The online structure and development of posting behaviour in Dutch anti-vaccination groups on Telegram

Online communities play an important role in spreading public discontent and could contribute to polarization. This study focuses on anti-vaccination views in the Netherlands, which have intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined the structure and development of five Dutch anti-vaccination Telegram groups and studied their interactivity and posting behaviour. Using group-based trajectory modelling, we examined the development of users’ posting behaviour in these groups. We find four posting trajectories across all five groups. A small group of users contributes the majority of posts... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Schlette, Anniek
Prooijen, Jan-Willem van
Blokland, Arjan
Thijs, Fabienne
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2022
Reihe/Periodikum: Schlette , A , Prooijen , J-W V , Blokland , A & Thijs , F 2022 , ' The online structure and development of posting behaviour in Dutch anti-vaccination groups on Telegram ' , New Media & Society . https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221128475
Schlagwörter: /dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/good_health_and_well_being / name=SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-27463325
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/1af2cc5a-8ccd-42c4-a625-3e4ade8922ca

Online communities play an important role in spreading public discontent and could contribute to polarization. This study focuses on anti-vaccination views in the Netherlands, which have intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined the structure and development of five Dutch anti-vaccination Telegram groups and studied their interactivity and posting behaviour. Using group-based trajectory modelling, we examined the development of users’ posting behaviour in these groups. We find four posting trajectories across all five groups. A small group of users contributes the majority of posts. Overall, posting frequency declines over time and our results do not show evidence for a group of users whose posting frequency increases. This is taken to indicate that only a small group of users spread their anti-vaccination views through Telegram groups. While social media can reach a broad audience, most users are not necessarily engaged to also actively contribute to the online anti-vaccination community.