The project builds on earlier research by Tuters from 2023, titled ‘Ambient Propaganda’, in which he and colleagues studied modern propaganda on social media. That earlier project examined pro-Russian TikToks memes related to the war in Ukraine. Tuters describes how that content strongly resembled propaganda while simultaneously being deeply intertwined with internet culture. Defining these videos straightforwardly as propaganda proved difficult, because traditional definitions of propaganda assume messages originating from an identifiable actor, involving clear manipulation and traceable campaigns. The videos in question occupied a grey area: the message was not directly imposed on the viewer, but became imperceptibly woven into the culture of the platform.

Slopaganda is the term Tuters and his colleagues use for AI-generated propaganda content that can be produced and distributed quickly, cheaply and at scale. Rather than relying on direct persuasion, this content operates through repetition, humour, aesthetic familiarity and platform dynamics. Tuters explains that such content is primarily aimed at driving engagement rather than directly convincing an audience. Users often share content not because they believe in it, but because it is funny, striking or trending. Algorithms then automatically amplify that spread, blurring the boundary between online culture and geopolitical conflict. Platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube are therefore increasingly becoming part of the infrastructure within which modern conflicts play out.

As a concrete example, Tuters points to AI-generated videos in a Lego style, spread by Iran, that mock Donald Trump. Those videos were viewed and shared millions of times. By using the innocent aesthetic of Lego, the videos aligned perfectly with the sentiment and vibe of the platform, while their bottom-up spread illustrates how propaganda now reaches audiences in a fundamentally different way.

Through the ‘Ambient Conflict’ project, the researchers hope to develop new methods to make modern online propaganda more visible and measurable. Tuters notes that many existing policy approaches and European initiatives are still based on frameworks that assume identifiable actors, coordinated campaigns and explicit attempts at manipulation. Contemporary forms of influence, however, increasingly emerge through diffuse, platform-native dynamics that do not always fit within those traditional definitions.