Abstract
This study examines how digital disinformation occurs through the creation and sustenance of figures or cultural tropes. It focuses primarily on the figure of the e-committees, a phenomenon that refers to online fake accounts mobilized by various political actors to tarnish their opponents and propagate their own ideologies online. Based on a frame analysis of Egyptian news articles published between 2011 and 2021, we trace the emergence of this figure in the wake of the 25th of January revolution, its development over time, and its impact on (dis)information. We illustrate how the framing of e-committees contributes to an atmosphere of chaos and confusion about the digital realm, and how such framing tactics can be understood as a practice of digital authoritarianism. The study proposes a novel theoretical and methodological approach to studying disinformation from a cultural studies perspective that is centered around the role of every day media messages.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1473-1493 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | International Journal of Communication |
| Volume | 18 |
| Publication status | Published - 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2024 (Nermin Elsherif and Tasniem Anwar). Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd). Available at http://ijoc.org. All Rights Reserved.
Funding
Nermin Elsherif: [email protected] Tasniem Anwar: [email protected] Date submitted: 2022-08-12 1 We want to thank the reviewers and editors for their guidance, the attendees of the workshop “New Media, New Politics: Social Media in the Arab Middle-East,” and Marlies Glasius for her unwavering support. This project received funding from the Research Priority Area “Global Digital Cultures,” University of Amsterdam. 2 Name changed to preserve anonymity.
Keywords
- Egypt
- Middle East
- disinformation
- fake news
- social media