False equivalencies: Online activism from left to right

@article{Freelon2020FalseEO,
  title={False equivalencies: Online activism from left to right},
  author={Deen Freelon and Alice E. Marwick and Daniel Kreiss},
  journal={Science},
  year={2020},
  volume={369},
  pages={1197 - 1201}
}
Digital media are critical for contemporary activism—even low-effort “clicktivism” is politically consequential and contributes to offline participation. We argue that in the United States and throughout the industrialized West, left- and right-wing activists use digital and legacy media differently to achieve political goals. Although left-wing actors operate primarily through “hashtag activism” and offline protest, right-wing activists manipulate legacy media, migrate to alternative platforms… 
View on Science
dfreelon.org
38 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
3
Background Citations
16
Methods Citations
1

38 Citations

Beyond Clicktivism: What Makes Digitally Native Activism Effective? An Exploration of the Sleeping Giants Movement
This article explores how successful digitally native activism generates social change. Digitally native movements are initiated, organized, and coordinated online without any physical presence or…
Digital activism and democratic culture: can digital technologies help save democracy?
This study investigates digital activism and democratic culture among citizens of São Paulo, Brazil. It aims to understand: 01. whether digital participation is becoming a surrogate instance of other…
Mainstream media use for far-right mobilisation on the alt-tech online platform Gab
Far-right movements tend to have an ambivalent relationship with mainstream media. On the one hand, they often express animosity towards traditional media, accusing them of spreading ‘fake news’ and…
The capricious relationship between technology and democracy: Analyzing public policy discussions in the UK and US
This study provides a comparative survey of policy-making discourse in the United Kingdom and the United States from 2016 to 2020 around digital threats to democracy. Through an inductive coding…
From discontent to action: #quarantinehotel as not just a hashtag
This article shows how Twitter users' discontent with the quarantine hotel regulations in Norway turned into a digital protest. We discuss how the sharing and communication of messages through…
Identity propaganda: Racial narratives and disinformation
This article develops the concept of “identity propaganda,” or narratives that strategically target and exploit identity-based differences in accord with pre-existing power structures to maintain…
Partisanship: the true ally of fake news? A comparative analysis of the effect on belief and spread
Introduction: After the recomposition of the Portuguese parliament with the emergence of the radical right, this study explores the influence of partisan orientation on the belief and dissemination…
The Influence of Political Ideology on Fake News Belief: The Portuguese Case
TLDR
The results show the belief and dissemination of (fake) news are related to the political ideology of the participants, with right-wing subjects exhibiting a greater tendency to accept fake news, regardless of whether it is pro-left or pro-right fake news.
US Extremism on Telegram: Fueling Disinformation, Conspiracy Theories, and Accelerationism
TLDR
The findings of this study highlight that alternative social media platforms are a growing environment for a range of hateful ideologies and are aiding the spread of disinformation campaigns.
Hate Speech in the Political Discourse on Social Media: Disparities Across Parties, Gender, and Ethnicity
TLDR
It is found that tweets are particularly likely to receive hate speech in replies if they are authored by persons of color from the Democratic party, white Republicans, and women, and that negative sentiment attracts more hate speech for Democrats (vs. Republicans).
...
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 72 REFERENCES
Anti-media populism: Expressions of media distrust by right-wing media in India
ABSTRACT Criticism of mainstream media as being “biased” has emerged as a defining characteristic of right-wing discourse all over the world. Such expressions are coupled with the establishment of…
Challenging Journalistic Authority
Over the last decade, a network of far-right alternative online media has emerged globally. At the same time, legacy news media have suffered a decline in trust and revenues. In this context, the…
Boundary Work: Intermedia Agenda-Setting Between Right-Wing Alternative Media and Professional Journalism
ABSTRACT Through a quantitative content analysis (n = 878), this study examines and compares intermedia agenda-setting between right-wing alternative media outlets and mainstream online newspapers in…
Social Media, Civic Engagement and the Slacktivism Hypothesis: Dig Data Lessons from Mexico's 'El Bronco'
Does social media use have a positive or negative impact on civic engagement? The cynical "slacktivism hypothesis" holds that if citizens use social media for political conversation, those…
Exposure to opposing views on social media can increase political polarization
TLDR
It is found that Republicans who followed a liberal Twitter bot became substantially more conservative posttreatment, whereas Democrats exhibited slight increases in liberal attitudes after following a conservative Twitter bot, although these effects are not statistically significant.
Taking Conservative News Seriously
This introductory chapter advocates for a newly concerted interdisciplinary research agenda focused on right-wing or conservative news. It provides a brief history of right-wing media and…
Young People, Digital Media, and Engagement: A Meta-Analysis of Research
New technologies raise fears in public discourse. In terms of digital media use and youth, the advice has been to monitor and limit access to minimize the negative impacts. However, this advice would…
From Online Disagreement to Offline Action: How Diverse Motivations for Using Social Media Can Increase Political Information Sharing and Catalyze Offline Political Participation
Amid growing concerns over the contentious tenor of online political discourse, scholars have begun to recognize that the social contexts and affordances provided by social media may present indirect…
Black Trolls Matter: Racial and Ideological Asymmetries in Social Media Disinformation
The recent rise of disinformation and propaganda on social media has attracted strong interest from social scientists. Research on the topic has repeatedly observed ideological asymmetries in…
Twenty Years of Digital Media Effects on Civic and Political Participation
More than 300 studies have been published on the relationship between digital media and engagement in civic and political life. With such a vast body of research, it is difficult to see the big…
...
...