“To Tarnish the Pure and Illuminate the Tainted”: Russian Perceptions of the Potential Risks of Fake News

The article presents findings from a qualitative study of Russians’ perceptions of the potential consequences of fake news. Examining lay representations of such risk is crucial because these beliefs carry real-world implications and can shape behavior. Drawing on 119 semi-structured interviews conducted in 2024, informants problematize the prevalence of fake news and describe a broad spectrum of possible harms, which can be provisionally grouped into three classes of threats to public life: threats to social solidarity; risks related to individual well-being; and impacts on the functioning of social institutions. In the first case, participants highlight the dangers of political destabilization and the emergence of intergroup and interpersonal conflict. Risks to individual well-being are understood as the effects of fake news on people’s mental and/or physical health. Negative impacts on institutional functioning — particularly within the media sphere and electoral institutions — are discussed less intensively and with less emotional involvement. I suggest that informants assess the consequences of fake news by invoking readily available risk scripts, including scenarios of “panic” (“they are scaring us”), “division” (“they want to set us against each other”), and “manipulation”. Perceptions of disinformation risks are formed at the intersection of personal experiences of salient recent events (the COVID-19 pandemic, the onset of the Special Military Operation, and economic volatility), public debates that provide the language for problem framing and reinforce beliefs about the high prevalence of fakes, and broader socio-cultural trends such as the diffusion of therapeutic culture, polarization, and societal fragmentation. Overall, representations of the consequences of fake news are context-dependent and are often articulated through examples drawn from the current news agenda.