Frozen discourse: how screenshots hinder depolarization on social media

Social media is thought to play a pivotal role in increasing animosity between opposing partisans, i.e., affective polarization. This study focuses on one context that is assumed to reduce polarization – an acute external threat – and demonstrates that even under such conditions, social media platforms perpetuate affective polarization. Furthermore, the research findings suggest a digital feature that might contribute to this process: screenshots. By conducting a case study and thematically analyzing 1,670 tweets discussing ‘inner unity’ posted in Israel during an escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the study shows that screen-captured images can be a barrier to the dynamic process required for depolarization, as they ‘freeze’ online discussions. Additionally, it reveals two content-related discoursal mechanisms involved in preserving polarization between rightist and leftist Jewish Israelis: recalling the ‘unified’ past and distorting the meaning of unity. I discuss the theoretical implications of the findings for the study of the relationship between online political discourse and (de)polarization.

社交媒体被认为在加剧对立党派间的敌意（即情感极化）方面发挥关键作用。本研究聚焦于一个被认为可缓解极化的场景——严重的外部威胁，并证实即便在这类情境下，社交媒体平台仍会持续强化情感极化。此外，研究结果还指出了可能推动这一进程的一项数字功能：屏幕截图。本研究通过案例研究与主题分析法，对巴以冲突升级期间以色列境内发布的1670条讨论"内部团结"的推文进行分析，结果表明，屏幕截图会阻碍去极化所需的动态对话进程，因其会"冻结"线上讨论。此外，研究还揭示了维系犹太以色列右翼与左翼群体间极化状态的两项与内容相关的话语机制：追忆"团结一致"的过往，以及扭曲"团结"的语义内涵。本文探讨了本研究发现对于在线政治话语与（去）极化关系研究的理论意义。