The Slavic Connexion

Trust Me: Information Wars - Social Media and Politics in Russia & Eastern Europe (2019 symposium)

Trust Me: Information Wars - Social Media and Politics in Russia & Eastern Europe (2019 symposium)


Information Wars: Social Media and Politics in Russia & Eastern Europe
Thu, April 25, 2019 | RLP 1.302B (Glickman Conference Center)
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM

This symposium encourages a fruitful conversation about the role and impact of mainstream and social media—and in particular about information and disinformation wars—in political battles, trajectories, and outcomes in Russia and Eastern Europe. Speakers discuss the ways in which these processes and networks have had global impacts, such as in the 2016 US elections and beyond.

10:00 am - 12:00 pm Panel 1 Instrumentation: Strategy and Tactics

Joshua Tucker
Heads will Troll: An Analysis of Links Shared by IRA Twitter Accounts

Denis Stukal
Analyzing Twitter Bots: How Russia Manipulates Information Online

Olga Onuch and Emma Mateo
Information and Mobilisation: The Role of Media Sources in Protest Mobilisation, Demobilisation, and Support

2:00 pm to 4:00 pm Panel 2 Context: Language and Narratives

Peter Pomerantsev
The Most Dangerous Element of Information War is the Idea of Information War Itself

Ilya Yablokov
The World According to the Truthseekers: Conspiracy and the Everyday on RT

Aliaksandr Herasimenka
Political Information and Disinformation on Messaging Platforms:
"Annexation Agenda" and Protests in Russia and Belarus

4:15 pm - 6:00 pm UT Faculty/Student Projects

Sharon Strover and German Alvarez
Facebook and the Russian IRA Campaign

Mary Neuburger, Oksansa Lutsyshyna, and student team
Social Media, Youth and Politics, and the 2019 Ukrainian Presidential Elections

Kiril Avramov and student team
Cognitive Assault Munitions: Russian Disinformation and Transmediated Rumors in Action

Sponsored by: UT CREEES, CES, the Clements Center for National Security, and the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law.