Curators of digital counterpublics: Mapping alternative news environments in Sweden and Denmark

Abstract

This article maps and compares digital alternative news environments in two Scandinavian countries: Sweden and Denmark. Drawing on an analysis of over 20,000 public social media accounts that have shared alternative news content on eight different social media platforms from January 2019 to March 2022, we document the importance of different types of curators, such as political actors, social media pundits, public discussion groups, and individual “hyper-tweeters”, in multiplying the reach of alternative news content on social media. The analysis reveals substantial differences in the digital curation of alternative news between the two countries, as well as between the curation of left-wing and right-wing alternative content. In the article, we discuss how different types of alternative news curation practices contribute to the formation of digital counterpublics.

Keywords

• alternative media
• digital news environments
• news curation
• counterpublics
• news sharing