Memes as Weapons in War—A Qualitative Reception Survey on the Effect of Political Meme Communication by the Ukrainian Government on Twitter About the War with Russia

Political Internet memes are considered a new form of communication and mediation of messages. The official account of the Ukrainian Government on Twitter (nowadays known as X) posts political Internet memes with content related to the war of aggression and to Russia as a warring party. The memes reach a large number of users and also resonate with the international reporting of traditional media. This research aims to examine the media impact of this new form of political strategic communication on international recipients in the digital space. For this purpose, theories, models as well as the current state of research from the research areas of the effect of political Internet memes as well as strategic political communication during a war are first reviewed. In combination, these form the basis of the subsequent empirical investigation due to a lack of direct prior research on this issue. In a qualitative research design of a focused as well as guided interview as a hybrid form with a research group of 22 recipients from the German-speaking area, results are obtained to answer the research question. On the basis of these results, a new model of political Internet memes as digital social headline in war will be developed. This will serve as an approach for follow-up research.