Information, identity, and action: The messages of the Dutch anti-vaccination community on Telegram

The anti-vaccination movement has successfully spread its views on social media. This study examined how community building emerges in the messages of Dutch anti-vaccination Telegram groups. Particularly, we investigated the extent to which these groups provide a platform for sharing information, perpetuating a shared identity, and promoting action. As negative emotions are considered a prime driver of collective action, we examined to what extent the messages had a negative valence. We used a mixed-method approach through a quantitative content analysis of 4654 text messages from five Telegra... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Schlette, Anniek
Prooijen, Jan-Willem van
Blokland, Arjan
Thijs, Fabienne
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2023
Reihe/Periodikum: Schlette , A , Prooijen , J-W V , Blokland , A & Thijs , F 2023 , ' Information, identity, and action: The messages of the Dutch anti-vaccination community on Telegram ' , New Media & Society . https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448231215735
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-29046276
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/1411dad2-aca0-45cb-8fdb-7d3123cc10d5

The anti-vaccination movement has successfully spread its views on social media. This study examined how community building emerges in the messages of Dutch anti-vaccination Telegram groups. Particularly, we investigated the extent to which these groups provide a platform for sharing information, perpetuating a shared identity, and promoting action. As negative emotions are considered a prime driver of collective action, we examined to what extent the messages had a negative valence. We used a mixed-method approach through a quantitative content analysis of 4654 text messages from five Telegram groups, while also examining the nature of the content through a qualitative analysis. The results suggest that most messages contained a form of shared identity (ingroup favoritism and outgroup hostility) or (mis)information, and, to a lesser extent, encouragements for (online) action. Moreover, most content had a negative valence. These findings illustrate how online groups might be sources of (mis)information, polarization, and intergroup hostility.