Russian Internet Research Agency Disinformation Activities on Tumblr: Identity, Privacy, and Ambivalence
Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: On 24 March 2018, Tumblr terminated 84 user accounts identified as being “linked to Internet Research Agency or IRA (a group closely tied to the Russian government) posing as members of the Tumblr community.” In response, Tumblr deleted the blogs and accounts of these 84 users but allowed reblogs of their posts to continue to circulate openly on the platform. Through a case study of posts originating with one IRA account, Lagonegirl, and qualitative interviews with 13 Tumblr users, this article considers the platform conventions and social norms that were utilized by the Lagonegirl account to facilitate its distribution of disinformation. Posing as a Black woman concerned with social justice but also sharing humorous posts that resonated with Millennials, Lagonegirl’s performance shows overlap with existing work on “Left Troll” IRA Twitter accounts while demonstrating platform specificity in the construction of posts.
Source: Social Media + Society
Author: Indira Neill Hoch
Institution: Concordia College - Minnesota
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $400
OpenAlex ID: W3094519995