Deplatforming Right-Wing Extremists on Twitter after the January 6 Insurrection

• In Event: Populists, Extremists and Gaslighters (Virtual Session)

Abstract

What happened when Twitter suddenly deplatformed 70,000 right-wing extremists following the January 6 insurrection? Using a panel of over a half million active Twitter users and a sharp regression discontinuity design, we test the causal effects of this intervention on the circulation of misinformation by those deplatformed, and by users from adjacent groups such as misinformation supersharers, QAnon traffickers and deplatformed users’ followers. We show that Twitter's intervention reduced misinformation on the site not only by preventing the deplatformed users from spreading it, but also by reducing the amount that similar, non-deplatformed users recirculated. The results inform the historical record of this momentous event in U.S. history, and show the capacity of social media platforms to control public discourse.

Authors

• Stefan McCabe, Northeastern University

• Kevin M. Esterling, University of California, Riverside

• Diogo Ferrari, University of California, Riverside

• Jon Green, Northeastern University

• David Lazer, Northeastern University