They are amplified by social media algorithms that comfort their members in their bias and in which other voices are ignored, actively and systematically excluded and discredited.
- Members typically exhibit a systematic distrust of any external information sources, making escape from an echo chamber particularly challenging.
For example A group of citizens is convinced that Migrants are here to steal their jobs, and such groups will consume only news that corroborates such views.
- Another group strongly believes that migrants contribute strongly to the economy and help pay pensions in Europe.
- Such polarized views, even if confirmed or debunked by well-established evidence, are hard to break.
- Such polarization puts migrants in vulnerable situations that keep them in the margins of society and create a difficult path for integration.
Breaking free from an echo chamber often necessitates a profound rebooting of one's belief system.
It is then clear that Echo chambers impact the way European citizens and migrant communities interact among each other.
- Migrants are usually passive subjects of the widespread negative narrative about their presence in the territories, for that reason, echo chambers' structures impact the way they respond, by closing themselves also in echo chambers.
"Echo chambers and the dangers of perpetuating misinformation and disinformation related to migration" is part of the Road to Inclusive Narratives project, implemented by ALF, aimed at combating the spread of misinformation and disinformation across selected countries of the Euro-Mediterranean.
Ending Misinformation Before It Begins #StartsWithYou.