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Reports

September 25th - October 1st, 2023 by Otto Tabuns

Latvia Weekly: Vaccine Anxiety, Education Fears, and Pension Discontent

The majority of content continues to focus on COVID-19, specifically the anxiety surrounding mandatory vaccines. Content in Latvian language reaches a smaller audience compared to Russian, but garners more comments. Interestingly, the same content is received differently by Latvian and Russian-speaking audiences; Latvian responses are more critical, while Russian responses are predominantly supportive.​​

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September 25th - October 1st, 2023 by Olevs Nikers

Estonia Weekly: Estonian Language in the Limelight

This week draw most of the attention towards the education policy in Estonia, which provides, that teaching language in Estonia is Estonian language. This topic was also discussed in relation to the similar developments in Latvia, that also is taking place for some time. These developments are regarded as Russophobic and ultra nationalistic. Among the other topics were raised issue of the ban of the Estonian visas for the Russian citizens, which was regarded as a violation of the basic human rights, and politician Yana Toom elevated this issue on the level of the European Parliament. One of the authors utilized his Facebook account in spreading Chinese narrative towards Europe and USA. In summary, the narratives over this week suggested, that (1) Estonian ban of Visas for Russian citizens is a violation of the basic human rights, (2) the United States utilize disinformation as an instrument to hold its hegemony, (3) in Estonia prevails Russophobia in a massive scale - It is forbidden to be Russian in Estonia, while Ukraine agenda prevails and Ukraine flag is a Nazi Symbol and (3) This is a kind of a tragedy for kids of Russian minority to learn in Estonian language.

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September 18th - September 24th, 2023 by Otto Tabuns

Latvia Weekly: Persistent COVID-19 Disinformation, Corruption Claims, and Waning

Whilst the authors remain the same and try to apply a similar video format and narrative as in previous weeks, the engagement is lower. Additionally, some content relating to corruption and low trust in government is getting more prominent among the opposition political party leaders however engagement remains low. Considering that in prior weeks content relating to COVID-19 was relevant due to members of parliament being required to temporarily wear masks, the low engagement on similar content could be attributed to lack of actual evidence of a reintroduction of restrictions or vaccines.

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September 11th - September 17th, 2023 by Olevs Nikers

Estonia Weekly: Political Distrust, LGBTQ Bias, and Ethnic Policy Controversies

Issues of national ethnic policy, trust towards politicians and politics, attitudes towards homosexual persons as well as the matter of the global international politics towards the “small” nations were covered this week in Estonian social media channels and websites. The main narratives were related to trust to the politicians and politics in Estonia, stating that politicians are corrupted and should not be trusted. Another topic was raised in comments to the article, which covered and interview with a homosexual person, immediately suggesting, that gays will seize the power, just because public attention are given to them. Criticism towards national ethnic policy essentially led to the conclusion that the government is dividing society solely on ethnic basis among Russians and Estonians.

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