Assessing intolerance, the level of protest on the internet and the impact of botfarms on political life in modern France from a sociological standpoint

Abstract

The relevance of the stated research subject is conditioned upon the fact that the rapid development of Internet technologies has established conditions for the self-organisation of the population and the development of an entirely new quality of citizens’ participation in the political process in democratic countries. It is particularly reflected in the emergence of protest movements, which in the modern world are marked by a lack of clearly defined leaders and a horizontal organisational structure. The purpose of this research is to assess the level of protest sentiment on the Internet in contemporary France, the impact of bot activities on social and political life in the country and the development of political activism. The author applied a set of general scientific and specific research methods to solve the objectives identified. The structural-functional method provided the foundation for a study of the impact of modern information and communication technologies on French political life against the backdrop of the “yellow vests” protests. In addition, the author used systemic, comparative, socio-psychological and institutional methods. The results of the study should be considered as determining the role of social media and other platforms in the rise of protest sentiments in France and assessing manifestations of intolerance in the French segment of the Internet. Particular attention was devoted to the activities of botfarms and their influence in “warming up” the protest and destabilising the socio-political situation. The results of this research have significance for political forces that target the consolidation of the electorate by using information and communication technologies and using the online environment to mobilise society and engage citizens more broadly in protest actions. In addition, the author considered the activity of Internet bots as a tool to influence society in a democratic country and a method of fighting in the information war