Feeling misinformation: contours of information enthusiasm

Abstract

Previous research on the consumption of misinformation tends to understand emotions as reactions to content that reside within the individual. What is missing from this research, however, is a closer look at the infrastructures that mediate individuals’ encounters with content. Because of this gap, there has often been insufficient analysis of how today’s information environment, and in particular the materiality of digital information infrastructures, lead users to engage with content. Based on a relational understanding of emotions inspired by affect theory, this article proposes the concept of information enthusiasm to describe specific emotional connections between users and information infrastructures. Drawing from interviews with 28 users of German alternative news sites that disseminate misinformation, disinformation, and hyper-partisan news content, I illustratively analyze a couple of these emotional connections, and show how they in turn influence users’ engagement with content. Overall, this article extends the prevailing understanding of emotions and misinformation, arguing that emotions not only influence individual judgment, but can also bind users to alternative news infrastructures leading them to actively seek out, embrace, and endorse misinformation.