Information Wars in the Baltic States: Russia’s Long Shadow

Praise for Information Wars in the Baltic States
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Tables
Chapter 1: Introduction
	References
Part I: The Weight of History
	Chapter 2: Echoes of the Past: Media and History in the Baltic Battlespace
		A Pattern of Political Instrumentalization
		Continuity and Change in the Baltic Information Wars
		References
	Chapter 3: Russian Disinformation: The Forest Brothers, Baltic Resistance, and NATO
		Disinformation Campaigns
		The Forest Brothers
		Resistance or Collaboration?
		What Does Disinformation Do Anyway?
		References
Part II: The Weight of Ethnicity
	Chapter 4: Making Sense of Public Media in Times of Geo-Political Crisis: Latvian Public Media and their Ethno-Linguistic Majority and Minority Audiences
		Method
		Results
			Media Use
			Media-Related Perceptions: Public Media Ideals
			Skepticism toward Media: “They all Lie”
				Latvian-Speaking Audiences
				Russian-Speaking Audiences
		Conclusions
		References
	Chapter 5: Building Bridges: Estonian- and Russian-Speaking TV Audiences and the Value of Estonian Public Service Broadcasting, 2010–2020
		Position of Broadcasting
		Trustworthiness of Media Institutions
		Importance and Trustworthiness of News Sources
		Position of Public Broadcasting
		Conclusion
		References
	Chapter 6: Building or Banning? Russian-Language TV in Latvia
		Russian-Language Television in Latvia from the Late Soviet Period to EU Accession: Reviving the State and Nation
		Post-Accession to Crimea: Media and Integration—Or the Failure Thereof
		Crisis in Ukraine: Strengthening Content on LTV, but Not Enough for a New Channel in Russian
		From Crimea to COVID-19: The Information War Heats Up
		Conclusion
		References
Part III: The Digital Challenges
	Chapter 7: Bots, Trolls, Elves, and the Information War in Lithuania: Theoretical Considerations and Practical Problems
		Information War in Lithuania
		Mechanics of Influence: Rise of the Bots
		Influence as a Theoretical Consideration and the Internet
			Interpersonal Influence and Group Influence
		Structural Factors
			Network Structure
			Threaded Structure
			Influence Meets Structure
		Conclusion
		References
	Chapter 8: Robotrolling in the Baltic States
		Robotrolling Reports
		Methodology
		Robotrolling, 2017–2020
		Pandemic Bot Activity
		Conclusions
		References
Part IV: The Responses
	Chapter 9: Disinformation Analysis and Citizen Activism in the “Post-Truth” Era: The Case of DebunkEU.org
		The Case of DebunkEU.org: AI, Elves, and Analysts Against Trolls
		Cheap Disinformation and Expensive Debunking
		Conclusion
		References
	Chapter 10: The Perils of Defense in an Information War: Media, Minorities, and the Threat Next Door
		Television Bans and Parliamentary Debate
		Government as the Voice of Authority
		The Disconnect Between Government, Media, and People
		Conclusion
		References
	Chapter 11: NATO’s Response to Information Warfare Threats
		Development of NATO StratCom
		Improving Strategic Communication Capabilities
		Overview of Centre Operations
		Robotrolling and Inauthentic Activity
		Social Media Manipulation
		Geotargeting and Elections
		Camouflage for the Digital Domain: A Force Protection Framework for Armed Forces
		Responding to Cognitive Security Challenges
		Russia’s Footprint in the Nordic-Baltic Information Environment
		Virtual Russian World in the Baltics
		Hybrid Threats in the Baltic Information Environment
		Conclusions
		References
Part V: The Complications
	Chapter 12: “Let Them Flee to Sweden: There, Everyone Looks at Them More Politely”: Gay Propaganda and LGBT Rights in the Baltic States
		Methods
		A Brief Note on Terminology
		What Constitutes “Gay Propaganda”?
		LGBT Rights in Comparison
		Men in Women’s Police Uniforms: Latvia
		The Referendum That Didn’t Happen: LGBT Rights and the Far Right in Estonia
		The Right to Be Seen: LGBT Visibility in Lithuania
		Trolls and Disinformation: Foreign Influence on the Baltic States
		Conclusion
		References
	Chapter 13: The Best of Enemies: Identity, Recursion, and the Convergence of Kremlin and Estonian Strategic Narratives in the Global Populist Discourse
		Theory and Praxis
		Social Identity Theory and Fluid Identity in Information Operations
		The Role of Strategic Narratives
		Collusion or Coincidence? A Theory of Uncoordinated Convergence
		The Data
		Russian Strategic Narratives
		A Taxonomy of EKRE Strategic Narratives
		The Politics of Purity
		The Rhetoric of Threat and Rescue
		The Politics of Misogyny
		The Costs of Cheap Talk
		The Drivers of Convergence
		References
Part VI: Epilogue
	Chapter 14: Epilogue: Baltic Journalists Respond to Disinformation
		Fact-Checking Is Not the Only Solution
		Addressing Russian-Speaking Minorities and Fighting Kremlin Narratives
		Media Education
		References
Index