Tracing information flows in the hybrid media system: The agenda-setting role of dark platforms surrounding the Ukraine invasion discourse

Mónika Simon; Savvas Zannettou; Kasper Welbers; Anne C. Kroon; Damian Trilling

Tracing information flows in the hybrid media system: The agenda-setting role of dark platforms surrounding the Ukraine invasion discourse

Mónika Simon
, Savvas Zannettou
, Kasper Welbers
, Anne C. Kroon
, Damian Trilling

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

The influence of dark platforms on public debate remains understudied. Using a unique multiplatform corpus of news articles, posts from four news-related subreddits, tweets from politicians, and posts from 4chan/pol (N = 1,545,813), we leveraged neural topic modeling and advanced overtime analyses to study discursive information flows dynamically. Focusing on the early stages of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, our results showed limited discursive information flows from the dark platform agenda to other agendas. However, the most influential topics on the dark platform agenda were significantly more toxic than those on other agendas. Our approach effectively uncovers the nuanced dynamics of discursive information flows across various platforms, deepening our understanding of the complex interplay between different agendas in shaping public debate in the contemporary media system.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1182-1206
Number of pages	25
Journal	International Journal of Communication
Volume	19
Publication status	Published - 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 (Mónika Simon, Savvas Zannettou, Kasper Welbers, Anne C. Kroon, and Damian Trilling). Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd). Available at http://ijoc.org.

Funding

Mónika Simon: [email protected] Savvas Zannettou: [email protected] Kasper Welbers: [email protected] Anne C. Kroon: [email protected] Damian Trilling: [email protected] Date submitted: 2024-05-02 1 This work is part of a project that has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant agreement No. 947695). This work made use of the Dutch national e-infrastructure with the support of the SURF Cooperative using grant no. EINF-2968. We would like to extend our gratitude to Lea Teigelkötter, Varya Neganova, Ashley Young, Georgiana Iordan, and Hanting Wang for their valuable contributions to the topic validation process.

Funders	Funder number
European Research Council
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme	947695
SURF	EINF-2968

Keywords

agenda setting
dark platforms
discursive information flows
topic modeling

Access to Document

https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/23212/4941Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Persistent URL (handle)

Persistent link

Cite this

@article{b09ba70d9d204f6f88658767d87e4c6f,

title = "Tracing information flows in the hybrid media system: The agenda-setting role of dark platforms surrounding the Ukraine invasion discourse",

abstract = "The influence of dark platforms on public debate remains understudied. Using a unique multiplatform corpus of news articles, posts from four news-related subreddits, tweets from politicians, and posts from 4chan/pol (N = 1,545,813), we leveraged neural topic modeling and advanced overtime analyses to study discursive information flows dynamically. Focusing on the early stages of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, our results showed limited discursive information flows from the dark platform agenda to other agendas. However, the most influential topics on the dark platform agenda were significantly more toxic than those on other agendas. Our approach effectively uncovers the nuanced dynamics of discursive information flows across various platforms, deepening our understanding of the complex interplay between different agendas in shaping public debate in the contemporary media system.",

keywords = "agenda setting, dark platforms, discursive information flows, topic modeling",

author = "M{\'o}nika Simon and Savvas Zannettou and Kasper Welbers and Kroon, \{Anne C.\} and Damian Trilling",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 (M{\'o}nika Simon, Savvas Zannettou, Kasper Welbers, Anne C. Kroon, and Damian Trilling). Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd). Available at http://ijoc.org.",

year = "2025",

language = "English",

volume = "19",

pages = "1182--1206",

journal = "International Journal of Communication",

issn = "1932-8036",

publisher = "University of Southern California",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Tracing information flows in the hybrid media system

T2 - The agenda-setting role of dark platforms surrounding the Ukraine invasion discourse

AU - Simon, Mónika

AU - Zannettou, Savvas

AU - Welbers, Kasper

AU - Kroon, Anne C.

AU - Trilling, Damian

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2025 (Mónika Simon, Savvas Zannettou, Kasper Welbers, Anne C. Kroon, and Damian Trilling). Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd). Available at http://ijoc.org.

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - The influence of dark platforms on public debate remains understudied. Using a unique multiplatform corpus of news articles, posts from four news-related subreddits, tweets from politicians, and posts from 4chan/pol (N = 1,545,813), we leveraged neural topic modeling and advanced overtime analyses to study discursive information flows dynamically. Focusing on the early stages of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, our results showed limited discursive information flows from the dark platform agenda to other agendas. However, the most influential topics on the dark platform agenda were significantly more toxic than those on other agendas. Our approach effectively uncovers the nuanced dynamics of discursive information flows across various platforms, deepening our understanding of the complex interplay between different agendas in shaping public debate in the contemporary media system.

AB - The influence of dark platforms on public debate remains understudied. Using a unique multiplatform corpus of news articles, posts from four news-related subreddits, tweets from politicians, and posts from 4chan/pol (N = 1,545,813), we leveraged neural topic modeling and advanced overtime analyses to study discursive information flows dynamically. Focusing on the early stages of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, our results showed limited discursive information flows from the dark platform agenda to other agendas. However, the most influential topics on the dark platform agenda were significantly more toxic than those on other agendas. Our approach effectively uncovers the nuanced dynamics of discursive information flows across various platforms, deepening our understanding of the complex interplay between different agendas in shaping public debate in the contemporary media system.

KW - agenda setting

KW - dark platforms

KW - discursive information flows

KW - topic modeling

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105003179831

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105003179831#tab=citedBy

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105003179831

SN - 1932-8036

VL - 19

SP - 1182

EP - 1206

JO - International Journal of Communication

JF - International Journal of Communication

ER -

Tracing information flows in the hybrid media system: The agenda-setting role of dark platforms surrounding the Ukraine invasion discourse

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

Persistent URL (handle)

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this