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Social Media, Disinformation, and Authoritarianism

Module description

While it may seem that social media is a neutral platform for sharing information, it can also create, enable, or encourage disinformation. Social media companies like to portray ‘connection’ as an unambiguous social good. However, the process of forming connections online can also have negative effects. In this module, we ask whether people are radicalised via social media, and if it can even lead them to violence. The racial and gender dynamics of social media are explored, and how it varies with culture, language, and nationality. Authoritarian regimes around the world have also employed social media extensively, in this module we investigate how it is used to spread falsehoods and conspiracy theories that enable such regimes to seize or maintain power illegitimately and even mobilise violence against opponents. This topic will appeal to students of the social sciences, politics, and science and technology studies, and it is suitable for interdisciplinary pathways. There are no prerequisites.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The intentions of this module are to critically assess social media from a social scientific perspective. How social media platforms enable, exacerbate, and profit from the spread of disinformation will be a key focus. Further, this module connects the spread of disinformation on social media to rising and emergent authoritarianism around the globe.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate familiarity with the major social media platforms and how they operate to spread disinformation globally
• 2. Show an understanding of the impact of social media on different cultures
• 3. Display an awareness of the relationship between social media and politics

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Show an understanding of how qualitative social scientific approaches can be used to study digital sources
• 5. Evaluate how social media platforms affect societies

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Communicate effectively in written and oral form
• 7. Conduct research on a topic and organize findings in written form in a compelling manner

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Digital ethnography as methodology
• The digital self
• Anonymity and harassment
• Algorithms as digital infrastructure
• Civil unrest and populism
• Online conspiracy theories and “cults”
• Technology and authoritarianism

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

For presentation, reassessment can be a recorded presentation rather than in person.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Basic reading:

• Sarah Pink et al, Digital Ethnography: Principles and Practice. Sage, 2016.

• Larissa Hjorth et al, The Routledge Companion to Digital Ethnography. Routledge, 2017.

• James Hoggan, I’m Right and You’re an Idiot: The Toxic State of Public Discourse and How to Clean it Up. New Society Publishers, 2016.

• Mike Rothschild, The Storm is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and a Conspiracy Theory of Everything. Hachette, 2021

Key words search

Social Media; Technology; Politics; Anthropology; Sociology