Disinformation on digital media platforms

A market-shaping approach

Bibliographic Data

ID6443573
AuthorsCarlos Díaz Ruiz (0000-0002-1724-8665, Hanken School of Economics, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume27
Issue4
Pages2188-2211
Publication date2023-10-30
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNew Media & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1461-4448 • E-ISSN: 1461-7315
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/14614448231207644
OpenAlexW4388021910
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited87

The proliferation of deceptive content online has led to the recognition that some actors in the digital media ecosystem profit from disinformation’s rapid spread. The reason is that a market designed to monetize engagement with fringe audiences encourages actors to create content that can go viral, hence creating financial incentives to circulate controversial claims, adversarial narratives, and deceptive content. The theoretical claim of this piece is that the actors and practices of digital media platforms can be analyzed through their market practices. Through this lens, scholars can study whether digital markets such as programmatic advertising, commercial content moderation, and influencer marketing make money from circulating disinformation. To show how disinformation is an expected outcome, not breakage, of the current media market in digital platforms, the article analyzes the business models of pre-digital broadcasting media, partisan media, and digital media platforms, finding qualitatively different forms of disinformation in each media market iteration

Advertising · Business · Digital content · Digital media · Disinformation · Internet privacy · Multimedia · Social media · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Media Influence and Politics · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Social Media and Politics

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Open DOIOpen Access