ABSTRACT
In 2018, the European Parliament condemned Russia for its use of disinformation campaigns, referring specifically to Russia’s use of social media to interfere in the affairs of EU member states. This chapter therefore focuses on social media as a space in which existing tensions in the EU–Russia relationship are played out. However, developments are situated within a wider context, on the grounds that the EU and Russia, like other actors, face the same challenges as technology develops in such a way and at such a rate as to change communications, whether social or political, in a manner that renders both citizens and governments vulnerable to those with malign or mischievous intent. Equally, however, social media offer some potential for citizens to enhance their control over the information and political spaces, a development that has also caused concern for governments in relation to political protest. Both the EU and Russia have responded to these external pressures in ways that emphasise their political and normative differences in terms of support for democracy or the undermining of it. Thus, while their responses are not necessarily bound up in their mutual relations, they nevertheless illuminate the relationship.
