YouTube on fire: the discourses of disinformation about Amazon wildfires (2019-2021)

In the last 5 years, the video platform YouTube and its content creators – the youtubers – have gained attention in scientific research that warns about the increasingly prominent role of the platform when it comes to the dissemination of misinformation online. By occupying privileged space in the I...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Pinto, Thamara Machado, Zanetti, Daniela
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:Brasil
Institución:Associação Brasileira de Pesquisadores em Comunicação e Política (Compolítica)
Repositorio:Revista Compolítica
Idioma:portugués
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs2.compolitica.ojsbrasil.com.br:article/660
Acceso en línea:https://revista.compolitica.org/index.php/revista/article/view/660
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:YouTube
desinformação
youtubers
queimadas
Amazônia
YouT
desinformation
wildfires
Amazon
Descripción
Sumario:In the last 5 years, the video platform YouTube and its content creators – the youtubers – have gained attention in scientific research that warns about the increasingly prominent role of the platform when it comes to the dissemination of misinformation online. By occupying privileged space in the Internet’s sphere of public visibility, these individuals create a series of discursive and engagement strategies characteristic of what researcher Rebecca Lewis (2018) calls the “Alternative Influence” network on YouTube. Thus, the purpose of this article is to present a content and image analysis of four videos that present disinformation discourses about Amazon wildfires between the years 2019 to 2021. The results of our incursions showed that the construction of an image of authority and credibility, whether self-attributed or not, added to virulent, inflammatory, and inflammable arguments were basic elements for the constitution of a false narrative about the case, culminating in a real “fire” on YouTube.