Public lecture on the shaping of disinformation by social media architectures

On 29 February from 12:15 to 13:45, Nathalie Van Raemdonck, a PhD researcher in Media and Communication Science at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), will give a public lecture “The shaping of disinformation by social media architectures” in the study building at Lossi 36, room 215.

Kindly be advised that broadcast of the lecture in Zoom will be recorded exclusively for educational purposes. Identities of the online participants will be safeguarded, and the recording will not be made publicly accessible.

Information pollution is considered a threat for liberal democracy, where the free flow of information is both its greatest strength and greatest vulnerability. In this lecture you will get a view on how social media platforms shape the spread of disinformation, polarisation and radicalisation. We will look at how the architectures of platforms play different roles by applying an affordances perspective. We will also provide insights into solutions that put user agency central from the perspective of social norms. This moves past a digital literacy approach and looks at the role our social surroundings play in the spread and acceptance of disinformation. These are crucially shaped by the (digital) spaces in which interactions take place.

Nathalie Van Raemdonck is a PhD researcher at VUB in Media and Communication Science. She is part of the SMIT-IMEC research group where she does research for the Hannah Arendt Institute, and is affiliated with VUB's Centre for Digitalisation, Democracy and Innovation (CD2I) at the Brussels School of Governance. Her doctoral research focuses on the spread of misinformation and hostilities on social media, which she investigates through the lens of social norm contestations and affordances.

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