Can Authoritarian Propaganda Compete with the Opposition on Social Media? Experimental Evidence from Russia

49 Pages Posted: 4 May 2023 Last revised: 25 Mar 2024

See all articles by Michael Rochlitz

Michael Rochlitz

St. Antony's College, University of Oxford

Koen J. L. Schoors

Ghent University - Centre for Russian International Socio-Political and Economic Studies (CERISE); Ghent University - Department of General Economics

Nikita Zakharov

University of Freiburg - Department of Economics

Date Written: April 29, 2023

Abstract

We study the political effect of pro- and anti-regime social media videos on voting in Russia, a typical autocracy. We conducted a field experiment (N=798) before the 2018 presidential elections by promoting either propaganda or opposition YouTube videos among the respondents of a telephone survey before the election and following up with a survey of voting behavior after. We find state propaganda unable to engage online news consumers, yet it mobilized consumers of offline news to vote for Putin by improving perceptions of his competence. The opposition treatment discouraged votes for Putin among both groups.

Keywords: Propaganda, opposition, social media, autocracy, Russia, field experiment

JEL Classification: D72, D83, C93, P16

Suggested Citation

Rochlitz, Michael and Schoors, Koen J. L. and Zakharov, Nikita, Can Authoritarian Propaganda Compete with the Opposition on Social Media? Experimental Evidence from Russia (April 29, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4433145 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4433145

Michael Rochlitz (Contact Author)

St. Antony's College, University of Oxford ( email )

62 Woodstock Rd
Oxford, OX2 6JF
United Kingdom

Koen J. L. Schoors

Ghent University - Centre for Russian International Socio-Political and Economic Studies (CERISE) ( email )

Tweekerkenstraat 2
Ghent, 9000
Belgium
+32 9 264 34 78 (Phone)
+32 9 265 35 99 (Fax)

Ghent University - Department of General Economics ( email )

Tweekerkenstraat 2
Ghent, 9000
Belgium
+32 9 264 34 78 (Phone)
+32 9 264 35 99 (Fax)

Nikita Zakharov

University of Freiburg - Department of Economics ( email )

Freiburg, D-79085
Germany

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