# Happenstance: Utilizing Semantic Search to Track Russian State Media Narratives about the Russo-Ukrainian War On Reddit

**Authors:** Hans W. A. Hanley, Deepak Kumar, Zakir Durumeric  
**arXiv:** [2205.14484](https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.14484)  
**Date:** 2022-05-28  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/en/paper/2205.14484v3/

## Key points

- Study investigates dissemination of misleading and false information by Russian state media outlets during and after the Russo-Ukrainian War
- Authors aim to comprehend key narratives promoted by Russian government through state media channels targeting English-speaking audiences
- Sentence-level topic analysis using MPNet employed to analyze articles from ten pro-Russian propaganda websites, including waronfakes.com
- Smaller websites like katehon.com played significant role in publishing topics echoed by other Russian sites
- Alignment of Russian information narratives with discussions on subreddits such as r/Russia and ten other political subreddits assessed
- 39.6% of comments on r/Russia corresponded to narratives from pro-Russian propaganda websites, while only 8.86% of comments on r/politics aligned with these narratives
- Study sheds light on coordinated information campaigns through state media outlets during geopolitical conflict
- Analysis of online platforms like Reddit provides insights into dissemination and reception of certain narratives by different communities

## Summary

In their study titled "Happenstance: Utilizing Semantic Search to Track Russian State Media Narratives about the Russo-Ukrainian War On Reddit," authors Hans W. A. Hanley, Deepak Kumar, and Zakir Durumeric investigate the dissemination of misleading and false information by Russian state media outlets during and after the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation. The researchers aim to comprehend the key narratives promoted by the Russian government through state media channels targeting English-speaking audiences. To achieve this objective, the authors employ sentence-level topic analysis using MPNet, a large-language model. They analyze articles published on ten pro-Russian propaganda websites, including waronfakes.com, a new Russian "fact-checking" website. Through their analysis, they discover that smaller websites like katehon.com played a significant role in publishing topics that were later echoed by other Russian sites. After examining these Russian information narratives, the researchers proceed to assess their alignment with discussions on various subreddits such as r/Russia and ten other political subreddits. By utilizing MPNet and a semantic search algorithm, they map comments from these subreddits to the set of topics extracted from the Russian websites under scrutiny. The findings reveal that 39.6% of comments on r/Russia corresponded to narratives originating from pro-Russian propaganda websites while only 8.86% of comments on r/politics aligned with these narratives. This study sheds light on how coordinated information campaigns are carried out through state media outlets during times of geopolitical conflict. By analyzing online platforms like Reddit which serve as hubs for public discourse, researchers can gain insights into how certain narratives are disseminated and received by different communities.