Illuminating an Ecosystem of Partisan Websites

TL;DR

This study analyzes the structure and dynamics of a large ecosystem of hyper-partisan websites around the 2016 US elections, revealing patterns of linkages, activity, and demographic engagement that reinforce partisan filter bubbles.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of the online ecosystem of partisan websites, highlighting their linking practices, lifecycle, and demographic targeting, which was previously underexplored.

Findings

Right-leaning sites are more evolved and account for more abandoned websites.

Partisan websites form internal link networks reinforcing filter bubbles.

Demographic groups tend to consume more right-leaning news.

Abstract

This paper aims to shed light on alternative news media ecosystems that are believed to have influenced opinions and beliefs by false and/or biased news reporting during the 2016 US Presidential Elections. We examine a large, professionally curated list of 668 hyper-partisan websites and their corresponding Facebook pages, and identify key characteristics that mediate the traffic flow within this ecosystem. We uncover a pattern of new websites being established in the run up to the elections, and abandoned after. Such websites form an ecosystem, creating links from one website to another, and by `liking' each others' Facebook pages. These practices are highly effective in directing user traffic internally within the ecosystem in a highly partisan manner, with right-leaning sites linking to and liking other right-leaning sites and similarly left-leaning sites linking to other sites on the left, thus forming a filter bubble amongst news producers similar to the filter bubble which has been widely observed among consumers of partisan news. Whereas there is activity along both left- and right-leaning sites, right-leaning sites are more evolved, accounting for a disproportionate number of abandoned websites and partisan internal links. We also examine demographic characteristics of consumers of hyper-partisan news and find that some of the more populous demographic groups in the US tend to be consumers of more right-leaning sites.