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Chair of Political Communication with a Focus on Eastern Europe and the Post-Soviet Region
Chair of Political Communication with a Focus on Eastern Europe and the Post-Soviet Region

Professor Florian Toepfl

Foto von Prof. Dr. Florian Töpfl auf dem Campus der Universität Passau
Prof. Dr. Florian Töpfl
Chair
Room HK14c 410
Dr.-Hans-Kapfinger-Str. 14c
94032 Passau
Phone: +49(0)851/5093910
Fax: +49(0)851/5093919
Florian.Toepfl@uni-passau.de

Office Hours: According to agreement

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.

Period Position
Since October 2020 Chair of Political Communication with a Focus on Eastern Europe and the Post-Soviet Region at the University of Passau, Germany
November 2019 to October 2025 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-Universität 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-Universität 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. Töpfl’s CV.

2026

  • 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
  • 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. Post-Soviet Affairs, 42(1), 107–130. https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2025.2559218
  • Toepfl, F., & Mathyl, M. (2026). Russia and Dissensus over Liberal Democracy in Europe. In R. Coman, C. Bădulescu, T. Christiansen, & M. Simoncini (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Dissensus over Liberal Democracy in Europe (pp. 997–1015). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-22481-1_55

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], 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
  • 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

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., Kravets, D., Ryzhova, A., & Beseler, A. (2023). 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
  • 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

  • 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. (2022). 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

2021

2020

2019

2018

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

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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