Information Flows Concerning Human Rights Protection in the Digital Representation Structure of Russians’ Civic Engagement in 2020: Results of Social Media Analysis

Abstract

In the article, the author analysed the structural and content characteristics of the information flow, reflecting the discussion of the problems of protecting the individual’s rights in Russia as a type of civic activity of Russian Internet users. As a result of particular software use, the author accumulated a relevant array of social media document and the dynamics, the modality of the flow, its distribution across various social media, the gender and interpreted age composition of the human rights information audience flow. The author concluded that a sufficiently high potential for protest mobilization of this type of digital stream triggers top-starters of human rights discourse in social media to form non-constructive civic attitudes of Russians. Signs of a significant influence of the human rights stream, first of all, among the younger generation are shown. The author identified methods of using the most resonant events in Russian society’s socio-political life by online network opposition leaders to form unconventional Russians’ attitudes by placing these events in the context of a violation of individual rights. It predetermines a shift in meanings and meanings in the sphere of perception by Russian internet users of the ratio of rights and obligations citizens in the Russian Federation. The necessity of monitoring social and media streams representing the human rights theme in the structure of all streams reflecting the digital civic activity of Russian users is substantiated, the importance of accompanying these streams from the standpoint of creating alternative discourses aimed at overcoming the problem of undermining trust in existing government institutions and contributing to the formation of a culture of constructive civic activity of Russians in digital and offline environments.