New platforms, old trolls: How political trolling in Russia adapts to new platform affordances

The online trolling, that is the targeting of individuals or groups with uncivil and offensive content, is a well-known internet phenomenon. Increasingly used by neo-authoritarian regimes to attack and silence their political opponents on digital platforms, trolling is increasingly recognized as a threat to the public sphere that can limit participation and diminish possibilities for the dialogue. The rise of new platforms, such as TikTok or Clubhouse, is often viewed as a possibility to shift away from old digital environments, whose infrastructures are intensively utilized by pro-regime trolls (e.g. Russian "troll factories"). However, does it take long before old trolls adapt to new platform affordances? In our paper, we address this question using a mixed-method approach to investigate whether (new) platform affordances are utilized by political trolls in Russia to target their opponents and what effect it might have for the regional and international public sphere.