Свършва ли горивото на пропагандната машина?
Is the propaganda machine running out of fuel?

(Dynamics and transformation of pro-Russian propaganda narratives in Bulgaria)

Summary/Abstract: The article is based on the large-scale collective research on the topic „Anti-democratic propaganda in Bulgaria”, within which an analysis of the national populist and (pro) Russian propaganda in the Bulgarian online media for 2018- 31.05.2022 was made. We analyzed all online media, blogs in Bulgarian language and Facebook public pages and groups. Our results demonstrate that the key messages of Russian propaganda, have not changed radically, but mechanisms of propaganda have transformed. Firstly, in 2022 propaganda narratives in Russia became completely official: not only media „propagandons”, but also official Kremlin spokesmen began to repeat verbatim the main points and specifi c vocabulary of propaganda. This directly leads to an increase in the spread of propaganda. Secondly, technological innovations also help to amplify propaganda - since it relies on ready-made and packaged messages and direct copying of content, automatic aggregators, bots and artifi cial intelligence already have a signifi cant and visible role in its dissemination. The result is the flooding of the Bulgarian public with propaganda messages.

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