Latvia Weekly: Bureaucracy, Language Policy, and COVID-19 Spark Debate

Domestic issues dominated the narrative, focusing on bureaucracy, corruption, mandatory COVID-19 vaccines for children, and the use of the Russian language in public spaces. Opposition parties criticized the parliamentary decision to exclude the Russian language from ATMs, labeling it as Russophobic and inconvenient for Ukrainian refugees.

by Otto Tabuns

Latvia corruption Covid-19 Russian Language Russophobia

Main channels: Facebook, Twitter, TikTok

Main narratives:

Glorifying Soviet Past
Blames of alleged russophobia
The incompetence of the current government
Creating the divisions between politicians and “ordinary” citizens
General anti-government sentiments

Overview:

The narratives focused on domestic issues, specifically the burden of bureaucracy and corruption, mandatory COVID-19 vaccines for children, and the use of the Russian language in the public sphere.

The parliamentary decision to exclude the Russian language from ATMs was widely discussed by opposition parties on social media, with claims that such measures are Russophobic and create inconvenience for Ukrainian refugees. In terms of engagement, topics like COVID-19 gained significantly more attention on TikTok compared to other platforms. While TikTok remains the platform with the highest engagement, there has been increasing activity on Twitter as well.

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