“Vital testimonio confirmó…”: Polarización de fuentes y redes en el Caso Catrillanca en Twitter

Abstract

The murder in 2018 of Camilio Catrillanca, a member of a Mapuche tribe located in the South of Chile, garnered notorious relevancy because of the event itself but also due to the failed attempt by Chilean police to manipulate evidence that pointed to police violence and abuse. This study explores networked behavior surrounding Catrillanca’s death once the police coverup became public, seeking to identify echo chambers and filter bubbles within politically radicalized user clusters. Through social network analysis (SNA), social media analytics, and content analysis, the study concludes that networks on the right of the political spectrum are homophilic and refer to less diverse sources of information, pointing to network behavior resembling echo chambers and filter bubbles. The final portion of this study provides further discussion of its results in context, limitations, and future research pathways.