According to a public opinion survey by the Government Office, the significance of Russian TV channels as a source of information among non-Estonian residents has steadily declined. Two years ago, 18 percent of respondents considered them important, whereas now only 12 percent do. The importance of Estonian-produced Russian-language content has remained stable at around 30 percent.

Changes have occurred in the ranking of the most important information channels. In the summer of 2022, Estonian news portals were the most important for non-Estonian respondents. Currently, social media has surpassed portals, with 49 percent of respondents considering it the most important channel.

Rain Puusta, strategic communications adviser at the Government Communication Bureau, noted that social media platforms do not sufficiently moderate their content to limit the spread of misinformation.

"Information circulating on social media is often uncontrollable. We know that when people consume information from quality media, journalistic principles are applied in processing that information, but such standards do not exist in social media," said Puusta.

Andres Lember, one of the founders and leaders of the anti-propaganda blog Propastop, operating under the Estonian Defense League, stated that the influence activities of the neighboring country are noticeable.

"Russian intelligence services certainly systematically use social media as a weapon system to disseminate information aimed at controlling the behavior of their people and also for widespread disinformation campaigns against the West," said Lember.

Lember believes there is no reason to worry about social media channels as the main source of information.

"Potentially, they are dangerous and need to be monitored. However, there is no need for undue fear because the average user is primarily there for entertainment and does not browse propaganda accounts or groups daily," he said.

According to Rain Puusta, redirecting people back to news portals is not realistic. Instead, state institutions and media houses need to find ways to deliver controlled and reliable information through new channels.

"If we understand that people are increasingly moving to social media and their information consumption habits are changing, then we must adapt and follow this trend," he added.

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