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Влияние COVID-мемов на формирование образов итальянских и немецких политических деятелей и партий
The article was prepared during the work on the HSE research project “Styles of Modern Political Leadership in Italy and Germany”. It is a collective study devoted to the analysis of political memes which were posted by social media users in Italy and Germany in 2020–2021. Special attention is paid to the study of the impact of the COVID-
19 pandemic on the formation of images of Italian and German political elites on the Internet. The article provides a definition of meme, discusses the media activity of the population of Italy and Germany regarding the current epidemiological and socio-political situation in this period and draws conclusions about the effectiveness of the Internet meme as a tool for the formation of the political image. Based on the analysis of political memes of two countries, similarities and differences in user approaches to media coverage of the key events of the pandemic
in Italy and Germany were identified.