Cross-platform information spread during the January 6th capitol riots

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Computer Science
• Information Science

Background:

• Social media platforms are key information systems.
• The spread of mis/disinformation is a significant challenge.
• Understanding cross-platform information flow is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize coordinated information dissemination of mis/disinformation narratives.
• To compare information spread on Parler and Twitter during the January 6th Capitol Riots.
• To identify similarities and differences in information ecosystems.

Main Methods:

• Username similarity analysis to detect cross-platform user connections.
• Analysis of shared external links (websites, YouTube) to understand information consumption.
• Locality Sensitive Hashing (LSH) for text vector similarity to identify narrative themes.

Main Results:

• Identified joint theme endorsements between Parler and Twitter users via username similarity.
• Discovered distinct information consumption habits, with few common external sources between platforms.
• Detected similar narratives on both platforms despite separate external information sources.

Conclusions:

• Social media platforms can host similar narratives even with divergent external information consumption.
• Cross-platform analysis reveals complex patterns of coordinated information dissemination.
• Understanding these dynamics is vital for combating online mis/disinformation.