The circulation of political news on Twitter during the Dutch elections

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Abstract

This chapter enquires into the resonance of junk news on Twitter during the campaign periods prior to the 2019 Dutch Provincial elections and European Parliamentary elections. Querying Twitter for political topics related to the two elections, and various divisive social issues such as Zwarte Piet and MH17, we analyse the spread and prominence of problematic sources. We also examined the claim that Twitter is susceptible to abuse by bot and troll-like users, and found that troll-like users were active across all political and issue spaces during the Dutch Provincial elections of 2019. Divisive issues remain steadily (even if marginally) active in junk news and tendentious news throughout the tested time frames, suggesting these issues are year-round rather than event-based or seasonal, as they are in the mainstream media.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Politics of Social Media Manipulation
EditorsRichard Rogers, Sabine Niederer
Place of PublicationAmsterdam
PublisherAmsterdam University Press
Chapter4
Pages123-146
ISBN (Electronic)9789048551675
ISBN (Print)9789463724838
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020

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