Ilya Yablokov

Dr Ilya Yablokov

Small Group Project 2025-26

A Digital Ethnography of Everyday Disinformation in Armenia

Disinformation has become a pressing global issue, yet much of the existing research remains tethered to techno-centric perspectives, limited methodologies, and is thinly theorised. This project seeks to address these gaps by employing a digital ethnographic approach to study disinformation as a lived, everyday experience in Armenia. As a nation marked by a Soviet legacy of distrust and ongoing informational interference from proximate countries, particularly Russia and Azerbaijan, Armenia provides a unique lens for exploring disinformation dynamics. This research project focuses on studying three groups in society (namely, young rural residents, displaced individuals, and older women) that have not been prioritised in previous research, with the goal of examining how disinformation shapes trust, social cohesion, and access to accurate information in their daily lives.

More information

Areas of interest

Journalism Digital Media Disinformation Conspiracy Theories Broadcast Media Political Communication Censorship Post-Socialist Countries Russia Authoritarianism Media Elites

Cohort

FG11

Biography

Ilya Yablokov Lecturer in Digital Journalism and Disinformation at the University of Sheffield.

Ilya’s sphere of research interests includes (but is not limited to) dis/misinformation, conspiracy theories, international broadcasting and political communication as well as journalistic practices of (self-)censorship in the post-socialist countries. His most recent projects focus on the production and dissemination of Russian state disinformation campaigns via the so-called ‘troll factories’.

Ilya’s monograph Russia Today and Conspiracy Theories: People, Power, Politics on RT (with Precious Chatterje-Doody) explores how Russian international broadcaster uses traditional and new media environments to spread disinformation on subnational, national and international levels. This work was spawned by Ilya’s previous research into conspiracy theories in Russia. His monograph Fortress Russia: conspiracy theories in the post-Soviet world (Polity 2018) studied how political elites in post-Soviet Russia use conspiracy theories for political purposes and to boost social cohesion under Vladimir Putin. Its Russian version had three editions and was included in a longlist of best non-fiction books of 2020.

Biographical details correct as of 24.06.25