Prof. Dr. Florian Töpfl

Seit Oktober 2020

• Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Politische Kommunikation mit Schwerpunkt auf Osteuropa und die postsowjetische Region an der Universität Passau

Seit November 2019

• Leiter des ERC-Consolidator-Projektes The Consequences of the Internet for Russia’s Informational Influence Abroad (RUSINFORM) an der Universität Passau

Oktober 2014 bis Oktober 2019

• Leiter der Emmy-Noether-Forschungsgruppe Mediating Semi-Authoritarianism: The Power of the Internet in the Post-Soviet Region an der Freien Universität Berlin

Oktober 2017 bis März 2018

• Vertretungsprofessor (W3) am Institut für Kommunikationswissenschaft und Medienforschung an der Ludwig-Maximilians-University in München

Oktober 2012 bis September 2014

• Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow im Department of Media and Communications an der London School of Economics and Political Science
• Titel des Projektes: Mediating Semi-Authoritarianism – The Power of the Internet in Russia (MESAPORUS)

Juli 2012 bis Mai 2017

• Habilitation im Fach Kommunikationswissenschaft an der Ludwig-Maximilians-University in München
• Titel des Projektes: Mediating Semi-Authoritarianism. The Power of the Internet in Russia (Fachmentorat: Michael Meyen, Barbara Pfetsch, Carsten Reinemann)

September 2011

• Visiting Research Fellowship im Sociology Department an der Higher School of Economics in Sankt Petersburg

Februar 2011 bis September 2012

• Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Institut für Kommunikationswissenschaft und Medienforschung an der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in München

August 2010 bis Oktober 2010

• Visiting Research Fellowship am Aleksanteri Institute for Russian and Eastern European Studies in Helsinki

September 2009 bis Mai 2010

• Postdoctoral Research Fellow am Harriman Institute for Russian, Eurasian, and Eastern European Studies an der Columbia University in New York

April 2009 bis August 2009

• Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Geschwister-Scholl-Institut für Politikwissenschaft an der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in München

November 2005 bis Juli 2009

• Promotion im Fach Politikwissenschaft an der Universität Passau
• Titel der Dissertation: Media Systems in Transition. How Do Pluralistic Media Systems Emerge – and Why Not? (Kommittee: Heinrich Oberreuter, Ralf Hohlfeld)

Mai 1998 bis Mai 2005

• Diplomstudium in International Business and Eastern European Cultural Studies an der Universität Passau
• Sprachen: Russisch, Tschechisch, Italienisch

Weitere Informationen finden Sie im Curriculum Vitae von Prof. Dr. Florian Töpfl.

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

2024

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

2023

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

2022

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

2021

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]

2020

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]

2019

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]

2018

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]

2016

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]

2015

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]

2014

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]

2013

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]

2012

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]

2011

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]