Florian Toepfl

Professor Florian Toepfl holds the Chair of Political Communication with a Focus on Eastern Europe and the Post-Soviet Region at the University of Passau since 2020. As Principal Investigator of the ERC Consolidator Project RUSINFORM, he investigates Russia’s digital informational influence abroad through computational methods.

• Current research: Russian informational influence in Germany
• Historical focus: Media-authoritarianism relations in post-Soviet states
• Key methodological approaches: Qualitative, quantitative, computational social science

His 15 most recent publications (2011-2025) analyze:

• Digital propaganda via Yandex and VK
• Comment section dynamics in authoritarian systems
• Pandemic-related conspiracy theories
• Transnational news environment negotiations
• Political astroturfing mechanisms

Recognized with prestigious ERC Consolidator and Emmy Noether grants, his work bridges comparative media systems, digital authoritarianism, and computational communication research.