#SendThemToRwanda
#SendThemToRwanda: The role of social media in driving political polarisation
Michael Urquhart
Michael specialises in partnering with civil society and public sector organisations who value a research-led approach to digital media consultancy. With topics spanning from information manipulation to trust in institutions, his research is driven by a deep understanding of how the media shapes citizen perceptions of the world around them.
RESEARCH PROBLEM
On 14 April 2022, the UK government announced a £120M migration deal with the government of Rwanda to resettle asylum seekers entering the UK without regulated documentation. 120 days after it was signed, the deal continues to be under fire as record numbers cross the Channel.
RESEARCH PLAN
Our latest report investigates the role that social media has played in driving political polarisation within the UK Rwanda deal conversation, using the trend #SendThemToRwanda to identify audiences involved in the debate and investigate their amplification of contrasted narratives.
Using advanced social listening, our Consultants isolated social media content and users engaging in the #SendThemToRwanda conversation, which included neutral, left and right-wing users. In addition to this, we utilised innovative audience analysis to map out different audience clusters and test our hypothesis that different audience segments tend to amplify media content related to their ideological affiliation.