Professor Florian Toepfl
Chair
Research Interests
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.
Office Hours
- According to agreement
Since October 2020
- Chair of Political Communication with a Focus on Eastern Europe and the Post-Soviet Region at the University of Passau, Germany
Since November 2019
- Principal Investigator of the ERC Consolidator Project The Consequences of the Internet for Russia’s Informational Influence Abroad (RUSINFORM) at the University of Passau, Germany
October 2014 to October 2019
- Principal Investigator of the Emmy Noether Research Group on Mediating Semi-Authoritarianism: The Power of the Internet in the Post-Soviet Region at the Free University of Berlin, Germany
October 2017 to March 2018
- Substitute Full Professor (W3) in the Department of Communication Science and Media Research at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany
October 2012 to September 2014
- Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science
- Project Title: Mediating Semi-Authoritarianism – The Power of the Internet in Russia (MESAPORUS)
July 2012 to May 2017
- Habilitation (postdoctoral thesis) in Communication Science at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany
- Project Title: Mediating Semi-Authoritarianism. The Power of the Internet in Russia (Committee: Michael Meyen, Barbara Pfetsch, Carsten Reinemann)
September 2011
- Visiting Research Fellowship at the Sociology Department at the Higher School of Economics in Saint Petersburg, Russia
February 2011 to September 2012
- Postdoctoral Researcher and Lecturer at the Department of Communication Science and Media Research at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany
August 2010 to October 2010
- Visiting Research Fellowship at the Aleksanteri Institute for Russian and Eastern European Studies in Helsinki, Finland
September 2009 to May 2010
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Harriman Institute for Russian, Eurasian, and Eastern European Studies at Columbia University in New York, USA
April 2009 to August 2009
- Lecturer at the Geschwister Scholl Institute of Political Science at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany
November 2005 to July 2009
- Ph.D. in Political Sciences at the University of Passau, Germany
- Doctoral Thesis: Media Systems in Transition. How Do Pluralistic Media Systems Emerge – and Why Not? (Committee: Heinrich Oberreuter, Ralf Hohlfeld)
May 1998 to May 2005
- Diploma (equivalent to BA plus Master) in International Business and Eastern European Cultural Studies at the University of Passau, Germany
- Languages: Russian, Czech, Italian
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
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]
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