In this report, we present a summary of the activity, narratives and speakers of Russian propaganda disseminated in 2023 in Bulgarian online media and on the most popular social media platform in Bulgaria, Facebook. We also present highlights of a representative national survey on main value and geopolitical orientations of Bulgarian citizens attacked by propaganda messages.
Recall: The propaganda wave in Bulgaria rose about ten days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and intensified further in 2023. The dissemination of Russian narratives has increased in the last year and a half and this increase is due, firstly, to new technological solutions.1 A network of mushroom websites was formed around the Blitz News Agency – we call it the Machine. The Machine consists of more than 370 anonymous pseudo-news websites with identical design and content, which in 2023 disseminated up to nine explicitly pro-Russian propaganda articles every day. These websites circulate each article hundreds of times and thus further lead to the spread of Russian propaganda on social media.
You will find out more in the Report.
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