Toward a Standard Approach for Echo Chamber Detection: Reddit Case Study

Virginia Morini,Laura Pollacci,Giulio Rossetti

doi:10.3390/app11125390

Virginia Morini, Laura Pollacci + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/app11125390

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Abstract

In a digital environment, the term echo chamber refers to an alarming phenomenon in which beliefs are amplified or reinforced by communication repetition inside a closed system and insulated from rebuttal. Up to date, a formal definition, as well as a platform-independent approach for its detection, is still lacking. This paper proposes a general framework to identify echo chambers on online social networks built on top of features they commonly share. Our approach is based on a four-step pipeline that involves (i) the identification of a controversial issue; (ii) the inference of users’ ideology on the controversy; (iii) the construction of users’ debate network; and (iv) the detection of homogeneous meso-scale communities. We further apply our framework in a detailed case study on Reddit, covering the first two and a half years of Donald Trump’s presidency. Our main purpose is to assess the existence of Pro-Trump and Anti-Trump echo chambers among three sociopolitical issues, as well as to analyze their stability and consistency over time. Even if users appear strongly polarized with respect to their ideology, most tend not to insulate themselves in echo chambers. However, the found polarized communities were proven to be definitely stable over time.

Highlights

During the last decade, the ease of access and ubiquity of online social media and online social networks (OSNs) has rapidly changed how we are used to searching, gathering, and discussing any kind of information
Several studies [5,6,7] claim that overpersonalization enhanced by OSNs, leveraging the human tendency to interact with like-minded individuals, might lead to a self-reinforcing loop confining users in echo chambers
Starting from online social platform data, the approach to detect echo chambers presented in this paper can be summarized into a four-stage pipeline. (i) Since opinion polarization generally arises in the presence of topics that trigger a significant difference of opinions, we propose starting from controversial issue identification. (ii) because an EC key feature is the homogeneous group thinking, the second step consists of inferring users’ ideology on the controversy from posts shared on the platform. (iii) People inside an EC

Summary

Introduction

The ease of access and ubiquity of online social media and online social networks (OSNs) has rapidly changed how we are used to searching, gathering, and discussing any kind of information. Such a revolution, as the promise of equality carried by the World Wide Web since its first appearance, has enriched us all. As the promise of equality carried by the World Wide Web since its first appearance, has enriched us all It has made geographical distances vanish and empowered all internet users, letting their voices be heard [1,2]. A formal definition of the phenomenon is still missing, an echo chamber (EC) is commonly defined as a polarized situation in which beliefs are amplified or reinforced by communication repetition inside a closed system and insulated from rebuttal

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