(Mis)Translating Deceit (AHRC-funded project)

Post 7/7 📖 For the full article see: doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Post 6/7 ➡️This suggests that generational differences go beyond susceptibility or media literacy, reflecting different approaches to argumentation and interpretation. The article finally discusses implications for the wider research field and counter-disinformation practices.

Post 5/7 ➡️ Three types of interpretive arguments are identified: textual cues, prior knowledge and broader narratives. Younger participants rely on text-based scrutiny. Older ones draw on personal experience and moral and political narratives. Middle-aged groups sit in between.

Post 4/7 ➡️The study draws on 18 focus groups held in April-May 2025 in three European countries - Serbia🇷🇸, Poland🇵🇱, and Romania🇷🇴 - and analyses discussions prompted by four disinformation examples per country, two on the war in Ukraine and two on LGBTQ issues.

Post 3/7 ➡️ This article develops a more elaborated conceptualisation of generational differences and proposes to understand disinformation not as a set of factual errors to be corrected but as a communicative practice that involves interpretation and interaction.

Post 2/7 ➡️ Generational differences in responses to disinformation attract much attention yet are often discussed from the view of ‘vulnerability’ or ‘resilience’. This offers limited insight into how audiences interpret and negotiate contested claims in everyday communication.

Post 1/7 📢 Project publication alert! 🌍 In a new article published in Information, Communication & Society journal, @stefanjanjic.bsky.social, @sabinamihelj.bsky.social, and Hanna Orsolya Vincze examine generational differences in responses to disinformation.

🔗 4/4 Explore the journal and submission information: Disinformation: An Interdisciplinary Journal - SAGE Link: journals.sagepub.com/home/DIN 📣 We also invite colleagues and researchers to help spread the word about this new open-access venue.

🌍 3/4 The journal is now live and accepting submissions with no APCs. Researchers working on disinformation, misinformation, propaganda, political communication, media, digital cultures and other related areas are encouraged to consider the journal as a venue for their work.

2/4 The journal welcomes innovative research that examines how disinformation is produced, circulated, interpreted and contested across media, societies and political contexts. Engagements with emerging forms of disinformation and interdisciplinary perspectives are very welcome.

📢 1/4 We’re excited to share the launch of Disinformation: An Interdisciplinary Journal by SAGE. Among its editorial board members is our project PI, Professor Stephen Hutchings, alongside Professor Peter Knight, also of the UOM and one of our close collaborators.

🚨 New blog post! Ray Morgan, incoming PhD student in Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge, has written an insightful piece on Iran’s meme campaign. You can read it here - www.mis-translating-deceit.com/project-blog...

4/4 Viewing this intellectual activity as part of a global exchange redefines the origins of propaganda studies. The article is part of the historical aspect of our project (www.mis-translating-deceit.com) and shows how many current related debates have important historical antecedents.

3/4 Far from working in isolation, they drew upon thinkers such as Karl Bücher, Grant Hyde, and Walter Lippmann while developing distinctive approaches, including the application of Formalist methods to media texts, that resonated internationally.

2/4 This article situates early Soviet studies of the press in the global history of mass communication and propaganda research. In the 1920s, Soviet press scholars actively shaped global debates on the press’s role in mass society, how propaganda worked and why it often failed.

🧵1/4 New OA article by Vera Tolz and Alexandr Voronovici, ‘From Moscow to Cologne and across the Atlantic: Newspaper science and the global origins of Soviet mass communication ’, out @globalhistjnl.bsky.social. - doi.org/10.1017/S174...

🚨New blog post! Our project consultant, @nicolashenin.net, has written a fantastic piece on how social media can better serve democracy by examining four key principles. You can read the blog post via our website - www.mis-translating-deceit.com/project-blog...

🚨 New blog post! Ray Morgan, incoming PhD student in Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge, has written an excellent piece on how the Rubio cable exposes the politics of defining disinformation. You can read it here - www.mis-translating-deceit.com/project-blog...

Stephen Hutchings was invited to provide comments on Vladimir Putin’s apparent limp during his recent visit to China for the Metro newspaper. You can read the article here - metro.co.uk/2026/05/20/p....

In a new article, co-authored with Andy Byford and Connor Doak, Stephen Hutchings compares Russophonia with other critical models that take Russian Studies beyond the Russian Federation. It also includes brief reflections on disinformation debates. Read here - muse.jhu.edu/pub/178/arti....

Congratulations to one of our recent PhD students, Rui Wang, on her new book published in Routledge! The book explores Russian strategic narratives, digital communication and soft power in the Chinese online sphere. You can read this book here - www.routledge.com/Russian-Stra...

Congratulations to Maxim Alyukov on the publication in Perspectives on Politics! The article examines how the Kremlin turned pseudo fact-checking into a propaganda strategy and how it affects citizens. It’s available here: doi.org/10.1017/S153....

Congratulations to Stephen Hutchings for the publication of his research in International Journal of Communication! You can read the full article here - ijoc.org/index.php/ij....

In the new open-access article, Alexandr Voronovici examines the evolution and internal ambiguities of separatist symbolic ‘(pro-)Russianness’ in the unrecognised Donetsk People’s Republic between 2014 and 2022. (🔗 doi.org/10.37710/plu...)

The report also references a written submission co-authored by @sabinamihelj.bsky.social and Vaclav Stetka (🔗https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/137877/html/).

In response to the Committee's inquiry, Stephen Hutchings, Vera Tolz, and Alexandr Voronovici submitted written evidence that incorporated the latest project findings. The evidence is available online (🔗https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/138094/html/).

In February 2025, Vera Tolz provided oral witness evidence at the Committee’s meeting. The transcript is available online (🔗https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/15381/html/).

Our project contributions feature prominently in the latest UK House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee's Report (🔗https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/52401/documents/290829/default/). @uomsalc.bsky.social

🚨New blog post! Hannah Gorlizki and Vera Tolz have written an insightful piece on how Soviet wartime propaganda deployed visual and textual strategies to undermine trust in Nazi mass communication. You can read the blog post via our website - www.mis-translating-deceit.com/project-blog...

Vera Tolz will be delivering a seminar at @weareceu.bsky.social on Thursday 29 January on health-related disinformation from the 1980s to the present. It is a hybrid event, and you can register to watch the presentation via the link - events.ceu.edu/2026-01-29/e...

🚨New blog post! Our project consultant, @nicolashenin.net has written a fantastic piece on the impact of the "zero-click internet" on the informational ecosystem. You can read the blog post via our website - www.mis-translating-deceit.com/project-blog...

Congratulations to @preciouschatd.bsky.social and @maudinet.bsky.social on their fantastic blog on RT India being published on @uk.theconversation.com last week!

🚨New blog post! Glosia Koroluk writes about the Polish media coverage of the 2025 Moldovan elections. You can read it on our website here - www.mis-translating-deceit.com/project-blog...

Stephen Hutchings, Vera Tolz, and Alexandr Voronovici have had their written evidence on disinformation diplomacy published by the Foreign Affairs Committee as part of their disinfomration inquiry. Read the full submission here: committees.parliament.uk/writtenevide...

Congratulations to Maxim Alyukov and Alexandr Voronovici for the publication of their research note in Harvard Kennedy School's Misinformation Review! You can read the full article here - misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/llms...

Stephen Hutchings has been quoted in the following articles for various international news outlets: - Belsat: belsat.eu/89015792/ras... - SVT: www.svt.se/kultur/ryska.... - Lupa: lupa.uol.com.br/jornalismo/2... AND lupa.uol.com.br/jornalismo/2...

🚨New blog post! @nicolashenin.net Nicolas Henin provides a vulnerability study on Mauritania's information ecosystem, and provides solutions on how it can strengthen these vulnerabilities. You can read it on our website here - www.mis-translating-deceit.com/project-blog...

The BBC has done a deep dive into current activities of Russia’s RT network, extensively citing research from me, @rhyscrilley.bsky.social @m-deceit.bsky.social et al in our new (free-to-download!) book. @oupolitics.bsky.social www.bbc.com/news/article...

🚨New blog alert! Olga Vlasova, Visiting Researcher at King's College London, examines Russian propaganda, through the lens of emotional governance. You can read Olga's blog here - www.mis-translating-deceit.com/project-blog...

Congratulations to one of our co-investigators @neilsadler.bsky.social on the publication of his new article in Communication Theory, "Suspicious stories: taking narrative seriously in disinformation research". You can read it via Open Access here - academic.oup.com/ct/advance-a...

Maxim Alyukov and Alexandr Voronovici contributed to an Al-Jazeera English Opinion piece on Russia's influence of Western AI. aje.io/lv4v9l

Maksim Markelov has provided comments on Russia's Global Fact-Checking Network for the RMIT Information Integrity Hub's newsletter, The Repost. You can read and subscribe to it here - mailchi.mp/rmit.edu.au/...

🚨New blog post! Emma Connolly (Research Fellow at UCL's Digital Speech Lab) explores why tracking mis and disnformation is challenging as it moves across platforms, and why it is vital its circulation is mitigated. You can read her blog on our website - www.mis-translating-deceit.com/project-blog...

Congratulations to @sabinamihelj.bsky.social and @vstetka.bsky.social for winning this prestigious award!