| |
| author |
Morgan Alley
| | title |
The Role of Social Media in the January 6th Insurrection
| | abstract |
On January 6th, 2021, thousands of supporters of former President Donald Trump infiltrated the
Capitol Building in hopes of stopping the certification of an election that they believed to have
been stolen via voter fraud. This paper analyzes the role of social media in the insurrection via a
comprehensive timeline of the planning, execution, and aftermath of the attack as it was
represented in online discourse and journalistic reporting. Through this quantitative research, this
paper aimed to identify the warning signs present on social media prior to the insurrection and
hypothesize on how an event like this may be prevented in the future. The research is
inconclusive due to the ongoing societal and legal discourse that occured at the time of its
authorship, but provides valuable insight regarding the need for content moderation in online
communities. Further research may be conducted through the critical lens presented and
defended in this paper as the battle for and against social media censorship continues.
| | school |
The College of Liberal Arts, Drew University
| | degree |
B.A. (2022)
|
| advisor |
Jeremy Blatter
|
| full text | MAlley.pdf |
| |
