Misleading information visualisations as a tool of info-warfare: How the same visualisations attract floating narratives of the Russia-Ukraine war parties

Using the concept of floating narratives, we examine how, in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the same misleading information visualization (Misinfovis) on Western social platforms holds comment–narratives in favour of both war parties, independent of the visualization’s original stance, confirming that citizens generally use Misinfovis as carriers of different meanings tied to their different visions of the world. At the same time, this paper extends prior knowledge by showing the dynamics on a hitherto understudied type of content, how it appears and varies across social platforms. Furthermore, it nuances how some citizens seem to favour intellectual–group over ally–group belonging, by being skeptical despite a general overrepresentation of opinionated comments. In information warfare, these dynamics, despite clearly mobilizing, might risk backfiring when propagating Misinfovis accross different social media platforms.