Online Disinformation and its Effects
Describing the Emergence of Disinformation Narrative Networks Through the Relationship Between Scientific Disinformation and State-Denying Conspiracy Theories
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59851/imr.13.1.3Keywords:
disinformation networks, conspirituality, state-denial, science disinformation, sovereign citizens movementAbstract
The online information, communication and media environment raises new questions about the (new) phenomena of fake news, disinformation, deception and manipulation. Based on approaches taken from the literature, this study conceptualizes the phenomenon of disinformation networks on online platforms through the interconnection of science disinformation and state-denying conspiracy theories during the coronavirus epidemic. Conspiracy theories, political fake news, medical and health misinformation as well as science disinformation, were dominant in the infodemic that accompanied the complex communication of the coronavirus epidemic. The epidemic was also embedded in extremist narratives, and the actors of science disinformation may have become disseminators of these narratives. The extreme anti-government and state-denying conspiracy theories of the sovereign citizens movement were prevalent in several countries during the epidemic. In Hungary, actors of science disinformation also incorporated narratives of the movement into their communication. To explain this, the study concludes by introducing the concept of conspirituality, which describes the interconnectedness of the logic of New Age spirituality, wellness culture, pseudo-scientific health beliefs and conspiracy theories. The aim of the study is to present that one conceptualization framework for the definition, operation and impact of the phenomena of online deception and manipulation can be the analysis of interactive disinformation networks.
References
Ackerman, Gary – Peterson, Hayley: Terrorism and COVID-19: Actual and Potential Impacts. 14(3) Perspectives on Terrorism (2020) 59–73.
Aczél Petra: Médiaműveltség. In Aczél Petra – Andok Mónika – Bokor Tamás (szerk.): Műveljük a médiát! Budapest, CompLex, 2005, 133−177.
Aczél Petra: Az álhír. Kommentár a jelenség értelmezéséhez. Századvég, 2017/2., 5–25.
Allcott, Hunt – Gentzkow, Matthew: Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election. 31(2) Journal of Economic Perspectives (2017) 211–236., https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.31.2.211
Arnaudo, Daniel et al.: Combating Information Manipulation: A Playbook for Elections and Beyond. Stanford, The International Republican Institute – The National Democratic Institute – The Stanford Internet Observatory, 2021.
Baker, Stephanie Alice: Alt. Health Influencers: How Wellness Culture and Web Culture Have Been Weaponised to Promote Conspiracy Theories and Far-Right Extremism During the Pandemic. 25(1) European Journal of Cultural Studies (2022) 3–24., https://doi.org/10.1177/13675494211062623
Baker, Stephanie Alice: Wellness Culture: How the Wellness Movement Has Been Used to Empower, Profit and Misinform. Bingley, Emerald, 2022., https://doi.org/10.1108/9781802624656
Baker, Stephanie Alice – Rojek, Chris: Lifestyle Gurus: Constructing Authority and Influence Online. Cambridge, Polity, 2019.
Basit, Abdul: The COVID-19 Pandemic: An Opportunity for Terrorist Groups? 12 Counter Terrorist Trens and Analysis (2020) 7–12., https://doi.org/10.1080/18335330.2020.1828603
Berger, J. M.: Without Prejudice: What Sovereign Citizens Believe. Washington, Program on Extremism, George Washington University, 2016.
Bjørgo, Tore – Braddock, Kurt: Anti-Government Extremism: A New Threat? 16(6) Perspectives on Terrorism (2022) 2–8.
Blank, Stephen: Russian Information Warfare as Domestic Counterinsurgency. 35(1) American Foreign Policy Interests (2013) 31–44., https://doi.org/10.1080/10803920.2013.757946
Braun, Joshua A. – Eklund, Jessica L.: Fake News, Real Money: Ad Tech Platforms, Profit-Driven Hoaxes, and the Business of Journalism. 7(1) Digital Journalism (2019) 1–21., https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2018.1556314
Brügger, Niels: Tracing a Historical Development of Conspiracy Theory Networks on the Web: The Hyperlink Network of Vaccine Hesitancy on the Danish Web 2006–2015. 28(4) Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies (2022) 962–982., https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565221104989
Burkholder, Joel – Phillips, Kat: Breaking Down Bias. 16(2) Journal of Information Literacy (2022) 53–68., https://doi.org/10.11645/16.2.3100
Campion, Kristy – Ferrill, Jamie – Milligan, Kristy: Extremist Exploitation of the Context Created by COVID-19 and the Implications for Australian Security. 15(6) Perspectives on Terrorism (2021) 23–40.
Carley, Kathleen M.: Social Cybersecurity: An Emerging Science. 26(4) Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory (2020) 365–381., https://doi.org/10.1007/s10588-020-09322-9
Carter, Elisabeth: Right-Wing Extremism/Radicalism: Reconstructing the Concept. 23(2) Journal of Political Ideologies (2018) 157–182., https://doi.org/10.1080/13569317.2018.1451227
Castells, Manuel: The Rise of the Network Society. The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture I. Cambridge, Blackwell, 1996.
Das, Ronnie – Ahmed, Wasim: Rethinking Fake News: Disinformation and Ideology During the Time of COVID-19 Global Pandemic. 11(1) IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review (2022) 146–159., https://doi.org/10.1177/22779752211027382
De Maeyer, Juliette: Towards a Hyperlinked Society: A Critical Review of Link Studies. 15(5) New Media & Society (2013) 737–751., https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444812462851
Demuru, Paolo: Qanons, Anti-Vaxxers, and Alternative Health Influencers: A Cultural Semiotic Perspective on The Links Between Conspiracy Theories, Spirituality, and Wellness during the Covid-19 Pandemic. 32(5) Social Semiotics (2022) 588–605., https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330.2022.2157170
Falyuna Nóra: A pandémia nyelve, retorikája és kommunikációja. Magyar Tudomány, 2022/5., 610–620.
Falyuna, Nóra: Science Disinformation as a Security Threat and the Role of Science Communication in the Disinformation Society. 3(1) Scientia et Securitas (2022) 69–78., https://doi.org/10.1556/112.2022.00086
Falyuna Nóra: A tudományosság befolyásoló ereje: tudományos dezinformáció a manipuláció szolgálatában. In Bárdos Dániel – Tuboly Ádám Tamás (szerk.): Emberarcú tudomány. Áltudományok és összeesküvés-elméletek szorításában. Budapest, Typotex, 2023, 115–134.
Falyuna Nóra – Krekó Péter – Berkes Rudolf: Álszent antikapitalisták. Nyereségvágyból terjesztett áltudományos dezinformáció az interneten. Political Capital, 2022.
Falyuna, Nóra – Krekó, Péter: The Hypocrisy of Medical Disinformation: A Report from Hungary. 47(3) Skeptical Inquirer (2023) 14–18.
Fehér Katalin – Király Olívia: Álhíresülés – a hamis hírek dinamikája a médiában. Századvég, 2017/2., 39–48.
Fiebig, Verena – Koehler, Daniel: Uncharted Territory: Towards an Evidence-Based Criminology of Sovereign Citizens Through a Systematic Literature Review. 16(6) Perspectives on Terrorism (2022) 34–48.
Fleishman, David: Paper Terrorism: The Impact of the “Sovereign Citizen” on Local Government. 27(2) The Public Law Journal (2004) 7–10.
Gelfert, Axel: Fake News: A Definition. 38(1) Informal Logic (2018) 84–117., https://doi.org/10.22329/il.v38i1.5068
Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas: The Occult Roots of Nazism: Secret Aryan Cults and their Influence on Nazi Ideology. New York, NYU, 1992.
Heft, Annett et al.: Toward a Transnational Information Ecology on the right? Hyperlink networking among Right-Wing Digital News Sites in Europe and the United States. 26(2) The International Journal of Press/Politics (2021) 484–504., https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161220963670
Heft, Annett – Buehling, Kilian: Measuring the diffusion of conspiracy theories in digital information ecologies. 28(4) Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies (2022) 940–961., https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565221091809
Ingram, Matthew: Retreat: How the Counterculture Created Wellness. London, Repeater Books, 2020.
Jackson, Sam: A Schema of Right-Wing Extremism in the United States. Hague, International Centre for Counter-Terrorism Policy Brief, 2019.
Jackson, Sam: What Is Anti-Government Extremism? 16(6) Perspectives on Terrorism (2022) 9–18.
Jenkins, Henry: Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. New York, New York University Press, 2008.
Jolley, Daniel – Paterson, Jenny L.: Pylons Ablaze: Examining the Role of 5G COVID-19 Conspiracy Beliefs and Support for Violence. 59 The British Journal of Social Psychology (2020) 628–640., https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12394
Jones, Seth G.: The Rise of Far-Right Extremism in the United States. Washington, Center for Strategic & International Studies, 2018.
Kahan, Dan M.: Misconceptions, Misinformation, and the Logic of Identity-Protective Cognition. 164 Cultural Cognition Project Working Paper Series (2017) 1–9., https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2973067
Koehler, Daniel: Right-Wing Extremism and Terrorism in Europe Current Developments and Issues for the Future. 6(4) Prism (2016) 84–104.
Lazer, David M. J. et al.: The Science of Fake News. 359(6380) Science (2018) 1094–1096., https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aao2998
Loeser, Charles E.: From Paper Terrorists to Cop Killers: The Sovereign Citizen Threat. 93(4) North Carolina Law Review (2015) 1106–1139.
Marshall, Jon: Disinformation Society, Communication and Cosmopolitan Democracy. 9(2) Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal (2017) 1–24., https://doi.org/10.5130/ccs.v9i2.5477
Martel, Cameron – Pennycook, Gordon – Rand, David G.: Reliance on Emotion Promotes Belief in Fake News. 5 Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2020), https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-020-00252-3
McGuire, William J. – Papageorgis, Demetrios: The Relative Efficacy of Various Types of Prior Belief-Defense in Producing Immunity Against Persuasion. 62 Jourmal of Abnormal and Social Psychology (1961) 327–337., https://doi.org/10.1037/h0042026
Miller, Joanne M.: Do COVID-19 Conspiracy Theory Beliefs Form a Monological Belief System? 53 Canadian Journal of Political Science (2020) 319–326., https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008423920000517
Olan, Femi et al.: Fake News on Social Media: The Impact on Society. Information Systems Frontiers (2022) 1–16.
Orabi, Mariam et al.: Detection of Bots in Social Media: A Systematic Review. 57(4) Information Processing & Management (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ipm.2020.102250
Pantucci, Raffaello: Key Questions for Counter-Terrorism Post-COVID-19. 12 Counter Terrorist Trends and Analysis (2020) 1–6.
Pennycook, Gordon – Cannon, Tyrone D. – Rand, David G.: Prior Exposure Increases Perceived Accuracy of Fake News. 147(12) Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (2018) 1865–1880., https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000465
Rathje, Jan: Driven by Conspiracies: The Justification of Violence among “Reichsbürger” and Other Conspiracy-Ideological Sovereignists in Contemporary Germany. 16(6) Perspectives on Terrorism (2022) 49–61.
Rochlin, Nick: Fake News: Belief in Post-Truth. 35(3) Library Hi Tech (2017) 386–392., https://doi.org/10.1108/LHT-03-2017-0062
Roozenbeek, Jan et al.: Susceptibility to Misinformation about COVID-19 Around the World. 7(10) Royal Society Open Science (2020), https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.201199
Santini, Rose Marie – Salles, Débora – Barros, Carlos Eduardo: We love to hate George Soros: A cross-platform analysis of the Globalism conspiracy theory campaign in Brazil. 28(4) Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies (2022) 983–1006., https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565221085833
Sarteschi, Christine: Sovereign Citizens: A Narrative Review with Implications of Violence Towards Law Enforcement. 60 Aggression and Violent Behaviour (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2020.101509
Shao, Chengcheng et al.: The Spread of Low-Credibility Content by Social Bots. 9(1) Nature Communications (2018), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06930-7
Shu, Kai et al.: Fake News Detection on Social Media: A data Mining Perspective. 19(1) ACM SIGKDD Explorations Newsletter (2017) 22–36., https://doi.org/10.1145/3137597.3137600
Spohr, Dominic: Fake News and Ideological Polarization: Filter Bubbles and Selective Exposure on Social Media. 34(3) Business Information Review (2017) 150–160., https://doi.org/10.1177/0266382117722446
Šrol, Jakub – Čavojová, Vladimíra – Ballová Mikušková, Eva: Finding Someone to Blame: The Link Between COVID-19 Conspiracy Beliefs, Prejudice, Support for Violence, and Other Negative Social Outcomes. 12 Frontiers in Psychology (2022), https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.726076
Stella, Massimo – Ferrara, Emilio – Domenico, Manlio De: Bots Increase Exposure to Negative and Inflammatory Content in Online Social Systems. 115 (49) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2018) 12435–12440, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1803470115
Stern, Samantha – Ware, Jacob – Harrington, Nicholas: Terrorist Targeting in the Age of Coronavirus. 1 International Counter-Terrorism Review (2020) 1–18.
Szakács, Judit: The Business of Misinformation. CMDS (2020), https://bit.ly/3K9UMy6.
Tandoc Edson C. Jr.: The Facts of Fake News: A Research Review. Sociology Compass (2019), https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12724
Tandoc, Edson C. Jr. – Lim, Zheng Wei – Ling, Richard: Defining: “Fake News”: A Typology of Scholarly Definitions. 6(2) Digital Journalism (2017) 137–153., https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2017.1360143
Tandoc, Edson C. Jr. et al.: Audiences’ Acts of Authentication in the Age of Fake News: A conceptual Framework. 20(8) New Media & Society (2018) 2745–2763., https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444817731756
Uscinski, Joseph E. et al.: 2020. Why Do People Believe COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories? Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review (2020) 1–12., https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-015
Veszelszki Ágnes: Az álhírek extra- és intralingvális jellemzői. Századvég, 2017/2., 51−82.
Vosoughi, Soroush – Roy, Deb – Aral, Sinan: The Spread of True and False News Online. 359(6380) Science (2018) 1146–1151., https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aap9559
Ward, Charlotte – Voas, Davis: The Emergence of Conspirituality. 26(1) Journal of Contemporary Religion (2011) 103–121., https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2011.539846
Wardle, Claire – Derakhshan, Hossein: Information Disorder: Toward an Interdisciplinary Framework for Research and Policymaking. Brussels, Council of Europe, 2017.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Falyuna Nóra
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
