One of the defining features of the modern media landscape is its diversity in what sources of information and news are available online. Instead of traditional media and news corporations holding a monopoly on what information is released to the public, countless bloggers, photographers, vloggers and social media users can all contribute to the constant flow of news information. Likewise, consumers of news information are not limited to traditional channels for their news, but can access any of these new sources for the information they want. However, this can potentially lead to users only listening to information sources that align with and reinforce their own worldview, which can be even more problematic if their worldview is influenced by racist or xenophobic beliefs. In this essay I explore whether or not a combination of unregulated information spreading and selective news exposure might increase or spread xenophobia and political extremism online. I first design a survey about social media habits that I share via Facebook to see how people use social media as a channel for news information. I then interview a lecturer from the Department of Law at Umeå University about the legal ramifications of publishing and spreading hate speech online. Finally, I perform a small observation study of how different news sites prioritize which news and events they wish to publish. I arrive at the conclusion that hate speech and similar content does not usually spread to users who don’t actively seek it out, but, for those who do seek it out and agree with it, the circulation of hate speech online may embolden them in their views and make them harder to dissuade from their beliefs.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-124427 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Lundström, Anton |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Institutionen för informatik |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | Informatik Student Paper Bachelor (INFSPB) ; SPB 2016.33 |
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