Partner: Digital Planet, Tufts University
Project: Uncovering misinformation narratives surrounding the 2022 US midterm elections
Date: 2022
Digital Planet, Tufts University - The Toxic Tales of the 2022 Midterms
In conjunction with our longitudinal study of Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, we worked with the Digital Planet team at Tufts University to track trending political narratives in the run-up to the US midterm elections in November 2022.
Through the themes of civil war, election fraud, citizen policing of voting and darker topics related to pedophilia and grooming, we uncovered how the quality of conversations on the platform has eroded over a four-month period between July and October and is threatening to pollute American political discourse.
Prior to the takeover, our research identified moments of positivity, where negative narratives, including #TrumpWasRightAboutEverything, a trending topic in July, were more heavily refuted by users, and in fact, incurred a higher level of anti-Trump or fact-sharing links than tweets that supported he was right.
Figure 1 - Pre-Musk takeover, Twitter users more heavily refuted endorsements of Trump’s comments
The investigation also explores narratives such as paedophilia and grooming through dramatic events such as the August raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and the links to similar incidences like that of Jeffrey Epstein, observing a rise in conspiracy theories.
Elsewhere, the shift in the dominant ideology of users on the platform, which has been historically left-leaning, illustrates how extremist right sentiment is emerging on Musk’s Twitter. This includes a resurgence in the activity of QAnon believers and is further highlighted by the loss of followers for progressive accounts on Twitter, in replacement for more right-wing accounts such as Fox News.
The reactivation of Donald Trump’s account in November is symbolic of the direction that Musk wants to take the social media platform. The weakening resistance to misinformation and extremism following the initial acquisition of Twitter will continue to be monitored closely. You can read the full report here and more about our findings featured in the press.