New Publication: Dissemination of RT and Sputnik Content in European DIgital Alternative News Environments.
News content from the Russian state-backed outlets RT and Sputnik is often discussed as part of Russia’s broader “sharp power” strategy to gain informational influence in Western public spheres.
In the new article, “Dissemination of RT and Sputnik Content in European Digital Alternative News Environments”, Frederik Henriksen, Jakob Bæk Kristensen and Eva Mayerhöffer examine how RT and Sputnik links circulated within alternative digital news ecosystems in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Sweden ahead of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The study analyzes more than 3.4 million social media posts (January 2019–March 2022) linking to RT and Sputnik across nine platforms, combining network analysis with computational text analysis to map dissemination pathways and identify where content gained traction.
Findings show clear cross-national differences: in Danish- and Swedish-speaking environments, spread into core domestic alternative news communities is limited and occurs mainly on Facebook (and to a lesser extent Twitter/X), while in German-speaking environments fringe platforms such as Telegram, Gab, and VKontakte facilitate wider circulation, concentrated in right-wing clusters. The shared content also varies thematically, focusing more on domestic COVID-19-related issues in German-speaking environments and more on foreign policy topics in Danish and Swedish contexts.
The article, published in International Journal of Press/Politics, can be found here: