Different platforms, different plots? The Kremlin-controlled search engine Yandex as a resource for Russia’s informational influence in Belarus during the Covid-19 pandemic
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7477672 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Daria Kravets (0000-0001-5162-9931, University of Passau, corresponding author), Anna Ryzhova (0000-0002-7797-2321, University of Passau), Florian Toepfl (0000-0001-5773-779X, University of Passau), Arista Beseler (0000-0002-1906-0121, University of Passau) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue | 12 |
| Pages | 2762-2780 |
| Publication date | 2023-04-25 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journalism (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1464-8849 • E-ISSN: 1741-3001 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/14648849231157845 |
| OpenAlex | W4366976367 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 31 |
Extant research demonstrated that the algorithms of the Kremlin-controlled search engine Yandex, compared to those of its US-based counterpart Google, frequently produce results that are biased toward the interests of Russia’s ruling elites. Prior research, however, audited Yandex’s algorithms largely within Russia. In contrast, this study is the first to assess the role of Yandex’s web search algorithms as a resource for Russia’s informational influence abroad. To do so, we conduct a comparative algorithm audit of Google and Yandex in Belarus, examining the visibility and narratives of COVID-19-related conspiracy theories in their search results. By manually analysing the content of 1320 search results collected in mid-April to mid-May 2020, we find that, compared with Google, (1) Yandex retrieves significantly more conspiratorial content (2) that close to exclusively suspects US plotters to be behind the pandemic, even though the virus spread from the Chinese city of Wuhan across the globe
Audit · Biology · Business · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Evolutionary biology · Extant taxon · Geography · Globe · Information retrieval · Library science · Pandemic · Political science · Resource (disambiguation · Visibility · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Media Influence and Politics · Medicine · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Spam and Phishing Detection
Modelling Contemporary Gatekeeping
Burst of the Filter Bubble?
Gauging reference and source bias over time
Who are the plotters behind the pandemic? Comparing Covid-19 conspiracy theories in Google search results across five key target countries of Russia’s foreign communication
The paperboys of Russian messaging
Revealing Schemes
Codes of conduct for algorithmic news recommendation
Google chemtrails
A parallel yet divided information space
Post-Soviet migrants in Germany, transnational public spheres and Russian soft power
Googling Politics
The Matter of Chance
Russia’s strategy for influence through public diplomacy and active measures
The spread of the Kremlin’s narratives by a western news agency during the Ukraine crisis
Russia’s law ‘On news aggregators
Is all Russian news the same? Framing in Russian news media generated by the Yandex news algorithm for the United States, Estonia, and Russia
Conspiracy Theories as a Russian Public Diplomacy Tool
Understanding Conspiracy Theories
"The Mass Media and Russia's "Sphere of Interests
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |