Riding information crises: the performance of far-right Twitter users in Australia during the 2019–2020 bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: This paper focuses on the performance of the far-right community in the Australian Twittersphere during two information crises: the 2019–2020 Australian bushfires and the early months of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Using a mixed method approach to analysing the performance of far-right accounts active in both crises and using an information disorder index to estimate the quality of information being shared on Twitter during the two events, we found that far-right accounts moved from the periphery of these disaster-driven conversations during the Australian bushfires to assume a more central location during the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that an increase in information disorder and overperformance of far-right accounts during COVID-19 is suggestive of an association between the two, which warrants further investigation.
Institutions: The University of Sydney, University of Technology Sydney
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4367557285