City Research Online

Abstract

Following the stellar rise of major social platforms in the online ecosystem, concerns have emerged regarding the content that is being shared to an international audience on such outlets. The public scrutiny led platform administrators to set up moderation policies to curtail the rise of hate speech, misinformation and online harassment. These policies triggered disenfranchised communities to settle on platforms that are not policing the content that is shared by their community, nowadays known as the alt-tech ecosystem.

Once primarily used as a meeting space for fringe online communities, these platforms have become major outlets for radical political movements. State presidents, such as Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, have leveraged outlets belonging to the alt-tech ecosystem to smear their adversaries, raise funds and share controversial narratives.

In this thesis, we study the rise of this alternative ecosystem and measure its impact on user engagement, online discourse and the proliferation of extremist movements online.

First, we look at the emergence of Voat, a far-right platform, and how it was competing against Reddit, its mainstream counterpart. We characterise the impact of deplatforming policies from Reddit, the level of active engagement that emerges on Voat as well as the cross-community interactions that take place on the platform.

Second, we study cross-platform interactions by studying Gettr, a platform that has become a popular venue for right-wing state representatives in the US and Brazil. By looking at a user’s activity on Twitter and Gettr, we assess how deplatforming leads to the emergence of a committed community on an alt-tech platform, and how different user cohorts use toxic discourse on both platforms.

Third, we assess the impact of this phenomenon beyond the West by studying Koo, an Indian-made social platform that gathered support from nationalist political representatives in India and Nigeria. We study the ability for an alt-tech platform to become an international venue and the interplay between language and culture in shaping online interactions.

We hope that this work will shed light on the social drivers that are catalysing the rise of this alternative online ecosystem, the societal risks that arise in an environment that does not enforce any content moderation, and the challenges that policy makers must tackle to ensure that these platforms do not become ideal venues for radicalisation.

Publication Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Subjects:	Q Science > QA Mathematics
Departments:	School of Science & Technology > Mathematics School of Science & Technology > School of Science & Technology Doctoral Theses Doctoral Theses

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