Serge Poliakoff

Co-authored with @florian-toepfl.bsky.social, our new Europe-Asia Studies article is out in open access. Using 350 self-published CVs (2013-2021) from Prigozhin’s IRA “troll farm”, we map staffing, task divisions, a five-level hierarchy, 2014 recruitment surge. doi.org/10.1080/0966...

Co-authored with @florian-toepfl.bsky.social, our new Europe-Asia Studies article is out in open access. Using 350 self-published CVs (2013-2021) from Prigozhin’s IRA “troll farm”, we map staffing, task divisions, a five-level hierarchy, 2014 recruitment surge. doi.org/10.1080/0966...

🚨Last chance to register!

Want to know who's steering Russia's online information control machine?
👉Meet ANO Dialog, the Kremlin's digital command centre.

Join our deep dive with @sergepoliakoff.bsky.social (U. of Amsterdam).
📅20 Nov | ⏰14:30 CET
🔗Register: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Who's driving Russia's online info control?
👉ANO Dialog, the Kremlin's digital command centre.

🎙Join @sergepoliakoff.bsky.social (U. of Amsterdam) for a deep dive into how it represents a new model of state-controlled disinformation

📅20 Nov, 14:30 CET
🔗Register: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Wenn die russische Propaganda versucht, sich als Faktenchecks zu tarnen Russische Desinformationsakteure ahmen die Sprache und Formate von Faktenchecker:innen und Medienkompetenz-Programmen nach. Das Ziel ist, sich Glaubwürdigkeit zu verschaffen, unabhängige Faktenchecker...

Neuer Blogpost: Russische Desinformationsakteure ahmen zunehmend die Sprache und Formate von Faktenchecker:innen und Medienkompetenz-Programmen nach. Besonders aktiv in diesem Bereich ist ANO Dialog, eine staatsnahe Organisation, die auf Sanktionslisten in der EU, Großbritannien und den USA steht:

ANO Dialog: innovation in controlling Russia’s digital information ANO Dialog, a new organization closely linked to the Russian presidential administration, was founded in Moscow in 2019 with the aim of “creating digital dialogue between the state and the public.”...

My new article, “ANO Dialog: Innovation in Controlling Russia’s Digital Information”, is out in Post-Soviet Affairs in Open Access. With @florian-toepfl.bsky.social & @jkling288.bsky.social, we extend our OSINT CV analysis method of Prigozhin’s troll factory to a new case doi.org/10.1080/1060...
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Please share: 🧪#PolComm

To learn more about the group's research on Russia's informational influence abroad, visit their website: www.rusinform.uni-passau.de/en/ #RUSINFORM

ANO Dialog: innovation in controlling Russia’s digital information ANO Dialog, a new organization closely linked to the Russian presidential administration, was founded in Moscow in 2019 with the aim of “creating digital dialogue between the state and the public.”...

A new paper of ours on one of the successor organizations of Russsia's infamous Internet Research Agency (IRA) has been published: Congratulations to my (former) doctoral students and co-authors @sergepoliakoff.bsky.social and @jkling288.bsky.social! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Source: Kling & Poliakoff, 2025 https://policyreview.info/articles/analysis/russias-war-moderating-authoritarian-news

[New paper] Facebook, the EU and Russia’s war: Challenges of moderating authoritarian news, By @jkling288.bsky.social, University of Passau, and @sergepoliakoff.bsky.social, University of Amsterdam.
policyreview.info/articles/ana... #Russia #Ukraine #EU #Facebook #Misinformation

Two papers being published the same day, what a coincidence! This study was published at Internet Policy Review. Together with @sergepoliakoff.bsky.social, we investigated the consequences of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Russia’s Russian-language news ecosystem on Facebook.

We demonstrate how russia has transitioned from outsourcing troll farms to setting up a publicly funded, centrally managed disinformation/propaganda ecosystem overseen by the presidential administration. 3/3

ANO Dialog, which was sanctioned by the EU, UK and US in 2023-24, runs offices in every russian region and in Ukraine's temporarily occupied territories. It controls the GosPublics network and maintains dashboards that track 'information threats' on Russian social media. 2/3

ANO Dialog: innovation in controlling Russia’s digital information ANO Dialog, a new organization closely linked to the Russian presidential administration, was founded in Moscow in 2019 with the aim of “creating digital dialogue between the state and the public.”...

My new article, “ANO Dialog: Innovation in Controlling Russia’s Digital Information”, is out in Post-Soviet Affairs in Open Access. With @florian-toepfl.bsky.social & @jkling288.bsky.social, we extend our OSINT CV analysis method of Prigozhin’s troll factory to a new case doi.org/10.1080/1060...
1/3

I am officially a Doctor of Social Science!
3.5 years and 5 articles, from Prigozhin's troll factory to ANO Dialog. All written under the careful supervision of @florian-toepfl.bsky.social . Special thanks also go to @jkling288.bsky.social and @kevinlimonier.bsky.social
Stay tuned for new articles!

Thank you!

Trolls Behind the Mask of Journalists: How Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Patriot Media Group Was Organized The Patriot Media Group, sponsored by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Kremlin’s “troll farm,” represents a distinct type of media organization that does not fit any of the contemporary Russia...

My first academic paper is out (open access). It's a study of the organisation of Prigozhin's Patriot Media Group, based on a dataset of 818 CVs of its employees downloaded shortly after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. doi.org/10.1080/1075... The main findings are in the thread below.

Full room for a panel on decolonizing digitally and the new ways - including Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) - towards the uncovering of academic and industrial production of disinformation about the RUTA region(s) with returning @sanshiro.bsky.social, Anselm Schmidt & @sergepoliakoff.bsky.social 💥

Сяргей Ціханоўскі выйшаў на волю Заснавальнік канала «Краіна для жыцця» і адна з галоўных постацяў падзей 2020 года быў затрыманы яшчэ да выбараў. За кратамі Сяргей Ціханоўскі правёў больш за пяць гадоў

Although he looks a bit unrecognizable after five years in prison, Tsikhanouski is free: nashaniva.com/370751

I'm happy to announce that today I have joined the @uva.nl as a postdoctoral researcher. My work at the Department of Media Studies as part of the SoMe4Dem (Social Media for Democracy) project will continue my investigation into the russian disinformation production industry using OSINT.

Nach dem Aufstand: der Untergang von Jewgenij Prigoschins digitalem Imperium | Länder-Analysen

People ask about my research on Prigozhin's Patriot Media Group: what happened to the PMG after the mutiny? Here's a detailed answer: new data on the CVs of former PMG employees (Oct 2024), the PMG's role in the mutiny, and how ANO Dialog won the competition against Prigozhin doi.org/10.31205/RA....

What happens when a state-aligned propaganda media network takes part in a mutiny - that fails?
A very interesting description of how the infamous Russian IRA was liquidated!

Fascinating new research reveals what became of Prigozhin's Patriot Media Group following its leadership’s failed mutiny against Putin.

Thanks to @faburkhardt.bsky.social for editing and @jkling288.bsky.social and @florian-toepfl.bsky.social for their comments.

Nach dem Aufstand: der Untergang von Jewgenij Prigoschins digitalem Imperium | Länder-Analysen

People ask about my research on Prigozhin's Patriot Media Group: what happened to the PMG after the mutiny? Here's a detailed answer: new data on the CVs of former PMG employees (Oct 2024), the PMG's role in the mutiny, and how ANO Dialog won the competition against Prigozhin doi.org/10.31205/RA....

Nach dem Aufstand: der Untergang von Jewgenij Prigoschins digitalem Imperium | Länder-Analysen

Stolz auf meine erste deutschsprachige Publikation (aus dem Englischen übersetzt) für Russland-Analysen: Prigozhins Medienimperium nach der Meuterei - Insiderinformationen aus CVs ehemaliger Mitarbeiter, die Rolle der Medien und Prigozhins Verlust der Konkurrenz an ANO Dialog doi.org/10.31205/RA....

Join us in Helsinki or online on 24 February to discuss three years of Ukraine's resistance

Thanks to Aleksanteri Institute, @amtolok.bsky.social, @sierrasalazar.bsky.social, Maija Harju, @unabergmane.bsky.social for organising!

Calling researchers from #Ukraine: Would you like to become part of the Ukraine Research Network@ZOiS (#UNET)? Fellowship applications for 2025/2026 are open!
Find the details here: www.zois-berlin.de/ueber-uns/st...

📣 We have a fully funded #PhD place available at the Communication & Media Department @lborocrcc.bsky.social at Loughborough University, in collaboration with BBC Media Action and supported by the Midlands Graduate School ESRC DTP.

Inauthentic news-pravda websites from Russian Portal Kombat network are now creating accounts on Bluesky.

I created a moderation list, it would be nice to help me to share it. Please do not hesitate to send me new accounts.

Ping @moderation.bsky.app

bsky.app/profile/did:...