SAIS EUROPE JOURNAL OF GLOBAL AFFAIRS 18 Influence Operations: Challenging the Social Media – Democracy Nexus Ignas Kalpokas Social media has traditionally been unequivocally seen as facilitating democratic transitions and challenging the power of autocratic regimes. Some most recent research, however, contradicts this established narrative, and as a result, this article irst aims to show that social media does not have intrinsic political qualities of its own. Rather, they are contingent upon the oline conditions and the actors who use social media. Then, building on the contingent nature of this media, the author aims to show how social cyberspace enables a new kind of inluence operations that can be carried out instantly, globally, and with the help of the victims themselves (referred to as ‘sofa warriors’). Finally, the conlict in Ukraine is presented as an example of how social media inluence campaigns can be employed in hybrid warfare.