News under X

New producers of news, such as CerfiaFR, Mediavenir and AlertesInfo, known as ‘hybrid media’, appeared on the web in the 2020s. These accounts cover the news by publishing numerous ‘flashes’ daily on X, sometimes quoting professional media outlets or broadcasting videos found online. To cover the news in the most immediate and viral way possible, they disseminate approximate information and contribute to trivializing the news, confusing information and entertainment. Using an innovative method of automatic event detection, I was able to estimate the impact of these accounts in the circulation of information on X. I show that the role of ‘hybrid media’ in disseminating news on social media is comparable to that of other traditional media, such as BFM TV. The article thus highlights the risks that these ‘hybrid media’ pose to the public sphere and to the quality of the news circulated within it.