Cloaked Facebook pages: Exploring fake Islamist propaganda in social media

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

This research analyses cloaked Facebook pages that are created to spread political propaganda by cloaking a user profile and imitating the identity of a political opponent in order to spark hateful and aggressive reactions. This inquiry is pursued through a multisited online ethnographic case study of Danish Facebook pages disguised as radical Islamist pages, which provoked racist and anti-Muslim reactions as well as negative sentiments towards refugees and immigrants in Denmark in general. Drawing on Jessie Daniels' critical insights into cloaked websites, this research furthermore analyses the epistemological, methodological and conceptual challenges of online propaganda. It enhances our understanding of disinformation and propaganda in an increasingly interactive social media environment and contributes to a critical inquiry into social media and subversive politics.

Original languageEnglish
JournalNew Media & Society
Volume20
Issue number5
Pages (from-to)1850-1867
Number of pages18
ISSN1461-4448
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018
Externally publishedYes

    Research areas

  • Cloaked, Denmark, disinformation, Facebook, hate speech, Islamophobia, propaganda, racism, social media, social network sites, MUHAMMAD CARTOONS, HATE SPEECH, DENMARK, RACISM, INTERNET

ID: 248557282