False equivalencies: Online activism from left to right

doi:10.1126/science.abb2428

Review

. 2020 Sep 4;369(6508):1197-1201.

doi: 10.1126/science.abb2428.

False equivalencies: Online activism from left to right

Deen Freelon^{1

2}, Alice Marwick^{2

3}, Daniel Kreiss^{4

2}

Affiliations

¹ Hussman School of Journalism and Media, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. [email protected].
² Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
³ Department of Communication, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
⁴ Hussman School of Journalism and Media, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.

PMID: 32883863
DOI: 10.1126/science.abb2428

Review

False equivalencies: Online activism from left to right

Deen Freelon et al. Science. 2020.

. 2020 Sep 4;369(6508):1197-1201.

doi: 10.1126/science.abb2428.

Authors

Deen Freelon^{1

2}, Alice Marwick^{2

3}, Daniel Kreiss^{4

2}

Affiliations

¹ Hussman School of Journalism and Media, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. [email protected].
² Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
³ Department of Communication, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
⁴ Hussman School of Journalism and Media, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.

PMID: 32883863
DOI: 10.1126/science.abb2428

Abstract

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, and work strategically with partisan media to spread their messages. Although scholarship suggests that the right has embraced strategic disinformation and conspiracy theories more than the left, more research is needed to reveal the magnitude and character of left-wing disinformation. Such ideological asymmetries between left- and right-wing activism hold critical implications for democratic practice, social media governance, and the interdisciplinary study of digital politics.

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False equivalencies: Online activism from left to right

Affiliations

False equivalencies: Online activism from left to right

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