35 results on '"Johan Farkas"'
Search Results
2. 'Donald Trump Is My President!': The Internet Research Agency Propaganda Machine
- Author
-
Marco Bastos and Johan Farkas
- Subjects
Communication. Mass media ,P87-96 - Abstract
This article presents a typological study of the Twitter accounts operated by the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a company specialized in online influence operations based in St. Petersburg, Russia. Drawing on concepts from 20th-century propaganda theory, we modeled the IRA operations along propaganda classes and campaign targets. The study relies on two historical databases and data from the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine to retrieve 826 user profiles and 6,377 tweets posted by the agency between 2012 and 2017. We manually coded the source as identifiable, obfuscated, or impersonated and classified the campaign target of IRA operations using an inductive typology based on profile descriptions, images, location, language, and tweeted content. The qualitative variables were analyzed as relative frequencies to test the extent to which the IRA’s black, gray, and white propaganda are deployed with clearly defined targets for short-, medium-, and long-term propaganda strategies. The results show that source classification from propaganda theory remains a valid framework to understand IRA’s propaganda machine and that the agency operates a composite of different user accounts tailored to perform specific tasks, including openly pro-Russian profiles, local American and German news sources, pro-Trump conservatives, and Black Lives Matter activists.
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
3. Algorithms, Interfaces, and the Circulation of Information: Interrogating the Epistemological Challenges of Facebook
- Author
-
Jannick Schou and Johan Farkas
- Subjects
Epistemology ,Facebook ,Social Network Sites ,Algorithms ,Interfaces ,Information ,Communication. Mass media ,P87-96 - Abstract
As social and political life increasingly takes place on social network sites, new epistemological questions have emerged. How can information disseminated through new media be understood and disentangled? How can potential hidden agendas or sources be identified? And what mechanisms govern what and how information is presented to the user? By drawing on existing research on the algorithms and interfaces underlying social network sites, this paper provides a discussion of Facebook and the epistemological challenges, potentials, and questions raised by the platform. The paper specifically discusses the ways in which interfaces shape how information can be accessed and processed by different kinds of users as well as the role of algorithms in pre-selecting what appears as representable information. A key argument of the paper is that Facebook, as a complex socio-technical network of human and non-human actors, has profound epistemological implications for how information can be accessed, understood, and circulated. In this sense, the user’s potential acquisition of information is shaped and conditioned by the technological structure of the platform. Building on these arguments, the paper suggests that new epistemological challenges deserve more scholarly attention, as they hold wide implications for both researchers and users
- Published
- 2016
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
4. IRA Propaganda on Twitter: Stoking Antagonism and Tweeting Local News.
- Author
-
Johan Farkas and Marco T. Bastos
- Published
- 2018
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
5. Fake News in Metajournalistic Discourse
- Author
-
Johan Farkas
- Subjects
Communication - Published
- 2023
6. News on fake news
- Author
-
Johan Farkas
- Subjects
Linguistics and Language ,History ,Sociology and Political Science - Abstract
This article presents a qualitative study of media discourses around fake news, examining 288 news articles from two national elections in Denmark in 2019. It explores how news media construct fake news as a national security threat and how journalists articulate their own role in relation to this threat. The study draws on discourse theory and the concept of logics to critically map how particular meaning ascriptions and subject positions come to dominate over others, finding five logics undergirding media discourses: (1) a logic of anticipation; (2) a logic of exteriorisation; (3) a logic of technologisation; (4) a logic of securitisation; and (5) a logic of pre-legitimation. The article concludes that fake news is constructed as an ‘ultimate other’ in Danish media discourses, potentially contributing to blind spots in both public perception and political solutions. This resonates with previous studies from other geo-political contexts, calling for further cross-national research.
- Published
- 2022
7. Unpacking disinformation as social media discourse
- Author
-
Johan Farkas and Yiping Xia
- Abstract
In this chapter, we examine the role of Discourse Studies in social media disinformation research. While currently underrepresented, Discourse Studies can provide key insights into why disinformation gains traction through credibility building, tapping into existing political narratives and stereotypes. Discourse Studies, we argue, can also bring much-needed attention to the constitutive role of antagonism in disinformation and to the connection between political practices, power relations and platform designs; aspects that are often overlooked. Drawing on three empirical cases – revolving around the Russian Internet Research Agency, fake Muslim Facebook pages and far-right conspiracy theories disguised as tabloid news – the chapter aims to provide a clearer view of the application of Discourse Studies (in its various forms) to disinformation.
- Published
- 2023
8. Racism, Hate Speech, and Social Media: A Systematic Review and Critique
- Author
-
Ariadna Matamoros-Fernandez and Johan Farkas
- Subjects
Cultural Studies ,Visual Arts and Performing Arts ,hate speech ,social media ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Critical race theory ,05 social sciences ,review ,050801 communication & media studies ,Gender studies ,Media and Communications ,Racism ,Race (biology) ,Scholarship ,critical race theory ,0508 media and communications ,platforms ,Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap ,whiteness ,Social media ,Sociology ,0509 other social sciences ,050904 information & library sciences ,racism ,media_common - Abstract
Departing from Jessie Daniels’s 2013 review of scholarship on race and racism online, this article maps and discusses recent developments in the study of racism and hate speech in the subfield of social media research. Systematically examining 104 articles, we address three research questions: Which geographical contexts, platforms, and methods do researchers engage with in studies of racism and hate speech on social media? To what extent does scholarship draw on critical race perspectives to interrogate how systemic racism is (re)produced on social media? What are the primary methodological and ethical challenges of the field? The article finds a lack of geographical and platform diversity, an absence of researchers’ reflexive dialogue with their object of study, and little engagement with critical race perspectives to unpack racism on social media. There is a need for more thorough interrogations of how user practices and platform politics co-shape contemporary racisms.
- Published
- 2021
9. Hintz, A., Dencik, L., & Wahl-Jørgensen, K. (2019). Digital citizenship in a datafied society. Cambridge: Polity Press, 193 pp
- Author
-
Johan Farkas
- Subjects
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) ,Digital citizenship ,Communication ,Sociology ,Polity ,Religious studies - Abstract
Book Review: Digital Citizenship in a Datafied Society by Arne Hintz, Lina Dencik & Karin Wahl-Jorgensen
- Published
- 2020
10. Digital Media Metaphors : A Critical Introduction
- Author
-
Johan Farkas, Marcus Maloney, Johan Farkas, and Marcus Maloney
- Subjects
- Information society, Internet--Social aspects, Digital media, Metaphor
- Abstract
Bringing together leading scholars from media studies and digital sociology, this edited volume provides a comprehensive introduction to digital media metaphors, unpacking their power and limitations.Digital technologies have reshaped our way of life. To grasp their dynamics and implications, people often rely on metaphors to provide a shared frame of reference. Scholars, journalists, tech companies, and policymakers alike speak of digital clouds, bubbles, frontiers, platforms, trolls, and rabbit holes. Some of these metaphors distort the workings of the digital realm and neglect key consequences. This collection, structured in three parts, explores metaphors across digital infrastructures, content, and users. Within these parts, each chapter examines a specific metaphor that has become near-ubiquitous in public debate. Doing so, the book engages not only with the technological, but also the social, political, and environmental implications of digital technologies and relations.This unique collection will interest students and scholars of digital media and the broader fields of media and communication studies, sociology, and science and technology studies.
- Published
- 2024
11. Post-Truth, Fake News and Democracy : Mapping the Politics of Falsehood
- Author
-
Johan Farkas, Jannick Schou, Johan Farkas, and Jannick Schou
- Subjects
- Mass media--Political aspects, Social media--Political aspects, Fake news, Democracy, Political culture, Truthfulness and falsehood--Political aspects
- Abstract
The new edition of Post-Truth, Fake News and Democracy offers an updated overview and critical discussion of contemporary discourses around truth, misinformation, and democracy, while also mapping cutting-edge scholarship.Through in-depth analyses of news articles, commentaries, academic publications, policy briefs, and political speeches, the book engages with the underlying normative ideas that shape how fake news is being addressed across the globe. Doing so, it provides an innovative, critical contribution to contemporary debates on democracy, post-truth, and politics. Three new chapters: Chapter 2 provides an outline of the scholarly field of research into fake news; Chapter 5 examines how issues of fake news and (mis)information have become intertwined with contemporary crisis events; and Chapter 9 presents democratic alternatives to post-truth solutionism. A new foreword by Professor Sarah Banet-Weiser. Fully updated examples and studies from contemporary events, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States Capitol attack, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Extended discussions on the causes of democratic decline, currently proposed solutions to fake news, and democratic alternatives to our current predicament. Interesting, informative, and well documented, Post-Truth, Fake News and Democracy continues its commitment to understand and engage with the current state and future of democracy.
- Published
- 2023
12. A Case Against the Post-Truth Era : Revisiting Mouffe’s Critique of Consensus-Based Democracy
- Author
-
Johan Farkas
- Subjects
Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap ,Media and Communications - Published
- 2020
13. Mimicking news: how the credibility of an established tabloid is used when disseminating racism
- Author
-
Johan Farkas and Christina Neumayer
- Subjects
Medievetenskap ,fake news ,borderline discourse ,Communication ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Media studies ,Racism ,Newspaper ,Covert ,Political science ,Credibility ,letters to the editor ,racism ,media_common ,digital journalism ,Media Studies - Abstract
This article explores the mimicking of tabloid news as a form of covert racism, relying on the credibility of an established tabloid newspaper. The qualitative case study focuses on a digital platform for letters to the editor, operated without editorial curation pre-publication from 2010 to 2018 by one of Denmark’s largest newspapers, Ekstra Bladet. A discourse analysis of the 50 most shared letters to the editor on Facebook shows that nativist, far-right actors used the platform to disseminate fear-mongering discourses and xenophobic conspiracy theories, disguised as professional news and referred to as articles. These processes took place at the borderline of true and false as well as racist and civil discourse. At this borderline, a lack of supervision and moderation coupled with the openness and visual design of the platform facilitated new forms of covert racism between journalism and user-generated content.
- Published
- 2020
14. Post-Truth Discourses and their Limits : A Democratic Crisis?
- Author
-
Johan Farkas and Jannick Schou
- Subjects
Post truth ,Medievetenskap ,post-truth ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Political Science ,Statsvetenskap ,Communication studies ,post-politics ,Media and Communications ,Democracy ,Communication Studies ,Kommunikationsvetenskap ,discourse theory ,disinformation ,Fake news ,Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap ,Political economy ,Political science ,media_common ,Media Studies - Published
- 2020
15. Platformed antagonism: racist discourses on fake Muslim Facebook pages
- Author
-
Johan Farkas, Jannick Schou, and Christina Neumayer
- Subjects
Facebook ,Islamophobia ,social media ,Denmark ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Social Sciences ,050801 communication & media studies ,Racism ,discourse theory ,0508 media and communications ,050602 political science & public administration ,Social media ,Sociology ,racism ,media_common ,05 social sciences ,Discourse theory ,Media studies ,Platformed antagonism ,Samhällsvetenskap ,General Social Sciences ,anti-Muslim ,0506 political science ,ComputingMilieux_COMPUTERSANDSOCIETY ,fake identities - Abstract
This research examines how fake identities on social media create and sustain antagonistic and racist discourses. It does so by analysing 11 Danish Facebook pages, disguised as Muslim extremists living in Denmark, conspiring to kill and rape Danish citizens. It explores how anonymous content producers utilize Facebook's socio-technical characteristics to construct, what we propose to term as, platformed antagonism. This term refers to socio-technical and discursive practices that produce new modes of antagonistic relations on social media platforms. Through a discourse-theoretical analysis of posts, images, 'about' sections and user comments on the studied Facebook pages, the article highlights how antagonism between ethno-cultural identities is produced on social media through fictitious social media accounts, prompting thousands of user reactions. These findings enhance our current understanding of how antagonism and racism is constructed and amplified within social media environments.
- Published
- 2018
16. Book Review: The Ambivalent Internet: Mischief, Oddity, and Antagonism Online by Whitney Phillips and Ryan M. Milner
- Author
-
Johan Farkas
- Subjects
Folklore ,business.industry ,Internet research ,Communication ,Harassment ,Media studies ,The Internet ,Social media ,Polity ,Sociology ,Ambivalence ,business ,Digital media - Abstract
Review of The Ambivalent Internet: Mischief, Oddity, and Antagonism Online Whitney Phillips & Ryan M. Milner, . Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2017. 240 pp. $69.95 hbk. $24.95 pbk. $19.99 ebk.
- Published
- 2018
17. Prophecies of Post-truth
- Author
-
Johan Farkas and Jannick Schou
- Subjects
Post truth ,History ,Theology - Published
- 2019
18. Conclusion
- Author
-
Johan Farkas and Jannick Schou
- Published
- 2019
19. Ways Out? Truth, Technology and Democracy
- Author
-
Johan Farkas and Jannick Schou
- Subjects
media_common.quotation_subject ,Political science ,Democracy ,Law and economics ,media_common - Published
- 2019
20. Restoring Democracy
- Author
-
Johan Farkas and Jannick Schou
- Published
- 2019
21. Political Theory in Post-factual Times
- Author
-
Jannick Schou and Johan Farkas
- Subjects
Political science ,Political philosophy ,Positive economics - Published
- 2019
22. US Politics in Post-truth Worlds
- Author
-
Jannick Schou and Johan Farkas
- Subjects
Post truth ,Politics ,History ,Aesthetics - Published
- 2019
23. Post-truth and Post-politics
- Author
-
Jannick Schou and Johan Farkas
- Subjects
Post truth ,Aesthetics ,Political science ,Post-politics - Published
- 2019
24. Introduction
- Author
-
Johan Farkas and Jannick Schou
- Published
- 2019
25. Post-Truth, Fake News and Democracy
- Author
-
Johan Farkas and Jannick Schou
- Published
- 2019
26. 'Donald Trump Is My President!' : The Internet Research Agency Propaganda Machine
- Author
-
Johan Farkas and Marco T. Bastos
- Subjects
Cultural Studies ,E151 ,HE ,social media ,Twitter ,Social Sciences ,050801 communication & media studies ,lcsh:Communication. Mass media ,JK ,Russia ,0508 media and communications ,Political science ,Agency (sociology) ,050602 political science & public administration ,Social media ,influence operations ,Internet Research Agency ,business.industry ,Communication ,05 social sciences ,Media studies ,Samhällsvetenskap ,lcsh:P87-96 ,propaganda ,0506 political science ,Computer Science Applications ,trolls ,disinformation ,Disinformation ,The Internet ,business - Abstract
This article presents a typological study of the Twitter accounts operated by the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a company specialized in online influence operations based in St. Petersburg, Russia. Drawing on concepts from 20th-century propaganda theory, we modeled the IRA operations along propaganda classes and campaign targets. The study relies on two historical databases and data from the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine to retrieve 826 user profiles and 6,377 tweets posted by the agency between 2012 and 2017. We manually coded the source as identifiable, obfuscated, or impersonated and classified the campaign target of IRA operations using an inductive typology based on profile descriptions, images, location, language, and tweeted content. The qualitative variables were analyzed as relative frequencies to test the extent to which the IRA’s black, gray, and white propaganda are deployed with clearly defined targets for short-, medium-, and long-term propaganda strategies. The results show that source classification from propaganda theory remains a valid framework to understand IRA’s propaganda machine and that the agency operates a composite of different user accounts tailored to perform specific tasks, including openly pro-Russian profiles, local American and German news sources, pro-Trump conservatives, and Black Lives Matter activists.
- Published
- 2019
27. Post-Truth, Fake News and Democracy : Mapping the Politics of Falsehood
- Author
-
Johan Farkas, Jannick Schou, Johan Farkas, and Jannick Schou
- Subjects
- Fake news, Social media--Political aspects, Political culture, Democracy, Mass media--Political aspects, Truthfulness and falsehood--Political aspects
- Abstract
Western societies are under siege, as fake news, post-truth and alternative facts are undermining the very core of democracy. This dystopian narrative is currently circulated by intellectuals, journalists and policy makers worldwide. In this book, Johan Farkas and Jannick Schou deliver a comprehensive study of post-truth discourses. They critically map the normative ideas contained in these and present a forceful call for deepening democracy. The dominant narrative of our time is that democracy is in a state of emergency caused by social media, changes to journalism and misinformed masses. This crisis needs to be resolved by reinstating truth at the heart of democracy, even if this means curtailing civic participation and popular sovereignty. Engaging with critical political philosophy, Farkas and Schou argue that these solutions neglect the fact that democracy has never been about truth alone: it is equally about the voice of the democratic people. Post-Truth, Fake News and Democracy delivers a sobering diagnosis of our times. It maps contemporary discourses on truth and democracy, foregrounds their normative foundations and connects these to historical changes within liberal democracies. The book will be of interest to students and scholars studying the current state and future of democracy, as well as to a politically informed readership.
- Published
- 2019
28. Algorithms, Interfaces, and the Circulation of Information: Interrogating the Epistemological Challenges of Facebook
- Author
-
Johan Farkas and Jannick Schou
- Subjects
Structure (mathematical logic) ,Linguistics and Language ,Facebook ,Social network ,business.industry ,Computer science ,Communication ,Interfaces ,Epistemology ,New media ,lcsh:P87-96 ,lcsh:Communication. Mass media ,Politics ,Argument ,Information ,Key (cryptography) ,Circulation (currency) ,business ,Social Network Sites ,Algorithm ,Algorithms - Abstract
As social and political life increasingly takes place on social network sites, new epistemological questions have emerged. How can information disseminatedthrough new media be understood and disentangled? How can potential hidden agendas or sources be identified? And what mechanisms govern what and how information is presented to the user? By drawing on existing research on the algorithms and interfaces underlying social network sites, this paper provides a discussion of Facebook and the epistemological challenges, potentials, and questions raised by the platform. The paper specifically discusses the ways in which interfaces shape how information can be accessed and processed by different kinds of users as well as the role of algorithms in pre-selecting what appears as representable information. A key argument of the paper is that Facebook, as a complex socio-technical network of human and non-human actors, has profound epistemological implications for how information can be accessed, understood, and circulated. In this sense, the user’s potential acquisition of information is shaped and conditioned by the technological structure of the platform. Building on these arguments, the paper suggests that new epistemological challenges deserve more scholarly attention, as they hold wide implications for both researchers and users.
- Published
- 2016
29. The Double Conditioning of Political Participation
- Author
-
Morten Hjelholt, Jannick Schou, and Johan Farkas
- Subjects
Materiality (auditing) ,Social network ,business.industry ,05 social sciences ,Perspective (graphical) ,050801 communication & media studies ,Citizen journalism ,Public relations ,0506 political science ,Politics ,Grassroots ,0508 media and communications ,Material structure ,Law ,050602 political science & public administration ,Sociology ,business ,Everyday life - Abstract
The emergence of social network sites as a part of everyday life has given rise to a number of debates on the democratic potential afforded by these technologies. This paper addresses political participation facilitated through Facebook from a practice-oriented perspective and presents a case study of the political grassroots organisation, Fight For The Future. Initially, the paper provides a basic theoretical framework that seeks to map the relation between civic practices, materiality, and discursive features. Using this framework, the article analyses Fight For The Future’s use of Facebook to facilitate political participation. The study finds that user participation on the Facebook page is ‘double conditioned’ by the material structure of the social network site on the one hand and by the discourses articulated by the organisation and users on the other. Finally, the paper discusses the findings and raises a number of problems and obstacles facing participatory grassroots organisations, such as Fight For The Future, when using Facebook.
- Published
- 2015
30. Fake news as a floating signifier: hegemony, antagonism and the politics of falsehood
- Author
-
Jannick Schou and Johan Farkas
- Subjects
fake news ,Hegemony ,Floating signifier ,Social Sciences ,050801 communication & media studies ,GeneralLiterature_MISCELLANEOUS ,Ernesto Laclau ,Politics ,discourse theory ,0508 media and communications ,Political science ,050602 political science & public administration ,Misinformation ,misinformation ,ComputingMilieux_THECOMPUTINGPROFESSION ,Communication ,05 social sciences ,Discourse theory ,Media studies ,Samhällsvetenskap ,0506 political science ,disinformation ,Disinformation ,floating signifier ,Fake news ,InformationSystems_MISCELLANEOUS ,Donald Trump - Abstract
‘Fake news’ has emerged as a global buzzword. While prominent media outlets, such as The New York Times, CNN, and CBS, have used the term to designate misleading information spread through websites, President Donald Trump has recently used the term as a negative designation of these very ‘mainstream media’. In this article, we argue that the concept of ‘fake news’ has become an important component in contemporary political struggles. We showcase how the term is utilised by different positions within the social space as a means of discrediting, attacking and delegitimising political opponents. Excavating three central moments within the construction of ‘fake news’, we argue that the term has increasingly become a ‘floating signifier’: a signifier lodged in-between different hegemonic projects seeking to provide an image of how society is and ought to be structured. By approaching ‘fake news’ from the viewpoint of discourse theory, the paper reframes the current stakes of the debate and contributes with new insights into the function and consequences of ‘fake news’ as a novel political category. “Fake news” has emerged as a global buzzword. While prominent media outlets, such as The New York Times, CNN, and Buzzfeed News, have used the term to designate misleading information spread online, President Donald Trump has used the term as a negative desig- nation of these very “mainstream media.” In this article, we argue that the concept of “fake news” has become an important component in contemporary political struggles. We show- case how the term is utilised by different positions within the social space as means of dis- crediting, attacking and delegitimising political opponents. Excavating three central moments within the construction of “fake news,” we argue that the term has increasingly become a “floating signifier”: a signifier lodged in-between different hegemonic projects seeking to provide an image of how society is and ought to be structured. By approaching “fake news” from the viewpoint of discourse theory, the paper reframes the current stakes of the debate and contributes with new insights into the function and consequences of “fake news” as a novel political category.
- Published
- 2018
31. IRA Propaganda on Twitter
- Author
-
Marco T. Bastos and Johan Farkas
- Subjects
Twitter ,Social Sciences ,050801 communication & media studies ,Information warfare ,Russia ,Social media ,deception ,0508 media and communications ,Political science ,Agency (sociology) ,Referendum ,050602 political science & public administration ,Disinformation ,Internet Research Agency ,business.industry ,05 social sciences ,Media studies ,Samhällsvetenskap ,0506 political science ,Content analysis ,Terrorism ,Propaganda ,The Internet ,business - Abstract
This paper presents preliminary findings of a content analysis of tweets posted by false accounts operated by the Internet Research Agency (IRA) in St Petersburg. We relied on a historical database of tweets to retrieve 4,539 tweets posted by IRA-linked accounts between 2012 and 2017 and coded 2,501 tweets manually. The messages cover newsworthy events in the United States, the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in 2015, and the Brexit referendum in 2016. Tweets were annotated using 19 control variables to investigate whether IRA operations on social media are consistent with classic propaganda models. The results show that the IRA operates a composite of user accounts tailored to perform specific tasks, with the lion's share of their work focusing on US daily news activity and the diffusion of polarized news across different national contexts.
- Published
- 2018
32. Disguised Propaganda from Digital to Social Media
- Author
-
Christina Neumayer and Johan Farkas
- Subjects
Internet research ,business.industry ,media_common.quotation_subject ,05 social sciences ,Media studies ,Social Sciences ,Samhällsvetenskap ,050801 communication & media studies ,Deception ,0506 political science ,Digital media ,Politics ,0508 media and communications ,Intersection ,050602 political science & public administration ,Social media ,Sociology ,business ,media_common - Abstract
Disguised propaganda and political deception in digital media have been studied since the early days of the World Wide Web. At the intersection of internet research and propaganda studies, this chapter explores disguised propaganda on websites and social media platforms. Based on a discussion of key concepts and terminology, this chapter outlines how new modes of deception and source obfuscation emerge in digital and social media environments, and how this development complicates existing conceptual and epistemological frameworks in propaganda studies. The chapter concludes by arguing that contemporary challenges of detecting and countering disguised propaganda can only be resolved, if social media companies are held accountable and provide the necessary support for user contestation.
- Published
- 2018
33. Please Like, Comment and Share our Campaign! How Social Media Managers for Danish Political Parties Perceive User-Generated Content
- Author
-
Johan Farkas and Sander Andreas Schwartz
- Subjects
Facebook ,Parliament ,media_common.quotation_subject ,social media ,Denmark ,Twitter ,User-generated content ,Social Sciences ,050801 communication & media studies ,Political communication ,Danish ,Politics ,0508 media and communications ,User engagement ,Political science ,050602 political science & public administration ,participation ,Social media ,political communication ,media_common ,Communication ,Qualitative interviews ,05 social sciences ,Media studies ,Samhällsvetenskap ,language.human_language ,0506 political science ,user engagement ,language ,political participation - Abstract
Based on 18 qualitative interviews, this article explores how the social media managers for the nine parties in the Danish parliament articulate the role of social media during the 2015 national elections. The article finds that the interviewees emphasise Facebook as an important means for one-way political communication and the monitoring of public opinion. The majority of the interviewees articulate a sense of responsibility for facilitating public debate on Facebook through the moderation of user-generated content and/or interactions with users. Yet the social media managers do not systematically analyse political input from social media users, nor do they see Facebook and Twitter as viable means of citizen influence on political decision-making. This is explained by a perceived lack of voter representativeness among Facebook users, fear of appearing politically imprudent and scepticism towards social media’s participatory potential.
- Published
- 2018
34. ‘Stop Fake Hate Profiles on Facebook’: Challenges for crowdsourced activism on social media
- Author
-
Christina Neumayer and Johan Farkas
- Subjects
Computer Networks and Communications ,media_common.quotation_subject ,online activism ,crowdsourced activism ,fake profiles ,hate profiles ,Facebook ,Internet privacy ,Ethnic group ,ComputingMilieux_LEGALASPECTSOFCOMPUTING ,050801 communication & media studies ,Resistance (psychoanalysis) ,Participant observation ,Politics ,0508 media and communications ,digital media studies ,Internet studies ,Social media ,Sociology ,media_common ,060201 languages & linguistics ,business.industry ,05 social sciences ,06 humanities and the arts ,Online activism ,Hatred ,Human-Computer Interaction ,Action (philosophy) ,0602 languages and literature ,ComputingMilieux_COMPUTERSANDSOCIETY ,business - Abstract
This research examines how activists mobilise against fake hate profiles on Facebook. Based on six months of participant observation, this paper demonstrates how Danish Facebook users organised to combat fictitious Muslim profiles that spurred hatred against ethnic minorities. Crowdsourced action by Facebook users is insufficient as a form of sustainable resistance against fake hate profiles. A viable solution would require social media companies, such as Facebook, to take responsibility in the struggle against fake content used for political manipulation.
- Published
- 2017
35. Cloaked Facebook pages: Exploring fake Islamist propaganda in social media
- Author
-
Jannick Schou, Christina Neumayer, and Johan Farkas
- Subjects
Facebook ,Sociology and Political Science ,Islamophobia ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Denmark ,hate speech ,social media ,Identity (social science) ,050801 communication & media studies ,Racism ,Cloaked ,World Wide Web ,Politics ,0508 media and communications ,050602 political science & public administration ,Social media ,Sociology ,racism ,media_common ,User profile ,Communication ,05 social sciences ,Media studies ,Adversary ,propaganda ,0506 political science ,disinformation ,Disinformation ,social network sites - Abstract
This research analyses cloaked Facebook pages that are created to spread political propaganda by cloaking a user profile and imitating the identity of a political opponent in order to spark hateful and aggressive reactions. This inquiry is pursued through a multi-sited online ethnographic case study of Danish Facebook pages disguised as radical Islamist pages, which provoked racist and anti-Muslim reactions as well as negative sentiments towards refugees and immigrants in Denmark in general. Drawing on Jessie Daniels’ critical insights into cloaked websites, this research furthermore analyses the epistemological, methodological and conceptual challenges of online propaganda. It enhances our understanding of disinformation and propaganda in an increasingly interactive social media environment and contributes to a critical inquiry into social media and subversive politics.
- Published
- 2017
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