Mobilizing Distrust
Persuasive Strategies in Czech Disinformation Email Subject Headings
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51480/1899-5101.18.3(41).821Keywords:
disinformation, chain emails, presupposition, critical discourse analysis, Czech RepublicAbstract
This article examines the persuasive function of subject headings in Czech-language disinformation chain emails, an understudied component of cross-platform disinformation in Central Europe. The study focuses on the first six months of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and analyses a corpus of email subject headings collected by the civic initiative (Czech Elves) Čeští Elfové. Drawing on critical discourse analysis, relevance theory, and presupposition theory, the article explores how subject headings establish relevance, mobilize shared assumptions, and encourage recipients to access and disseminate disinformation content. The analysis identifies recurring thematic frames centered on national victimhood, fear of the “other”, distrust of political and media institutions, and the construction of an imagined community of resistance. Linguistic and typographic strategies, including informal address, hyperbolic punctuation, and directive speech acts, presuppose ideological alignment and familiarity with alternative information networks. The findings demonstrate how highly condensed subject headings function as effective ideological triggers within email-based disinformation practices.
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