Professor Florian Toepfl

Chair

Foto von Prof. Dr. Florian Töpfl auf dem Campus der Universität Passau

Room HK14c 410
Dr.-Hans-Kapfinger-Str. 14c
94032 Passau

Phone: +49(0)851/509-3910
Fax: +49(0)851/509-3919

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.

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]