Algorithmic Visibility of Latin American Environmental Experts on X/Twitter
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35362/issn.1850-0013-1184Keywords:
algorithms, twitter, women experts, environmental governance, environmental communicationAbstract
Although X/Twitter is a key space for public communication on environmental issues, message circulation is shaped by algorithmic visibility regimes that can amplify or curb reach, especially where the environmental agenda is losing centrality and women fase disqualifications. This article examines the role of women environmental experts through their algorithmic visibility on X and identifies communicative features and mechanisms for constructing public expertise. Using digital methods, we compiled a corpus of posts by women, men, and expert organizations published on four commemorative dates related to environmental stewardship. We compare circulation metrics across groups to detect gendered differences in levels and patterns of attention and then conduct a focused analysis of women experts’ messages. Results indicate that women experts generally achieve higher visibility than male experts and organizations, reflected in significantly more interactions. This amplification is linked primarily to institutional positioning and to informational framings aligned with environmental governance, rather than to appeals centered on collective care for the planet. These findings nuance common assumptions about suppression of women’s voices online. We conclude that, in this case, alliances between women’s expertise and platform logics enhance public visibility, even though in other settings women have historically benefited less from algorithmic systems.
Downloads
References
Agarwal, Bina (2000). Conceptualising environmental collective action: Why gender matters. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 24(3), 283-310. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/cje/24.3.283.
Agius, Christine, Bergman Rosamond, Annika & Kinnvall, Catarina (2020). Populism, ontological insecurity and gendered nationalism: Masculinity, climate denial and Covid-19. Politics, Religion & Ideology, 21(4), 432-450. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21567689.2020.1851871.
Amnistía Internacional (2018). Why Twitter is a toxic place for women. Amnesty International. Recuperado de: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2018/03/online-violence-against-women-chapter-1-1/.
Apaolaza, Vanessa, Hartmann, Patrick, Rincón, Virginia & Paredes, Mario R. (2025). Climate action through a feminist lens: The role of gender inequality awareness, nature empathy, and climate change concern. Journal of Business Ethics. Advance online publication, 1-16. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-025-06171-x.
Api Dojo (s/f). Twitter Scraper Unlimited [software]. Apify. Recuperado de: https://console.apify.com/actors/nfp1fpt5gUlBwPcor/input.
Araujo Guimarães, Nadya (2024). Mirando hacia una sociedad del cuidado, pero viviendo bajo múltiples y desiguales formas de producir cuidados ¿hay luz al fin de ese túnel? En Karina Batthyány, Javier Pineda Duque & Valentina Perrotta (Coords.), La sociedad del cuidado y políticas de la vida. Buenos Aires, México & Ginebra: CLACSO, INMUJERES, UNAM & UNISRID.
Bender, Emily M., Gebru, Timnit, McMillan-Major, Angelina & Shmitchell, Shmargaret (2021). On the dangers of stochastic parrots: Can language models be too big? En Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency, 610-623. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3442188.3445922.
Brandwatch (2025). The essential guide to the X algorithm: Understanding its impact. Brandwatch. Recuperado de: https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/x-algorithm.
Brint, Steven (1994). In an age of experts: The changing roles of professionals in politics and public life. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Bruns, Axel (2008). The future is user-led: The path towards widespread produsage. Fibreculture Journal, (11), 1-11. Recuperado de: https://eprints.qut.edu.au/12902/1/12902.pdf.
Bruns, Axel & Burgess, Jean (2015). Twitter hashtags from ad hoc to calculated publics. En Natan Rambukana (Ed.): Hashtag Publics: The Power and Politics of Discursive Networks, 13-29. Nueva York: Peter Lang.
Bucher, Taina (2018). If... Then: Algorithmic power and politics. Nueva York: Oxford University Press.
Bush, Sarah Sunn & Clayton, Amanda (2023). Facing change: Gender and climate change attitudes worldwide. American Political Science Review, 117(2), 591–608. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055422000752.
D’Ignazio, Catherine & Klein, Lauren F. (2020). Data Feminism. Massachusetts: MIT Press.
Dunlap, Riley E. & Jacques, Peter J. (2013). Climate change denial books and conservative think tanks: Exploring the connection. American Behavioral Scientist, 57(6), 699-731. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764213477096.
Eizmendi-Iraola, Maider & Peña-Fernández, Simón (2023). La visibilidad de las mujeres científicas en la comunicación externa de las universidades a través de las redes sociales. Doxa Comunicación. Revista Interdisciplinar de Estudios de Comunicación y Ciencias Sociales, julio 1, 245-261. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31921/doxacom.n37a1861.
Epstein, Steven Gary (1993). Impure science: AIDS, activism, and the politics of knowledge. Berkeley, Los Angeles & Londres: University of California Press.
Eyal, Gil (2013). For a sociology of expertise: The social origins of the autism epidemic. American Journal of Sociology, 118(4), 863–907. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/668448.
Fiorino, Daniel (2026). The Trump administration and climate policy: The effects of right-wing populism – ECPS. En Marianne Riddervold, Guri Rosén & Jessica R. Greenberg (Eds.), Populism and the Future of Transatlantic Relations: Challenges and Policy Options. European Center for Populism Studies (ECPS). DOI: https://doi.org/10.55271/rp00132.
Fosch-Villaronga, Eduard, Mut-Piña, Antoni, Verhoef, Tessa, Poulsen, Adam, Søraa, Roger A. & Custers, Bart (2026). Misgendering algorithms: Insights from a cross-sectional survey on algorithmic gender classification in social media. Technology in Society, 84, 1-15. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2025.103110.
Fricker, Miranda (2007). Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gargallo, Francesca (2014). Feminismos desde Abya Yala: Ideas y proposiciones de las mujeres de 607 pueblos en nuestra América. México: Corte y Confección.
Galeazzi, Alessandro, Paudel, Pujan, Conti, Mauro, De Cristofaro, Emiliano & Stringhini, Gianluca (2025). Revealing The Secret Power: How Algorithms Can Influence Content Visibility on Twitter/X. arXiv:2410.17390. Preprint, arXiv, septiembre 8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2410.17390.
Haraway, Donna (1988). Situated knowledges: The science question in feminism and the privilege of partial perspective. Feminist Studies, 14(3), 575-599. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3178066.
Hargrove, Andrew & Sommer, Jamie M. (2022). Gender-mainstreaming, governance, and the environment: An analysis of forest loss. Environmental Sociology, 8(4), 484-497. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/23251042.2022.2065428.
Hayes, Myaisha (2025). Propaganda and power in Trump’s second term. MediaJustice. Recuperado de: https://mediajustice.org/news/propaganda-and-power-in-trumps-second-term/.
Herreros-Cantis, Pablo, Khromova, Svetlana, Olazabal, Marta, McPhearson, Timon, Langemeyer, Johannes & Neumann, Marc B. (2025). Knowledge diversity for climate change adaptation: A social-ecological-technological systems (SETS) approach to mental models. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 124, 1-19. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2025.105550.
International Institute of SDGs and Public Policy Research (2025). Gendering the green agenda: The role of women in environmental governance at local and global levels. IISPPR (Blog), 25 de mayo. Recuperado de: https://iisppr.org.in/gendering-the-green-agenda-the-role-of-women-in-environmental-governance-at-local-and-global-levels/.
Marres, Noortje (2012). Material Participation: Technology, the Environment and Everyday Publics. Nueva York: Palgrave-McMillan.
Marres, Noortje (2017). Digital Sociology: The Reinvention of Social Research. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
Mede, Niels G. & Schroeder, Ralph (2024). The ‘Greta effect’ on social media: A systematic review of research on Thunberg’s impact on digital climate change communication. Environmental Communication, 18(6), 801-818. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2024.2314028.
Meinzen-Dick, Ruth, Kovarik, Chiara & Quisumbing, Agnes R. (2014). Gender and sustainability. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 39, 29-55. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-101813-013240.
Naciones Unidas (s/f). Why women are key to climate action. United Nations. Recuperado de: https://www.un.org/climatechange/science/climate-issues/women.
Nieborg, David B. & Poell, Thomas (2018). The platformization of cultural production: Theorizing the contingent cultural commodity. New Media & Society, 20(11), 4275-4292. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818769694.
Nightingale, Andrea (2006). The nature of gender: Work, gender, and environment. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 24(2), 165-185. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1068/d01k.
Ooms, Jeroem (2023). _magick: Advanced Graphics and Image-Processing in R_. R package version 2.8.2. Recuperado de: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=magick.
Pasquale, Frank (2016). The black box society: The secret algorithms that control money and information. Cambridge & Londres: Harvard University Press.
Pedace, Karina, Schleider, Tobías & Balmaceda, Tomás (2023). Inteligencia artificial y sesgos. Revista Iberoamericana de Ciencia, Tecnología y Sociedad, 18(53), 9-26. DOI: https://doi.org/10.52712/issn.1850-0013-359.
Petre, Caitlin, Duffy, Brooke Erin & Hund, Emily (2019). ‘Gaming the system’: Platform paternalism and the politics of algorithmic visibility. Social Media + Society, 5(4), 1-12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305119879995.
Pink, Sarah, Horst, Heather A., Postill, John, Hjorth, Larissa, Lewis, Tania & Tacchi, Jo. (2016). Digital ethnography: Principles and practice. Los Angeles: SAGE.
Pla-Julián, Isabel & Guevara, Sandra (2020). Mainstreaming gender and sustainability jointly: A case study from a local government in Spain. Local Environment, 25(3), 258-271. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2020.1732314.
Poleacovschi, Cristina & Javernick-Will, Amy (2016). Who Are the Experts? Assessing Expertise in Construction and Engineering Organizations. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 143(8). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001325.
Posetti, Julie, Hellmueller, Lea, Williams, Kaylee, Renaud, Pauline, Aboulez, Nermine & Shabbir, Nabeelah (2025). Tipping point: The chilling escalation of online violence against women in the public sphere. ONU Mujeres. Recuperado de: https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2025/12/tipping-point-the-chilling-escalation-of-violence-against-women-in-the-public-sphere-in-the-age-of-ai.
Posit Team (2024). RStudio: Integrated Development Environment for R. Posit Software, PBC.
R Core Team (2024). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing.
Rogers, Richard (2019). Doing Digital Methods. Londres: SAGE.
Sarfatti-Larson, Magali (1977). The rise of professionalism: A sociological analysis. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Segato, Rita Laura (2016). La guerra contra las mujeres. Madrid: Traficantes de Sueños.
Shrestha, Sunny & Das, Sanchari (2022). Exploring gender biases in ML and AI academic research through systematic literature review. Frontiers Artificial Intelligence, 5, 1–17. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/frai.2022.976838.
Spagert, Lina & Wolf, Elke (2025) Doing Visibility: Understanding Gender and Discipline Differences in Science Communication on Social Media and in the Press. Social Sciences, 14(3), 138. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14030138.
Sued, Gabriela Elisa (2022). Culturas algorítmicas: Conceptos y métodos para su estudio social. Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales, 67(246), 43-73. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22201/fcpys.2448492xe.2022.246.78422.
Sued, Gabriela Elisa, Castillo-González, María Concepción & Pedraza, Claudia et al. (2022). Vernacular visibility and algorithmic resistance in the public expression of Latin American feminism. Media International Australia, 183(1), 60-76. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X211067571.
Sued, Gabriela Elisa & Hernández Garza, Carolina (2023). #justiciaparatodas en América Latina: Visibilidad algorítmica de las demandas feministas de justicia en Twitter. Comunicación y Sociedad, 20, 1–22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32870/cys.v2023.8477.
Svampa, Maristella (2017). Del cambio de época al fin de ciclo. Gobiernos progresistas, extractivismo y movimientos sociales. Buenos Aires: Edhasa.
Ulloa, Astrid (2016). Feminismos territoriales en América Latina: Defensas de la vida frente a los extractivismos. Nómadas (Col), 45, 123-139.
Väliverronen, Esa, Laaksonen, Salla-Maaria, Jauho Mikko & Jallinoja, Piia (2020) Liberalists and data-solutionists: redefining expertise in Twitter debates on coronavirus in Finland. Journal of Science Communication, 19(5), A10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22323/2.19050210.
Velkova, Julia & Kaun, Anne (2021). Algorithmic resistance: Media practices and the politics of repair. Information, Communication & Society, 24(4), 523-540. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1657162.
Wickham, Hadley (2016). ggplot2: Elegant Graphics for Data Analysis. Nueva York: Springer-Verlag.
Wickham, Hadley, Averick, Mara, Bryan, Jennifer, Chang, Winston, McGowan, Lucy, François, Romain, Grolemund, Garrett, Hayes, Alex, Henry, Lionel, Hester, Jim, Kuhn, Max, Pedersen, Thomas, Miller, Evan, Bache, Stephan, Müller, Kirill, Ooms, Jeroem, Robinson, David, Seidel, Dana, Spinu, Vitalie, Takahashi, Koshke, Vaughan, Davis, Wilke, Claus, Woo, Kara & Yutani, Hiroaki (2019). Welcome to the tidyverse. Journal of Open Source Software, 4(43), 1686. DOI: http://www.doi.org/10.21105/joss.01686.
Wickham, Hadley, François, Romain, Henry, Lionel, Müller, Kirill & Vaughan, Davis (2023). _dplyr: A Grammar of Data Manipulation_. R package version 1.1.3. Recuperado de: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=dplyr.
Wickham, Hadley, Pedersen, Thomas & Seidel, Dana (2025). _scales: Scale Functions for Visualization_. R package version 1.4.0. Recuperado de: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=scales.
Wickham, Hadley, Vaughan, Davis & Girlich, Maximilian (2026). tidyr: Tidy Messy Data. R package version 1.3.2. Recuperado de: https://tidyr.tidyverse.org.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 CC Attribution 4.0
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
All CTS's issues and academic articles are under a CC-BY license.
Since 2007, CTS has provided open and free access to all its contents, including the complete archive of its quarterly edition and the different products presented in its electronic platform. This decision is based on the belief that offering free access to published materials helps to build a greater and better exchange of knowledge.
In turn, for the quarterly edition, CTS allows institutional and thematic repositories, as well as personal web pages, to self-archive articles in their post-print or editorial version, immediately after the publication of the final version of each issue and under the condition that a link to the original source will be incorporated into the self-archive.
