Professor Toepfl’s recent research has focused on how Russia’s ruling elites seek to influence media audiences abroad. In his previous projects, he investigated the inter-relations between old and new media and politics in non-democratic regimes, with a strong focus on Russia and the post-Soviet region.
Moreover, Professor Toepfl is interested in how the recent rise of far-right social movements in many Western countries has affected political communication, media structures and politics under democratic rule.
Professor Toepfl’s research is grounded in qualitative, quantitative and, most recently, also computational methods.
Since October 2020
Since November 2019
October 2014 to October 2019
October 2017 to March 2018
October 2012 to September 2014
July 2012 to May 2017
September 2011
February 2011 to September 2012
August 2010 to October 2010
September 2009 to May 2010
April 2009 to August 2009
November 2005 to July 2009
May 1998 to May 2005
For more information, please consult Prof Toepfl's CV.
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2026
Poliakoff, S., & Toepfl, F. (2026). Prigozhin’s Propaganda Team: The St Petersburg Internet Research Agency (2013–2021). Europe-Asia Studies, 78(1), 91–112. https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2025.258833
Poliakoff, S.; Toepfl, F.; Kling, J. (2026): ANO Dialog: innovation in controlling Russia’s digital information. In: Post-Soviet Affairs, 42(1), 107–130. https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2025.2559218
Beseler, A., Toepfl, F., Kravets, D., & Kling, J. (2026). Disrupting or invigorating an anti-democratic counterpublic? How highly active commenters engage on RT German’s Facebook page. New Media & Society, Article 14614448251413136. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251413136
2025
Beseler, A., & Toepfl, F [Florian] (2025). Conduits of the Kremlin's Informational Influence Abroad? How German-Language Alternative Media Outlets Are Connected to Russia's Ruling Elites. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 30(3), 659–678. https://doi.org/10.1177/19401612241230284
Kling, J [Julia], & Poliakoff, S. (2025). Facebook, the EU and Russia’s war: Challenges of moderating authoritarian news. Internet Policy Review, 14(3). https://doi.org/10.14763/2025.3.2036
Kling, J [Julia], Toepfl, F [Florian], & Jürgens, P. (2025). Entertainment interspersed with propaganda: how non-legacy-news accounts deliver explicitly political content to mass audiences on Russia’s most popular social network VK. Information, Communication & Society, 28(7), 1252–1269. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2024.2420029
Poliakoff, S. (2025). Nach dem Aufstand: der Untergang von Jewgenij Prigoschins digitalem Imperium. Russland-Analysen(464), 16–20. https://doi.org/10.31205/RA.464.03
Poliakoff, S. (2025). Trolls Behind the Mask of Journalists: How Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Patriot Media Group Was Organized. Problems of Post-Communism, 72(5), 416–428. https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2024.2438336
Poliakoff, S., Toepfl, F [F.], & Kling, J [J.] (2025). ANO Dialog: innovation in controlling Russia’s digital information. Post-Soviet Affairs, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2025.2559218
Ryzhova, A., & Toepfl, F [Florian] (2025). The Consequences of Evidence- Versus Non-Evidence-Based Understandings of the “Truth”: How Russian Speakers in Germany Negotiate Trust in Their Transnational News Environments. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 30(1), 326–345. https://doi.org/10.1177/19401612241257872
Töpfl, F. (2025). Brutalisierung und Repression. Osteuropa, 75(1-3), 351–364. https://doi.org/10.35998/oe-2025-022
Kravets, D., Beseler, A., Toepfl, F., & Ryzhova, A. (2024). The Kremlin-Controlled Search Engine Yandex as a Tool of Foreign Propaganda. Russian Analytical Digest, 313, 11–15. https://css.ethz.ch/en/publications/rad/rad-all-issues-and-articles/details.html?id=/n/o/3/1/no_313_russian_foreign_propaganda_in_occ
Ryzhova, A., & Toepfl, F. (2024). The Consequences of Evidence- Versus Non-Evidence-Based Understandings of the “Truth”: How Russian Speakers in Germany Negotiate Trust in Their Transnational News Environments. The International Journal of Press/Politics. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/19401612241257872
Beseler, A., & Toepfl, F. (2024). Conduits of the Kremlin’s Informational Influence Abroad? How German-Language Alternative Media Outlets Are Connected to Russia’s Ruling Elites. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 0(0). Advanced Online Publication. doi.org/10.1177/19401612241230284
Kravets, D., Ryzhova, A., Toepfl, F., & Beseler, A. (2023). Different platforms, different plots? The Kremlin-controlled search engine Yandex as a resource for Russia’s informational influence in Belarus during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journalism. Advanced Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/14648849231157845
Toepfl, F., Ryzhova, A., Kravets, D., & Beseler, A. (2023). Googling in Russian Abroad: How Kremlin-Affiliated Websites Contribute to the Visibility of COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories in Search Results. International Journal Of Communication, 17, 1126–1146. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/19423/4042
Toepfl, F., Kravets, D., Ryzhova, A., & Beseler, A. (2022). Who are the plotters behind the pandemic? Comparing Covid-19 conspiracy theories in Google search results across five key target countries of Russia’s foreign communication. Information, Communication & Society, 26(10), 2033-2051. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2022.2065213
Kling, J., Toepfl, F., Thurman, N., & Fletcher, R. (2022). Mapping the website and mobile app audiences of Russia’s foreign communication outlets, RT and Sputnik, across 21 countries. Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Misinformation Review, 3(6). https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-110
Zerback, T., & Toepfl, F. (2022). Forged examples as disinformation: The biasing effects of political astroturfing comments on public opinion perceptions and how to prevent them. Political Psychology, 43(3), 399-418. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12767
Kravets, D., & Toepfl, F. (2021). Gauging Reference and Source Bias Over Time: How Russia’s Partially State-Controlled Search Engine Yandex Mediated an Anti-Regime Protest Event. Information, Communication & Society, 25(15), 2207-2223.
https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2021.1933563
Litvinenko, A., & Toepfl, F. (2021). The (Non-)Adoption of Participatory Newsroom Innovations under Authoritarian Rule: How Comment Sections Diffused in Belarus and Azerbaijan (1998–2017). Digital Journalism, 9(4), 384-405. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2021.1888137
Toepfl, F., & Litvinenko, A. (2021). Critically Commenting Publics as Authoritarian Input Institutions: How Citizens Comment Beneath their News in Azerbaijan, Russia, and Turkmenistan. Journalism Studies, 22(4), 475-495. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2021.1882877 [Link to a free post-peer-review version]
Kunst, M., Toepfl, F., & Dogruel, L. (2020). Spirals of speaking out? Effects of the “suppressed voice rhetoric” on audiences’ willingness to express their opinion. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 64(3), 397-417. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2020.1796390 [Link to a free post-peer-review version]
Zerback, T., Toepfl, F., & Knoepfle, M. (2020). The disconcerting potential of online disinformation: Persuasive effects of astroturfing comments and three strategies for inoculation against them. New Media & Society, 23(5), 1080-1098. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820908530 [Link to a free depository version]
Toepfl, F. (2020). Comparing authoritarian publics. The benefits and risks of three types of publics for autocrats. Communication Theory, 30(2), 105-125. https://doi.org/10.1093/ct/qtz015 [Link to a free depository version]
Litvinenko, A., & Toepfl, F. (2019). The “Gardening” of an Authoritarian Public at Large: How Russia’s Ruling Elites Transformed the Country’s Media Landscape After the 2011/12 Protests “For Fair Elections”, Publizistik, 64, 225-240. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11616-019-00486-2 [Link to a free depository version]
Zavadski, A., & Töpfl, F. (2019). Querying the Internet as a mnemonic practice: how search engines mediate four types of past events in Russia. Media, Culture & Society, 41(1), 21–37. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443718764565 [Link to a free depository version]
Töpfl, F. (2018). From connective to collective action: Internet elections as a digital tool to centralize and formalize protest in Russia. Information, Communication & Society, 21(4), 531-547. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2017.1290127 [Link to a free depository version]
Toepfl, F., & Litvinenko, A. (2018). Transferring control from the backend to the frontend: A comparison of the discourse architectures of comment sections on news websites across the post-Soviet world. New Media & Society, 20(8), 2844-2861. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444817733710 [Link to a free depository version]
Toepfl, F., & Piwoni, E. (2018). Targeting dominant publics: How counterpublic commenters align their efforts with mainstream news. New Media & Society, 20(5), 2011-2027. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444817712085 [Link to a free depository version]
Toepfl, F. (2018). Innovating consultative authoritarianism: Internet votes as a novel digital tool to stabilize non-democratic rule in Russia. New Media & Society, 20(3), 956-972. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444816675444 [Link to a free depository version]
Toepfl, F. (2016). Beyond the Four Theories: Toward a discourse approach to the comparative study of media and politics. International Journal of Communication, 10(2016), 1530–1547. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/4669 [Link to a free depository version]
Toepfl, F., & Piwoni, E. (2015). Public Spheres in Interaction: Comment Sections of News Websites as Counterpublic Spaces. Journal of Communication, 65(3), 465–488. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12156 [Link to a free depository version]
Toepfl, F. (2014). Four facets of critical news literacy in a non-democratic regime: How young Russians navigate their news. European Journal of Communication, 29(1), 68-82. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323113511183 [Link to a free depository version]
Toepfl, F. (2013). Why do pluralistic media systems emerge? Comparing media change in Russia and the Czech Republic after the collapse of Communism. Global Media and Communication, 9(3), 239-256. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742766513504176 [Link to a free depository version]
Toepfl, F. (2013). Making Sense of the News in a Hybrid Regime: How Young Russians Decode State TV and an Oppositional Blog. Journal of Communication, 63(2), 244–265. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12018 [Link to a free depository version]
Toepfl, F. (2012). Blogging for the Sake of the President: The Online-Diaries of Russian Governors. Europe-Asia Studies, 64(8), 1437-1461. https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2012.712261 [Link to a free depository version]
Toepfl, F. (2011). Managing Public Outrage. Power, Scandal, and New Media in Contemporary Russia. New Media & Society, 13(8), 1301-1319. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444811405021 [Link to a free depository version]
This project is affiliated with the Chair of Political Communication with a Focus on Eastern Europe and the Post-Soviet Region.
