Description
ABSTRACT
The study identifies the key manipulative tools used by Russian social media influencers on the youth audience in the Russian propaganda war discourse. According to the results of the research, such tools are situational adaptive change of the aggressor-victim-defender position; juxtaposition (authority and subject of possession) in order to compensate for non-subjectivity; storytelling, since the story is a synthetic tool capable of advancing the necessary narratives by appealing to the emotions of the audience; as well as the application of certain nominations in order to form the psychological category We. Repetition of the same narratives using the same manipulative tools by different influencers in social networks generates a forced influence on the youth target audience.
Without proper critical thinking, narratives about the absence of a separate Ukrainian nation and the Ukrainian state in the minds of the youth audience are being consolidated.
Keywords: opinion leaders, manipulation instrumentary, social media, youth audience.
