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The impact of social media on the polarization of the political debate: three case studies in the European context

Marret, Christophe Matthieu Erwan

Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da USP; Universidade de São Paulo; Instituto de Relações Internacionais 2022-08-19

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  • Título:
    The impact of social media on the polarization of the political debate: three case studies in the European context
  • Autor: Marret, Christophe Matthieu Erwan
  • Orientador: Nishijima, Marislei
  • Assuntos: Facebook; Algoritmo; Coletes Amarelos; Democracia; Gdpr; Filter Bubble; Fake News; Algorithm; Democracy; Social Media
  • Notas: Dissertação (Mestrado)
  • Descrição: Social media platforms like Facebook are taking an increasingly important place in political and public opinion debates, and some commentators argue that they have a significant impact on the results of elections (Brexit and Trump election, for instance). This study, conducted through three academic articles, aims to assess the impact of social media on the polarization of the political debate through three major European case studies. To this finality, the research performs a literature review based on key studies besides investigating and grabbing institutional information. The first article explores how the new versions of Facebooks algorithm accentuate the social bubble effect, weakening the confrontation of the plurality of opinions necessary for the democratic debate. The literature shows that these social bubbles are a risk for democracies, but that they are inherent to the human psychological condition (the algorithms are just amplifying an existing phenomenon by reinforcing our persistent individual beliefs): the real issue seems to be our human capacity to question the veracity of the message we receive (hence the need for regulation of the social media platforms to minimize the risk of manipulations). Faced with these new challenges, the second article assesses how the institutions of the European Union sought to protect the parliamentary elections in May 2019 against the viral proliferation of fake news and against the unlawful use of citizens data to target specific groups of strategic voters. This research focuses on the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) mechanisms to avoid fake news and microtargeting effects on the electoral context. Preliminary results suggest that GDPR reduced social media\'s effects on the 2019 European Parliament elections by adopting a public and private co-regulation approach, which avoids counterproductive reinforcement of the auto-persuasion power of fake news. Finally, the article discusses the difficulties of applying the European data protection law in a new digital era to conclude that it is essential to continue developing alternative measures. Finally, the third article discusses to what extent the new algorithm introduced by Facebook in January 2018 (with the creation of the controversial Facebook groups which encourage the information exchanged between users sharing common points at the expense of information coming from official pages of traditional media or political figures) has facilitated the Yellow Vests\' social manifestation on France\'s streets from November of 2018 to the end of the year 2019. The research explains how this algorithm played a key role in transforming digital anger into a radical social movement in the streets and investigates how the lack of governance on the social networks could lead to violent real-life manifestations, resulting in negative net gains in the long run and a high potential to destabilize democracies. The final considerations of this dissertation address the limits of the European model of protection (GDPR), open avenues for reflection on its adaptation, and present the new European legislation (the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA)) which should come into force in 2023 and whose general principles are to strengthen competition law in the face of the GAFAM monopoly, and to condemn in digital life everything that is reprehensible in real life.
  • DOI: 10.11606/D.101.2022.tde-03112022-123930
  • Editor: Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da USP; Universidade de São Paulo; Instituto de Relações Internacionais
  • Data de criação/publicação: 2022-08-19
  • Formato: Adobe PDF
  • Idioma: Inglês
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  • Realização: ABCD-USP USP   Logos de Redes Sociais: Freepik

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