Influence of far right on social media in Ireland has grown since pandemic, says report
The influence of the far right in Ireland is growing as tech companies, particularly X – formerly known as Twitter – fail to enforce their own guidelines against misinformation and hate speech, according to a new wide-ranging study of Irish online communities.
Researchers from the Institute of Strategic Dialogue (ISD) analysed 13 million posts from 1,640 accounts over the past three years and found misinformation is growing across all platforms, having originally coalesced around the Covid-19 pandemic.
The study, which was funded by the European Media and Information Fund, examined the spread of disinformation (information shared with the specific purpose of deception) and misinformation (information spread regardless of an attempt to mislead) by far right and conspiratorial figures in Ireland.
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