Socially Engineering a Polarizing Discourse on Facebook through Malware-Induced Misperception

Sharevski, Filipo; Treebridge, Paige; Jachim, Peter; Li, Audrey; Babin, Adam; Westbrook, Jessica

doi:10.1080/10447318.2021.2009671

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…This highlights proactive and reactive avoidance strategies influenced by norms, self-efficacy, fear of isolation, and control over engagement urges (Wu et al, 2020). It was found that comments on social platforms can be manipulated to align with users' affiliations, engineering the spiral-of-silence effect (Sharevski et al, 2022). However, the current research indicates that social networks can overcome this phenomenon by creating an "alternative communication" in which individuals can access information and legitimacy that did not exist in traditional media (Laor, 2021(Laor, , 2023.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…, 2020). It was found that comments on social platforms can be manipulated to align with users' affiliations, engineering the spiral-of-silence effect (Sharevski et al. , 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, it was found that message durability, which can moderate users’ inclination to express their perspectives, amplifies the silence spiral (Neubaum, 2022). Moreover, comments on social platforms can be manipulated to align with users’ affiliations, engineering the spiral-of-silence effect (Sharevski et al. , 2022).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Breaking the silence: the role of social media in fostering community and challenging the spiral of silence

Laor

2023

OIR

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PurposeThis research aims to examine the ways and the extent to which social media platforms undermine the spiral of silence by facilitating the expression of diverse voices and opinions.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews were conducted with members of closed groups focused on non-consensus topics.FindingsFacebook closed group members perceive the media as isolating and portraying their issues negatively. However, these groups offer support, inclusion and non-judgmental opinion-sharing space. Consequently, members feel more comfortable discussing and sharing the topic outside the group, indicating a slight trend of challenging and undermining the spiral of silence through social networks.Research limitations/implicationsThe study faces challenges in comparing diverse groups due to unique circumstances, complex needs and societal attitudes. Each group stands alone, potentially yielding slightly different findings.Practical implicationsSocial media challenges and undermines the spiral of silence, as these opinions are shared with the wider society and can even find their way back to mainstream media outlets. Thus, social media platforms play a significant role in disrupting the spiral of silence and facilitating the expression of diverse opinions that may have been previously suppressed.Social implicationsThis research emphasizes the critical role of social media in shaping public opinion and its interaction with the broader media landscape, illustrating a circular process where social media disrupts the spiral of silence by facilitating the expression of previously suppressed diverse opinions, which can then potentially influence mainstream media.Originality/valueThis study adds value by exploring how social media platforms can challenge and undermine the spiral of silence, enabling the expression of diverse, marginalized and underrepresented opinions in society. It highlights the role of social media in shaping public opinion and discourse, challenging the dominance of traditional media. Its originality emanates from its revelations concerning the legitimization of conversational topics, which may consequently affect media agendas.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…, 2020). It was found that comments on social platforms can be manipulated to align with users' affiliations, engineering the spiral-of-silence effect (Sharevski et al. , 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Breaking the silence: the role of social media in fostering community and challenging the spiral of silence

Laor

2023

OIR

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“…The playbook alone, at first, was insufficient to the objectives of widespread political disruption as it necessitated a support network of individuals and/or accounts on social media for any alternative narratives to gain traction. But the "appropriators" -privy of prior campaigns of disinformation and with the support of nation-state governments [113] -need not to look further as "sock puppet" accounts were already utilized for spreading political falsehoods (e.g., Martha Coackey's "twitter bomb" disinformation campaign [85]). Having all the ingredients for exploiting the virality of social media and users' familiarity with emotionally-charged discourse, the "appropriators" established troll farms in the wake of the UK's Brexit campaign and 2016 US elections [73,135].…”

Section: Mainstream Misinformation Operationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Folk Models of Misinformation on Social Media

Sharevski¹,

Devine²,

Pieroni³

et al. 2023

Proceedings 2023 Network and Distributed System Security Symposium

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In this study, we interviewed 22 prominent hacktivists to learn their take on the increased proliferation of misinformation on social media. We found that none of them welcomes the nefarious appropriation of trolling and memes for the purpose of political (counter)argumentation and dissemination of propaganda. True to the original hacker ethos, misinformation is seen as a threat to the democratic vision of the Internet, and as such, it must be confronted on the face with tried hacktivists' methods like deplatforming the "misinformers" and doxing or leaking data about their funding and recruitment. The majority of the hacktivists also recommended interventions for raising misinformation literacy in addition to targeted hacking campaigns. We discuss the implications of these findings relative to the emergent recasting of hacktivism in defense of a constructive and factual social media discourse.

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(Mis)perceptions and engagement on Twitter: COVID-19 vaccine rumors on efficacy and mass immunization effort

Sharevski

Huff

Jachim

et al. 2022

International Journal of Information Management Data Insights

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Socially Engineering a Polarizing Discourse on Facebook through Malware-Induced Misperception

Cited by 4 publications

References 55 publications

Breaking the silence: the role of social media in fostering community and challenging the spiral of silence

Breaking the silence: the role of social media in fostering community and challenging the spiral of silence

Folk Models of Misinformation on Social Media

(Mis)perceptions and engagement on Twitter: COVID-19 vaccine rumors on efficacy and mass immunization effort

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