Deinfluencing trend started in January 2023 on TikTok, and aims to challenge overconsumption norms. However, deinfluencing has received a variety of definitions as trend and term, which has led to misunderstanding or misuse of the term. This research is examining 28 TikTok videos with the deinfluencing hashtag from January 2023 to March 2024, as well as 34,180 comments left on these videos. The videos have been selected using purposive sampling, and are analyzed using Critical Visual Methodology (Rose, 2023). The comments are analyzed using qualitative text analysis. Due to the unclear definitions, the paradox of sustainable trend on a global capitalist platform as well as  algorithmic and influencer imaginaries, the trend has turned into a self feeding deinfluencing-influencing loop, where the trend is losing its sustainability ethos. In conclusion, the influencers and audience are seen to be caught too deeply in this loop, that this research does not see any significant changes towards more sustainable adaptation of the term to be in the future of the trend.

Journalism has “always been shaped by technology” (Pavlik, 2000, p.229). Social media could be seen as a technology of today, when news consumption is changing and 31% of the population worldwide are using Facebook and other social media platforms for news (Newman, 2020). Moreover, fewer pay for news (Medieakademin, 2021). Therefore, it is a challenge for news media outlets to adapt to the changing news consumption patterns, as well as they lose advertisers to Big Tech (Facht & Ohlsson, 2021). Furthermore, the credibility for Swedish news media brands is decreasing (Medieakademin, 2021). Here comes the question about the strategies that Swedish news media outlets should use in order to keep their brand credibility in times of social media. Sixteen scientists within media, communication, marketing and brand management were interviewed for this master thesis. Among the conclusions drawn are; the journalistic quality and principles such as objectivity and impartiality should go first; a new innovative business model should be found; social media has changed the landscape for traditional news media outlets; social media algorithms might have increased hostile media effects. / Journalistiken har alltid påverkats av teknologin (Pavlik, 2000, p.229). Det är sociala medier som kan ses som “dagens teknologi”. Samtidigt ändras mönster för hur man konsumerar nyheterna, och 31% av världens befolkning använder Facebook och andra sociala medier för nyhetsläsning (Newman, 2020). Dessutom är det färre som betalar för nyheterna år för år (Medieakademin, 2021). Därför blir det en utmaning för nyhetsmedier att anpassa sig till de nya mönster samtidigt som de tappar i reklamintäkter, och annonsörerna går över till de stora techbolagen (Facht & Ohlsson, 2021). Därtill har förtroende för medierna de senaste tio åren minskat (Medieakademin, 2021), och här kommer frågan om hur ska svenska nyhetsmedier bete sig i en tid av sociala medier. För den här studien har sexton forskare inom media, kommunikation, marknadsföring och varumärke intervjuats. Enligt de slutsatser som dras, ska nyhetsmedierna satsa på kvalitativt innehåll; följa de journalistiska principerna; försöka hitta en ny affärsmodell; sociala medier har förändrat medielandskapet; algoritmer på sociala medier kan ha förstärkt hostile media effect.

This research intended to investigate how the arising SNS component of algorithms acts as a mediator for affecting SNS user habits amongst high school and university students in Sweden. The testing of this specific correlation was realized by first investigating previous research regarding algorithms, various components of user habits, and the complementary component of algorithm awareness separately. By extracting interesting and valuable findings from the previous studies, a questionnaire was constructed, implementing the previous knowledge into the response alternatives to provide components useful for building testing variables. The questionnaire collected 419 respondents, whereas 341 were considered valid after implementing a sampling phase based on the specified demographics. Testing variables were conceptualized to be able to provide the ability of testing in SPSS to show statistical significance by using chi-square testing. This was conducted to test 4 hypotheses, grounded on what was to be answered by the 2 research questions. The testing of the variables was not able to provide any statistical significance and had in general low testing validity. Thus, none of the hypotheses could be accepted, which furtherly did not provide scientifically valid answers to any of the research questions. Several potential factors could be considered to have impaired the testing, including the complexity of the variable construction, and an imbalance between the volume of respondents fitting within the constructed variables to mention a few majorly discussed arguments. However, the data collection provided valuable insights, answer data frequencies, and knowledge that have the potential to facilitate future studies, both regarding the perspective of informatics and also a range of areas of which perspective was not used for this research. Hence, it also enables and suggests future studies to evaluate the collected data, reconstruct variables, or investigating interesting responses of questions left redundant.

Online disinformation damage on the world’s democracy has been critical. Yet, states fail to handle online content harms. Due to exception from legal liability for hosted content, Facebook, used by a third of the world population, operates ‘duty-free’ along with other social media companies.Concerned with solutions, this has given rise to the idea in studies that social resistance could be one of the most effective ways for combating disinformation. However, how exactly do we resist, is an unsettled subject. Are there any socially-driven processes against disinformation happening out there?This paper aimed to identify such processes for giving a boost to theory-building around the topic. Two central evidence cases were developed: #IAmHere digital movement fighting disinformation and innovative tool ‘Who is Who’ for distinguishing fake accounts. Based on findings, I argue that efforts by even a very small part of society can have a significant impact on defeating online disinformation. This is because digital activism shares phenomenal particularities for shaping online political discourse around disinformation. Tools such as ‘Who is Who’, on the other hand, build social resilience against the issue, also giving boost digital activists for mass reporting of disinformation content. User-driven solutions have significant potential for further research.Keywords: Online disinformation; algorithms; digital activism; user-driven solutions.