Echo chambers e bolle epistemiche nell'era digitale, le prospettive della data science

The Internet has radically changed the way we select information, form our beliefs and approach concepts of truth. Potentially, the wide availability of content circulating online should provide the heterogeneous information base needed to form our knowledge, but epistemic bubbles restrict our exposure to a limited amount of information. Within these social epistemic structures, harmful media and misinformation circulate rapidly and individuals are exposed mainly to contents that align with their pre-existing beliefs, increasingly reinforcing them. In this paper, we analyze the impact of epistemic bubbles and echo chambers on information diffusion and individual knowledge formation, through the lens of data science. We show how two case studies, climate change deniers and anti-vaccination groups, find an ideal environment on the web to follow their narratives and radicalize their positions, driven by polarization and echo chambers.