The dynamics of hate speech spreading on the telegram-channels of the popular kremlin propagandists

Abstract

Introduction. Telegram is the most popular social network for consuming news in Ukraine. However, in a full-scale invasion, Kremlin propagandists are trying to use popular digital platforms to promote hostile narratives. Relevance of the study. Monitoring the most popular Telegram channels is an extremely demanding task. It is important to detect the signs of propaganda content, to study the dynamics of its distribution in order to effectively counter the numerous information operations of the enemy. Research objective is to propose a mechanism (computer analysis of texts in the Telegram channels of leading Russian propagandists) for detecting hate speech usage, describe the dynamics of harmful content spread and to define its formal signs. Methodology. Computer analysis is used to search for keywords that indicate the use of hate speech, as well as collocation analysis and semantic analysis. The research material was the most popular telegram channels of leading Russian propagandists: Solovyov, Simonyan, Voenkor Kotenok Z. Results. Analysis of the mentions dynamics shows that the topic of «Nazism / Fascism» has similar bursts of attention for all three propagandists. Before the invasion single mentions were recorded, but in March-April there was a significant increase. At the end of April, when the Russians left Northern Ukraine, the number of mentions dropped significantly. The percentage of keywords remained quite high in the summer, but continued to decrease until the retreat of the Russians from Kharkiv and Kherson regions. Analysis of collocations showed that when highlighting the topic of «Nazism / Fascism», Russian propagandists most often associate it with Ukraine. Conclusions. The study showed that the hate speech towards Ukraine in the Telegram channels of popular Russian propagandists has its own dynamics. The number of posts with hate speech increases or decreases depending on the situation on the front lines. The organized nature of the hate speech spread can be considered as a formal feature of Russian propaganda and to help identify it in further research.