Autore: Kristensen, Jakob Bæk
Titolo: Platform Polarization. Do Alternative Platforms Drive Discursive Polarization?
Periodico: Comunicazione politica - ComPol
Anno: 2025 - Fascicolo: 1 - Pagina iniziale: 23 - Pagina finale: 47

This cross-platform study investigates the dynamics of discursive polarization when the same URL is shared across mainstream and alternative platforms, where differences in moderation policies and platform affordances may shape vastly divergent discussions. It hypothesizes that low-content moderation on alternative platforms attracts users seeking to engage in discourses that are either filtered out or marginalized on mainstream platforms, potentially fostering destructive political polarization. Using a dataset spanning seven platforms – Facebook, Twitter (X), Reddit, Telegram, Gab, Vkontakte, and 4Chan – collected between 2019 and 2022, this study employs large language model (LLM)-assisted classification to analyze ideological, affective, and factual belief polarization. The findings reveal that affective and factual belief polarization are predominantly driven by alternative platforms, with factual belief polarization escalating in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, alignment with external sources – particularly problematic or hyper-partisan content – plays a stronger role in shaping polarization than outright dismissals of main stream sources. Platform-driven polarization, however, exhibits only a weak correlation with user engagement, suggesting that factors beyond polarization dynamics influence content popularity. By directly comparing discourse across multiple platforms, this study advances research on cross-platform polarization and highlights how digital environments mediate public discourse in an increasingly fragmented information landscape.




SICI: 1594-6061(2025)1<23:PPDAPD>2.0.ZU;2-7
Testo completo: https://www.rivisteweb.it/download/article/10.3270/116608
Testo completo alternativo: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.3270/116608

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