The Brexit battle on Facebook: assessing echo chambers and polarisation

Does online campaigning foster 'echo chambers' and exacerbate the polarisation of society? On Facebook, Leave and Remain supporters behaved very differently. Pro-Remain users commented mainly on like-minded Facebook pages. By avoiding confrontation with their political opponents, Remainers showed behaviour characteristic of an 'echo chamber'. In contrast, Leavers spread their messages on pages spanning the ideological spectrum, and they sought to incite confrontation by frequently posting on the walls of their ideological adversaries. Michael Bossetta (University of Copenhagen), Anamaria Dutceac Segesten (Lund University) and Hans-Jörg Trenz (University of Copenhagen) chart citizens’ media and campaign cross-posting behaviour to examine patterns of political participation on Facebook.