The political economy of digital profiteering: communication resource mobilization by anti-vaccination actors
Contemporary communication requires both a supply of content and a digital information infrastructure. Modern campaigns of misinformation are especially dependent on that back-end infrastructure for tracking and targeting a sympathetic audience and generating revenue that can sustain the campaign fi...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
2022
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| _version_ | 1797109397275541504 |
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| author | Herasimenka, A Au, Y George, A Joynes-Burgess, K Knuutila, A Bright, J Howard, PN |
| author_facet | Herasimenka, A Au, Y George, A Joynes-Burgess, K Knuutila, A Bright, J Howard, PN |
| author_sort | Herasimenka, A |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Contemporary communication requires both a supply of content and a digital information infrastructure. Modern campaigns of misinformation are especially dependent on that back-end infrastructure for tracking and targeting a sympathetic audience and generating revenue that can sustain the campaign financially—if not enable profiteering. However, little is known about the political economy of misinformation, particularly those campaigns spreading misleading or harmful content about public health guidelines and vaccination programs. To understand the political economy of health misinformation, we analyze the content and infrastructure networks of 59 groups involved in communicating misinformation about vaccination programs. With a unique collection of tracker and communication infrastructure data, we demonstrate how the political economy of misinformation depends on platform monetization infrastructures. We offer a theory of communication resource mobilization that advances understanding of the communicative context, organizational interactions, and political outcomes of misinformation production. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:39:45Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:b0a02ac1-c36f-43b5-85b3-773db74910af |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:39:45Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:b0a02ac1-c36f-43b5-85b3-773db74910af2023-04-18T07:56:17ZThe political economy of digital profiteering: communication resource mobilization by anti-vaccination actorsJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:b0a02ac1-c36f-43b5-85b3-773db74910afEnglishSymplectic ElementsOxford University Press2022Herasimenka, AAu, YGeorge, AJoynes-Burgess, KKnuutila, ABright, JHoward, PNContemporary communication requires both a supply of content and a digital information infrastructure. Modern campaigns of misinformation are especially dependent on that back-end infrastructure for tracking and targeting a sympathetic audience and generating revenue that can sustain the campaign financially—if not enable profiteering. However, little is known about the political economy of misinformation, particularly those campaigns spreading misleading or harmful content about public health guidelines and vaccination programs. To understand the political economy of health misinformation, we analyze the content and infrastructure networks of 59 groups involved in communicating misinformation about vaccination programs. With a unique collection of tracker and communication infrastructure data, we demonstrate how the political economy of misinformation depends on platform monetization infrastructures. We offer a theory of communication resource mobilization that advances understanding of the communicative context, organizational interactions, and political outcomes of misinformation production. |
| spellingShingle | Herasimenka, A Au, Y George, A Joynes-Burgess, K Knuutila, A Bright, J Howard, PN The political economy of digital profiteering: communication resource mobilization by anti-vaccination actors |
| title | The political economy of digital profiteering: communication resource mobilization by anti-vaccination actors |
| title_full | The political economy of digital profiteering: communication resource mobilization by anti-vaccination actors |
| title_fullStr | The political economy of digital profiteering: communication resource mobilization by anti-vaccination actors |
| title_full_unstemmed | The political economy of digital profiteering: communication resource mobilization by anti-vaccination actors |
| title_short | The political economy of digital profiteering: communication resource mobilization by anti-vaccination actors |
| title_sort | political economy of digital profiteering communication resource mobilization by anti vaccination actors |
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