Propaganda Content Research Articles

Surveillance, Disinformation, and Legislative Measures in the 21st Century: AI, Social Media, and the Future of Democracies

In contemporary society, the internet, particularly social media, has become a significant area where individuals spend considerable amounts of time engaging in various activities. Concurrently, the growing utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a critical component of the propaganda that is disseminated online within economic, social, and political spheres. AI encompasses a broad range of applications, including data collection for microtargeting and the dissemination of diverse forms of disinformation. Additionally, AI can be effectively employed to detect and remove content from social media platforms that contradicts democratic principles, such as disinformation or hate speech. This study reviews the existing literature on the use of AI in political propaganda, examining not only how AI has become an integral part of propaganda strategies, but also how it is utilized to counter propaganda that violates democratic values. It explores the legislation in various countries that enables (and mandates) the removal of propaganda content contrary to democratic principles from social media platforms with the assistance of AI, and it discusses perspectives that highlight the potential conflict between these practices and the principle of freedom of expression.

LATE MODERN ANXIETY AND DIGITAL JIHADIST ALTERNATIVE IN ANNA ERELLE’S IN THE SKIN OF A JIHADIST AND TIMUR BEKMAMBETOV’S PROFILE

For almost a decade, ISIS has held the status of the West’s radical other, its symbolic and real challenge to the western idea of modernity becoming ever more prominent and threatening with a growing accessibility of online propaganda content and recruitment via social media platforms in a largely unregulated social networking environment. In that context, the paper discusses Anna Erelle’s book In the Skin of a Jihadist and its film adaptation Profile as two distinct but complementary visions of the West and its other. My argument is that Timur Bekmambetov’s adaptation, as a Baumanesque critical reading of the West’s late modernity, is supplemental to the original text and its liberal views of jihadist otherness. Profile thus views the West and ISIS as two universalist visions of the world so that by facing the dangerous alterity on the computer screen, the West should not only see the morally inferior enemy to be exposed, transformed or eventually defeated but the reflection of its own late modern failures, disappointments and frustrations.

Criminal law aspects of protecting the rights of minors from involvement in destructive groups and the influence of destructive content

Modern realities show that there is a need to establish responsibility for the involvement of underage children in the activities of destructive groups that do not have a terrorist or extremist orientation, but pose a real danger to the physical and mental health of underage children, their moral and spiritual development. At the same time, the question arises in the use of legislative structures in consolidating such responsibility. Namely, what the concept of involvement covers and whether it will be enough to prescribe responsibility for the fact of involvement in the law. In addition, the question of the concept and signs of a “destructive group” is debatable. The article concludes that the most dangerous are antisocial and antisocial groups, whose activities are aimed at the desocialization, development and consolidation of deviant behavior of children. Many of these destructive movements base their activities on the dissemination and promotion of destructive ideology, including by posting malicious information on the Internet. However, encroachment on the information security of children by producing destructive propaganda content does not always fall under the scope of criminal law, which indicates the need to amend the current legislation.

PECULIARITIES OF THE PROPAGANDA TRANSFORMATION AS AN INSTRUMENT OF INFLUENCE IN THE METAMODERN SOCIETY

The article reveals the substantive characteristics of the transformation of propaganda as an instrument of influence, and also shows its both destructive and constructive role in the metamodern society. The importance of considering propaganda in a neutral context is determined, which allows us to describe it as an important form of directed communications aimed at changing public opinion in favor of a specific task or intention. The author reveals the positive function of propaganda as a technique of social unification, strengthening faith and ensuring social harmony. At the same time, its destructive potential as a means of manipulation and disinformation is revealed. The stages of transformation of the content, methods and forms of propaganda from antiquity to the present are described. The influence of communication means on the nature of propaganda is shown. If in the twentieth century the main instruments of propaganda were radio, cinema and television, in the twenty-first century they have become social networks. The article identifies the peculiarities of propaganda in the metamodern society, which is characterized by indirect methods of influence based on the mechanisms of seduction and soft power and includes appeals to either rational interests or irrational needs for spectacular or emotional communication. The deterritorialization of ideas and narratives in the modern digital environment creates favorable conditions for concealing propaganda and promoting it more quickly. The author identifies such mechanisms of modern propaganda as temptation, performance, reformatting of contexts, false intertextuality, and personalization of messages. While classical propaganda was vertical in nature, in the metamodern society, horizontal ties through which propaganda narratives are promoted are becoming more important. The increasing dependence of the authorities on the desires of citizens in modern democracies causes propaganda to be built on the basis of public expectations, which leads to the prevalence of populism in political decisions. The author describes the phenomenon of post-truth as a product of modern propaganda, which shapes public opinion not by using facts but by relying on emotional reactions of people. The author proves the importance of controlling the methods and strategies of propaganda in the metamodern society.

Enhancing the International Communication Effectiveness of "The Spirit of Lei Feng" in Anshan: A Study of the External Propaganda Strategy of "Guo Mingyi's Story" from the Perspective of Eco-translatology

As an important part of the fine traditional culture of the Chinese nation, the "spirit of Lei Feng" has always been an important content of domestic propaganda. With the continuous deepening of globalization, how to effectively spread this cultural phenomenon with Chinese characteristics to the international community has become an urgent problem to be solved. The Story of Guo Mingyi is a typical work that demonstrates the "spirit of Lei Feng". By applying the theoretical framework of ecological translation to its external publicity strategy research, exploring its translation strategies in terms of language, culture, and communication, and proposing targeted suggestions and measures, we can not only enrich and develop the theoretical system of ecological translation, but also enhance the international communication effectiveness of the "spirit of Lei Feng" in Anshan, promote the international dissemination of Chinese culture, and provide useful reference and enlightenment for the international dissemination of other cultural phenomena.

Building a shared future between China and Africa: A framing analysis of China Radio International's podcast news China Africa Talk

China has used broadcast for international communication in Africa since 1949, an important bridge connecting China and Africa. As digital audio media, podcasts also serve communication on Africa-related topics. News media work as the intermediaries between the public and the nation, and news framing is significant for the public to understand China-Africa relations. Regarding the limitations of traditional framing analysis, this study used a data-driven computational method, the Analysis of Topic Model Networks (ANTMN), to examine the news framing in China Radio Internationals (CRI’s) China Africa Talk. The findings revealed four frames in the podcast: cultural exchange, economic cooperation, sustainable development, and strategic cooperation, which indicates the efforts of China and Africa in building a community of shared future. Cultural exchange and sustainable development are two frames found in this study that highlight the differences in national propaganda content between podcasts and newspapers. Furthermore, podcasts in international communication, with digital media characteristics and young audiences, can promote the dialogue and communication between China and Africa.

Information Politics and Propaganda in Authoritarian Societies

What role does propaganda play in the information politics of authoritarian societies, and what is its relationship to censorship? What have we learned from rival accounts in recent literature about why states produce it? While regimes clearly invest in propaganda believing that it is effective, there is still much to learn about whether, when, and how it actually is effective. We first discuss some of the tensions inherent in distinguishing between persuasive and dominating, soft and hard, propaganda. We then review efforts to understand the conditions under which propaganda changes attitudes and/or behavior in terms of propaganda's content, relational factors, aspects of the political environment, and citizens’ own predispositions. We highlight the need for more research on propaganda in authoritarian settings, especially on how patterns of its consumption may change amid crises, technological shifts, and direct state interventions.

Fulfilling his debt to civilization: American filmmaker Harold Marvin Shaw, British wartime propaganda, and the anti-Bolshevik The Land of Mystery, 1914–1920

ABSTRACT The Land of Mystery (1920) was a melodrama movie based on a fictionalized life of Vladimir Lenin, made by the American filmmaker Harold Marvin Shaw. Shaw had previously made drama films with wartime propaganda content in Britain and South Africa. The Land of Mystery was financed by Russian exile Boris Said, and the story was written by Basil Thomson, Britain’s Director of Intelligence. It was partly filmed in a rush on location in war-torn Lithuania, as well as in a London studio. When it was exhibited, The Land of Mystery (1920) was described in The Bioscope trade journal as having ‘caused more discussion than any British film of the last five years’. However, no copy of the film survives. This article reconstructs the circumstances in which the film was made, and suggests that Shaw was compromised by the prejudices of Thomson and Said.

The Content Analysis of the Propaganda Content of the Newspaper “Udmurtskaya Pravda” in the early 1980-s

The Content Analysis of the Propaganda Content of the Newspaper “Udmurtskaya Pravda” in the early 1980-s

Research on English Foreign Propaganda Translation and External Communication Paths Based on Multimodal Analysis Approach

Abstract In this paper, a multimodal phrase corpus is created, enabling phrases to be searched automatically. The phrase structure is constructed through phrase centroids, and multilevel linguistic measurements are obtained for vocabulary, syntax, and parts of speech styles. A joint feature analysis model for the automatic conversion of English-Chinese machine translation is constructed through distributed feature fusion and joint parameter analysis. Linear statistical features and feature analysis detection are utilized to compute the optimal solution for English-Chinese machine automatic translation text. The graph embedding technique was used to pretrain the knowledge graph and obtain information about the network structure. Combined with the graph convolution technique, deep semantic information mining was carried out to achieve efficient content matching and cultural dissemination. It has been proved that the method of this paper has an AUC value of 0.921 and a satisfaction rate between 80% and 95% in English-translated movie data. The proposed method can accurately translate information from English to foreign propaganda content, which further promotes the development of international cultural exchange and communication.

Propaganda Content and Strategies of Nazi Germany from the Perspective of Emotional Communication

This paper, based on the theory of emotional communication, examines how Nazi Germany utilized and controlled public emotions in their propaganda content and strategies. Emotions play a crucial role in shaping audience attitudes and behaviors in the field of journalism and communication. Emotionally charged content can capture audience attention and resonance, and more importantly, emotions can induce specific behaviors during the process of communication. In terms of propaganda content, Nazi Germany extensively employed emotional rhetoric in their internal and external propaganda materials, frequently utilizing emotive language to incite the public, manipulate their value orientation, and cater to their emotional demands. They tightly linked the people's desire for national resurgence with an anti-Semitic ideology. In terms of propaganda strategies, Nazi Germany facilitated the spread of emotions through the "repetition-memory" effect, creating specific symbols and establishing an emotional space by constructing a simulated environment. Simultaneously, the Nazi regime attempted to mobilize emotions and induce people to participate in specific actions to enhance the efficacy of emotional communication. From the perspective of emotional communication efficacy, this propaganda approach undoubtedly garnered support and consolidated the power of the Third Reich to a certain extent. However, on the other hand, excessive stimulation and exploitation of public emotions also triggered a backlash and accelerated the downfall of the empire. The propaganda strategies of Nazi Germany serve as a reminder to contemporary media practitioners to make good use of emotional communication and strike a balance between emotional manipulation and truthful reporting. It also advises the general public to maintain calmness and objectivity when consuming news reports, so as not to be swayed by excessive emotional values.

The significant other in professional path planning and readiness for scientific activity: The case of Russian students and postgraduates

Introduction. The formation of professional plans by student youth is going on under the influence of significant others. The circle of significant others is suffering profound transformations in the conditions of changing cyber-technological paradigm, overflowing traditional family circle, friends, school masters (mentors), and needs clarification. The orientation and intensity of the impact of significant others on the modern educated youth’s professional planning are not sufficiently studied. Solving the task of staff renewal in the Russian scientific sphere shows the necessity to reveal the roles of significant others in Russian students’ and postgraduates’ readiness to build a scientific career.Aim. In this research, the significant other is a really existing or imaginary person, who significantly influences student professional path planning, when a student identifies himself/herself with the significant other. The present research aims to reveal significant others, who influence professional plans of Russian students and postgraduates, and to establish the nature of its impact; to elicit the role of significant others in the students’ and postgraduates’ readiness to build a scientific career.Methodology and research methods. A three-part questionnaire was applied to collect data. In the first part, general information about the respondents was collected. The second part included three stages, which allowed the authors to identify three significant others, who influenced the respondents’ professional plans, as well as to discover the nature of this influence. In the third part, the respondents reported about their readiness to build a scientific career. Primary data processing was carried out with the help of content-analysis. Secondary data processing involved descriptive statistics methods, non-parametric Pearson test, χ2, qualitative analysis. 1026 young people aged from 17 to 35, whose average age was 21, took part in the investigation. There were 951 students and 75 postgraduates from 10 Russian universities.Results. It was established that significant others influence the respondents’ professional plans positively, neutrally and negatively. The positive impact prevails sharply over the neutral and negative ones. Over one-third of the students and postgraduates find it difficult to identify significant others. Among the significant others, there are both real people, who live now or have lived in the past, and imaginary characters. The real significant others can be subdivided into two groups: distant and close community. The role of significant other from distant community predominates over the influence of close community representatives.Scientific novelty. The authors designed the empirical model of significant others influencing the professional path planning. It was revealed that the students and postgraduates, who are not ready to become scientists, less often plan their professional paths under the influence of significant others from scientists and discoverers, than the other respondents. The hierarchical structures of students’ and postgraduates’ significant others have different readiness levels (from five to seven) to build a scientific career and have various component composition. In addition, a higher rank of scientists and discoverers as significant others in the sampling of future scientists should be noted.Practical significance. The obtained results, which deepen the understanding of the mechanism of professional identification and career decision-making, can be used in the practice of professional orientation and career counselling for young people. Since most students and postgraduates have difficulties in building professional plans or identify themselves with fictional characters or people involved in the public spheres like culture, art and mass media, the right choice of content and channels of professional propaganda can encourage young people to get a higher education and choose educational areas that are socially significant for the country.

The Imperial Eastern Bronze Coinage of CA/AVGVSTVS, SC, OB CIVIS SERVATOS Types Issued under Augustus. Chronology and Political, Economic, Propaganda Contexts / Wschodni cesarski pieniądz brązowy typu CA/AVGVSTVS, SC, OB. CIVIS SERVATOS za panowania Augusta. Chronologia oraz konteksty polityczny, gospodarczy i propagandowy

For over a century, Roman eastern bronze coins of the types CA/AVGVSTVS, SC and OB CIVIS SERVATOS, issued under emperor Augustus, have been the subject of numerous papers and studies which have led to divergent conclusions regarding their chronology, provenance, and function. While the main topic of this paper is their chronology, accurately establishing this entails the need for multi-faceted research encompassing historical data, art, archaeological artefacts, as well as insights into economy and geostrategy. This allows us to see how much that coinage reflects changes in the various aspects of the reality of the time, connected with the instauration of a new political system, namely the principate. Changes in legends, propaganda content and style of performance of imperial busts on the coins compared to the full-bodied portraiture testify not only to the solidification of Augustus’s power, but also reflect current events of that time, propaganda drives, and the role of the army in the economy. They also reveal to some extent how the state administration was organized. The objective of the present paper is to review and analyse the material available and to provide a fresh outlook on the question, corroborating the existing conclusions and hypotheses or proposing new ones, wherever these appear more probable and are more convincingly substantiated.

Multimodal Propaganda Processing

Propaganda campaigns have long been used to influence public opinion via disseminating biased and/or misleading information. Despite the increasing prevalence of propaganda content on the Internet, few attempts have been made by AI researchers to analyze such content. We introduce the task of multimodal propaganda processing, where the goal is to automatically analyze propaganda content. We believe that this task presents a long-term challenge to AI researchers and that successful processing of propaganda could bring machine understanding one important step closer to human understanding. We discuss the technical challenges associated with this task and outline the steps that need to be taken to address it.

The principles of the formation of enemy propaganda and measures to counter it in the conditions of martial law in Ukraine

The article examines the principles of formation of enemy propaganda. The principles of war propaganda spread by the russian federation are highlighted. The content, directions and elements of war propaganda as a component of the information policy of the aggressor state are detailed. The essence of the propaganda machine of the russian federation in the information war against Ukraine has been determined. Mechanisms of influence of russian propaganda on society are revealed. Measures to counter hostile propaganda in Ukraine under martial law at the legislative and organizational levels have been determined. Attention was paid to measures for the preparation and implementation of an educational campaign on media literacy, which involves the development of critical thinking, the skills of checking facts and identifying manipulation techniques, the familiarization with the most common violations of human rights with the use of Internet technologies.

Identity Propaganda

AbstractPolitical elites often employ propaganda to affect the behavior of a particular social group by altering its members' social identities. The empirical literature has demonstrated that this kind of ‘identity propaganda’ is generally effective at mobilizing citizens. However, while the consequences of being exposed to propaganda depend on its content, we know little about which factors shape propaganda content. To gain insight into the determinants of propaganda content, I analyze a game-theoretic model where a political elite proposes a new identity norm, and citizens affirm or reject it. I demonstrate that, in equilibrium, the propagandist exploits his agenda-setting power to design effective identity norms. I also show that more demanding identity norms can emerge when citizens’ mobilization costs are higher, or the propagandist can cheaply allocate material incentives. By contrast, the nature of strategic interaction among citizens has an ambiguous effect on identity norms.

TV Journalism under Martial Law

The purpose of the research is to analyze and investigate television journalism, the peculiarities of filming in the context of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine; to reveal the specifics of conducting interviews with people affected by the actions of Russian military personnel, namely psychological aspects; to prove the importance of journalistic control over news content in information warfare. Research methodology.. During conducting the research, the following research methods have been used: analysis and synthesis (the work of television journalists in war zones, interviewing people affected by russian aggression, as well as the rules for controlling Russian propaganda content in the news have been analyzed), comparative method (parallels of the work in live broadcasting, shooting stories, writing and creating news content), generalization (specific conclusions have been formed on the basis of the studied collection of literature and video materials); systematization (all information that has been collected during scientific research is appropriately systematized). The scientific novelty of the results obtained is a detailed analysis of television journalism under martial law, particularly, the specifics of the work of television channels, information sites and social networks during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The author reveals the correct interaction of the media with the viewer and the correctness of coverage and presentation of operational and relevant information in the mass media. Conclusions. The features of video filming in the context of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine have been studied, as well as the work of TV channels, information sites, social networks, and the interaction of the media with the viewer during martial law. The authors have analyzed interviews with victims of the Russian occupiers, in particular, psychological aspects; the importance of journalistic control of news content in the context of information warfare has been proven.

Countering enemy media-propaganda in the conditions of the legal regime of martіal law in Ukraine

The threats in the information sphere spread by the Russian Federation are considered. The mechanisms of the functioning of Russian propaganda as a component of the information policy of the aggressor state are revealed. Attention is focused on the thematic narratives of pro-Russian telegram channels and the rhetoric of pro-Russian propagandists. The experience of the EU and the USA in combating Russian propaganda is summarized. The content and directions of Russian propaganda on a global scale regarding the anti-Ukrainian information campaign are detailed. The goal and task of the propaganda activity of the Russian Federation in the information war against Ukraine is defined. The ideological basis of the motivation of the Russians in the war against Ukraine and the peculiarities of the tactics of the information support of the Russian media propaganda are revealed. The tasks of the Security Service of Ukraine in the information sphere have been defined, in particular with regard to countering Russian propaganda. The results of the work of the special service in the indicated direction are summarized. Amendments to domestic legislationaimed at canceling licenses and registrations of media related to the Russian Federation are outlined. The directions of improvement of the Security Service of Ukraine in order to block the spread of Russian destructive propaganda activities aimed at the detriment of state interests in the mass media and in the domestic information space are detailed.

Белорусская интеллигенция в пропагандистской деятельности немецких оккупационных властей в 1941 -1944 гг.

Introduction. The article examines the phenomenon of the Belarusian intelligentsia in the conditions of the German occupation of the period 1941-1944. The author defines the types of interaction, motives, and political intentions of this social group in the conditions of war. Materials and methods. The territorial scope of the study is limited to the General District of Belarus, within which the head of the civil administration V. Kube pursued a policy of so-called "Belarusization", aimed, among other things, at attracting the local intellectual elite to interact with the occupation authorities. Representatives of the Belarusian intelligentsia, who chose the path of collaboration, were guided by various motives. Its politically active part sought to implement the Belarusian national project under the Nazi protectorate, the embodiment of which would be the acquisition of sovereignty.Results. Representatives of this group actively participated in the activities of the German occupation authorities at various levels. And representatives of the Belarusian cultural elite saw in cooperation with the German authorities the possibility of creative self-realization in the national language.Conclusion. In both cases, they were the main instrument of German propaganda in the district. Their ethnicity and fluency in the Belarusian language were an additional means of verifying the content of propaganda. For their part, representatives of the Belarusian intelligentsia, who purposefully and consciously interacted with the German authorities, saw them as a means to achieve their own goals, hoping that in the conditions of the Nazi regime, the implementation of a national-state project is possible.

ФУТУРИСТИЧНИЙ ЦИФРОВИЙ ЗОБРАЖУВАЛЬНИЙ КОНТЕНТ ЯК ЗАСІБ РОСІЙСЬКОЇ ПРОПАГАНДИ НА ПОЧАТКУ ХХІ СТ.

At the beginning of the XXI century, a noticeable segment of the digital environment of the Russian Federation became a mass representation of visual images advertising its armed expansion with the aim of establishing itself within the borders of the USSR and seizing the territories of other states. Among such digital images, illustrations in the genre of alternative history attract attention. Their purpose is to exert propaganda influence in the youth environment. The authors of these works identify Russia and the Soviet Union and suggest the public users to dream about the topic: "How would the course of world history change if the USSR existed in the 21st century?". Source criticism of these visual sources indicates that they belong to the means of informationpsychological influence, which are an integral part of the Russian-Ukrainian hybrid war. The viewer's subconscious feels the aggressive influence of a visual series of Soviet political symbols in the plot, which uses motifs from wellknown works of mass culture, as well as scenes of violence. As a result, in a viewer is formed a psychological setting for a positive assessment of the historical experience of the USSR and a tolerant attitude towards the heroization of the Soviet totalitarian past. One of the most popular plots of propaganda content is the revival of the Soviet Union as a neo-imperial communist project using advanced military-space technologies and the war of the Russian Federation with NATO. The communities "USSR-2061" and "Russian Space Society" are points of crystallization of supporters of such ideas on the Internet. These communities spread their visual messages on Telegram, Facebook, Twitter, VKontakte, LiveJournal and YouTube. As a carrier of ideological allusions are used digital paintings, made by techniques of concept and promo art. Both types of visual art are widely applied in the process of gamification of the digital space. Therefore, they correspond to the aesthetic tastes of modern youth, turning them into the main object of a visual information attack. The conceptual charge of these arts attaches to the use of historical pictorial symbols: the coat of arms and flag of the USSR, details of the landscape, interior, clothing, weapons, and transport. In the paintings depicting the metropolises of the second half of the 21st century, the viewer sees architectural monuments in the style of the Stalinist Empire. Colorful scenes of battle painting «promise» the viewer the complete destruction by Soviet soldiers of the future world of the «collective West». So, according to the authors of the article, the futuristic visual political message for the Russian regime in the course of the hybrid war turned into one of the means of informationpsychological influence, capable of performing manipulative and campaigning functions both in the Russian Federation and in other countries, that belong to the orbit of its desired political influence. The potential possibilities of using futuristic political messages as an informational weapon necessitate further scientific study of this phenomenon.