From algorithmic personalization to informational wars: the dynamics of (dis)information bubbles around the September 7, 2021

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/1518-2924.2022.e86628

Keywords:

Disinformation, Echo chambers, Filter-bubbles, Twitter

Abstract

Objective: The anti-democratic rhetoric related to the 2021 Brazilian Independence Day festivities rapidly spread on social media, creating informational bubbles susceptible to the widespread of disinformative pieces. Focusing on the information production', circulation' and use' this study investigates the characteristics of these (dis)information bubbles on Twitter.

Methods: The data analysis was done using a combination of Social Network Analysis and Content Analysis. The data was collected via Twitter's Application Programming Interface (API) using the search term “7 de setembro”.

Results: Based on the analysis of 40,000 tweets it was identified that in six of the eight days analyzed a single bubble presented the most influence in the network. Four characteristics that contributed to this were identified: (1) the prevalence of the use of political bots (77.8% of n = 28) for sharing issues of interest, in addition to the (2) intentional use of hashtags with higher coordination and mobilization efforts, and the (3) use of sources and types of information derived from partisan media (83.3% of n = 20), which mostly appeal to collective aesthetics, affections, and passions.

Conclusions: If, on the one hand, information selection and delivery strategies are fundamental in a world where information is produced on a massive scale of data, on the other hand, the untransparent way in which this personalization is done has become a formula detrimental to the democratic sphere by allowing the spread of misinformation on a large scale, as well as repositioning extremist ideologies that were once peripheral, ethically and morally rejected, to the core of the debate.

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Author Biographies

Karen Santos-d'Amorim, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciência da Informação (PPGCI-UFPE).

Doutoranda (Doutorado Direto) em Ciência da Informação no Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência da Informação da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (DCI/UFPE), com Especialização em Gestão de Projetos, tendo atuado na Gestão de Projetos de Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação: Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia (INCT- INAMI) e Capes (Capes Nanobiotec Brasil - Rede 36). É membro dos grupos de Pesquisa SCIENTIA (CNPq/DCI/UFPE), Estudos Epistemológicos em Informação (EEI) e GrandFoton (CNPq/dQF/UFPE). É membro da Associação Nacional de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação em Ciência da Informação (ANCIB) e parecerista ad-hoc de periódicos da Ciência da Informação e interdisciplinares.

Raimundo Nonato Macedo dos Santos, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco

É doutor em Information Stratégique et Critique Veille Technol - Université Paul Cézanne Aix Marseille III (1995), menção Très Honorable - Felicitation du Jury, e estágio pós-doutoral na Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (2016). É líder do grupo de pesquisa SCIENTIA (CNPq), bolsista de Produtividade em Pesquisa do CNPq nível 1C e docente credenciado como orientador e pesquisador no Programa de Ciência da Informação (PPGCI) da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. É membro das Sociedades Científicas de sua especialidade: Associação Nacional de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação em Ciência da Informação (ANCIB) e do Capítulo Brasileiro da International Society for Knowledge Organization ISKO, no Brasil.

Foi membro Titular do Comitê de Assessoramento Científico da área de Comunicação, Artes e Ciência da Informação do CNPq (2017 a 2020) e é parecerista ad hoc de agências de fomento, revisor e membro de Comitês Científicos de periódicos científicos em Ciência da Informação no Brasil.

Tem experiência na área de Ciência da Informação, com ênfase em Teoria Geral da Informação, atuando principalmente nos seguintes temas: Ciência da Informação, Bibliometria, Cientometria, Estudos Métricos, Comunicação Científica e Institucionalização da Pesquisa Científica.

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Published

2022-08-08

How to Cite

SANTOS-D’AMORIM, Karen; MACEDO DOS SANTOS, Raimundo Nonato. From algorithmic personalization to informational wars: the dynamics of (dis)information bubbles around the September 7, 2021. Encontros Bibli: revista eletrônica de biblioteconomia e ciência da informação, [S. l.], v. 27, n. 1, p. 1–26, 2022. DOI: 10.5007/1518-2924.2022.e86628. Disponível em: https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/eb/article/view/86628. Acesso em: 10 nov. 2024.