News stories on coronavirus in French, German, and Spanish languages are being published by state-backed outlets from China, Russia, Iran, and Turkey, generating greater engagement across Facebook and Twitter than prominent domestic news media, according to new analysis from the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), University of Oxford.
OII researchers have found that in some instances, French, German and Spanish language reporting from foreign state-backed outlets has greater impact than independent and established media in their respective countries, achieving a higher average engagement per article on Facebook and Twitter than major news outlets with larger distribution networks.
Outlets such as Russia Today (RT), producing French language coronavirus-related content, had five times as many engagements per shared article across Facebook and Twitter than prominent news source Le Monde. Similarly, state backed outlet China Radio International (CRI) produced coronavirus content published in Spanish and generated over four times as many engagements per shared article across social media channels as leading Spanish newspaper El Pais.
Co-author of the latest data memo, Professor Philip Howard, Director of the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford said:
“State-backed media from China, Iran, Russia, and Turkey are targeting French, German, and Spanish-speaking social media users around the world with news on coronavirus.”
Katarina Rebello, Research Assistant, Oxford Internet Institute, added:
“Many of these state-backed outlets blend reputable, fact-based reporting about the coronavirus with misleading or false information, which can lead to greater uncertainty among public audiences trying to make sense of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The researchers examined coronavirus coverage for key themes in state-backed narratives, finding significant variations by language and source country, specifically:
The full report can be read here.
For more information please email press@oii.ox.ac.uk
The report ‘Covid-19 News and Information from State-Backed Outlets targeting French, German and Spanish-Speaking Social Media Users’ is published by the Computational Propaganda Project, at the Oxford Internet Institute, part of the University of Oxford. The research team define ‘state backed media outlets’ as organisations that are either directly funded by the state or are editorially managed by their governments. The outlets include international broadcasters and news agencies that have a major web presence. The team collected data between 18 May 2020 and 5 June 2020. Followers of state backed media outlets includes all Twitter accounts and Facebook pages/groups sharing content. Engagement includes all potential reactions on Twitter.
Computational Propaganda project research studies are published at https://demtech.oii.ox.ac.uk/publications/
Former MSc Student
Katarina was an MSc candidate at the OII. She was previously the Director of CODE in Washington DC, where she worked with US federal agencies and other governments around the world to use data and technological change for the public good.
Former MSc Student
Christian holds a BA in World Politics from Leiden University and has worked at the Clingendael Institute, focusing on EU governance. He is interested in data visualisation and how social media structures political communication.
DPhil Student
Marcel is a doctoral candidate in Social Data Science and Researcher at the Computational Propaganda Project. His research is at the intersection of political science, statistics and computer science, with a focus on elections and disinformation.
Former Research Associate
Mona Elswah is a Research Associate at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), where she examines digital repression, collective actions, and disinformation in the Arab world
Research Associate
In 2022 Jonathan Bright became the Head of AI for Public Services at the Turing Institute, having previously been a faculty member of the OII. A political scientist, he specialises in computational and ‘big data’ approaches to the social sciences.
Professor of Internet Studies
Philip N. Howard is a professor of sociology, information, and international affairs. He is Director of the Programme on Democracy and Technology, and is a Professorial Fellow of Balliol College.
This project will focus on how bots, algorithms and other forms of automation are used by political actors in countries around the world.