Despite cries of censorship, conservatives dominate social media

ISD’s research work featured heavily in this article in Politico on how a small number of conservative users routinely outpace their liberal rivals and traditional news outlets in driving the online conversation.

The research was conducted by ISD Analysts Cooper Gatewood and Ciarán O’Connor.

“The findings demonstrate how a small number of conservative users routinely outpace their liberal rivals and traditional news outlets in driving the online conversation — amplifying their impact a little more than a week before Election Day. They contradict the prevailing political rhetoric from some Republican lawmakers that conservative voices are censored online — indicating that instead, right-leaning talking points continue to shape the worldviews of millions of U.S. voters.”

Further information is available in the report Disinformation Briefing: Narratives Around Black Lives Matter and Voter Fraud.

Cooper Gatewood is a Manager within ISD’s Digital Analysis Unit, focussing on quantitative research into the spread of hateful and polarising narratives online, and how they are leveraged by extremist actors. Cooper also develops monitoring and evaluation frameworks to measure the impact of a number of ISD’s intervention projects. Cooper is currently contributing to ISD’s research on disinformation campaigns, particularly those aimed to influence and disrupt election processes.

Ciarán O’Connor is an Analyst on ISD’s Digital Analysis Unit with expertise on the far-right and disinformation environment online. Ciaran has an MSc in Political Communication Science from the University of Amsterdam, speaks some Irish and French, and is learning Dutch.