Echo Chambers, Disinformation and Smear Campaigns in Colombia: Evidence of their Structuration and Dynamics on Twitter during the 2019 Medellin Local Elections

This study contributes to understanding the online echo chamber phenomenon through a study of Twitter and smear campaigns against two candidates during the 2019 Medellin, Colombia, local elections. Applying a multi-method approach that combines social network analysis (sNA), content analysis, and computational methods, this study investigates, empirically, the emergence of two echo chambers on the Colombian twittersphere, and characterizes their structures, information flow dynamics, and the political ideology of their members. The Colombian context of ideological polarization, with a society divided around the peace accords, provides a favorable climate for the emergence of these two echo chambers, the circulation of disinformation, and the development of smear campaigns during the period of democratic elections.