What happens on the fringes, stays on the fringes? Information flows in the contemporary media system

The increasingly fragmented but at the same time interwoven nature of the contemporary information landscape poses new challenges to existing theory and methodology in understanding the information flows that shape public debate. Online spaces where political talk occurs offer insights about public opinion and provide information that may influence news coverage. But what do we know about the influence of dark platforms from an agenda-setting perspective in the context of socially and politically relevant information in the contemporary media system? Do they truly assert a significant level of control over what we see and what we believe? How does the influence of dark platforms compare to the influence of more mainstream media agendas with respect to the public debate? Through three empirical chapters, this dissertation unravels the intricate role of dark platforms such as Telegram in the contemporary media system by using advanced computational methods. It not only sheds light on their multifaceted impact but also provides methodological and theoretical insights that can advance our understanding of information flows within the ever-evolving, multi-layered information ecosystem.