to people who googled in Russian independent of their geolocation. The only exception was Ukraine, which had implemented rigorous media policies to limit the reach of websites affiliated with Russia within its national public sphere. Conspiracy narratives varied with input language. In response to Russian-language queries, 35.5% of the conspiratorial results suspected U.S. plotters to be behind the pandemic (English language: 5.8%). All source pages that blamed U.S. plotters showed connections with Russia’s elites. These findings raise important theoretical questions for today’s multilingual societies, where the practice of searching in nonlocal languages is increasing.

Author Biographies

Florian Toepfl, University of Passau

Professor Florian Toepfl is a research group leader at the University of Passau. He heads a ERC consolidator project on "The Consequences of the Internet for Russia's Informational Influence Abroad". For more information, please see www.rusinform.uni-passau.de.

Anna Ryzhova, University of Passau

Anna Ryzhova is a Research Associate and PhD student in the RUSINFORM project at the University of Passau. Political communication is her main research interest. She also takes interest in audience research as well as news critical literacy and trust in media.

Daria Kravets, University of Passau

Daria Kravets is a Research Associate and PhD student in the RUSINFORM project at the University of Passau. Her research interests are in the areas of political communication, as well as algorithmic bias and computational methods.

Arista Beseler, University of Passau

Arista Beseler is a Research Associate and PhD student in the RUSINFORM project at the University of Passau. Digital communcation is her main research interest, with a focus on audience participation and the public discourse about controversial topics.

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Published

2023-01-26

Issue

Vol. 17 (2023)

Section

Articles

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