Mobile Internet and Political Polarization

SSRN Electronic Journal, Journal Year: 2021, Volume and Issue: unknown

Published: Jan. 1, 2021

How has mobile internet affected political polarization in the United States? Using Gallup Daily Poll data covering 1,765,114 individuals 31,499 ZIP codes between 2008 and 2017, I perform a difference-in-differences analysis an instrumental-variable design to show that, after gaining access 3G internet, Democratic voters became more liberal their views increased support for congressional candidates policy priorities, while Republican shifted opposite direction. This increase largely did not take place among social media users. Instead, following arrival of 3G, experienced users from both parties pro-Democratic, whereas less-experienced pro- Republican. divergence is partly driven by differences news consumption two groups: decreased Fox News, CNN, knowledge. Polarization also due realignment voters: wealthy, well-educated people liberal; poor, uneducated people—more conservative.

Language: Английский

---

Quantifying the Impact of Misinformation and Vaccine-Skeptical Content on Facebook

Published: Sept. 9, 2023

Low uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine in US has been widely attributed to social media misinformation. To evaluate this claim, we introduce a framework combining lab experiments (total N=18,725), crowdsourcing, and machine learning estimate causal effect 13,206 vaccine-related URLs on vaccination intentions Facebook users (N≈233 million). We impact misinformation flagged by fact-checkers was 46X less than that unflagged content nonetheless encouraged skepticism. Although reduced significantly more when viewed, content’s exposure limited. In contrast, stories highlighting rare deaths following were among Facebook’s most-viewed stories. Our work emphasizes need scrutinize factually accurate but potentially misleading addition outright falsehoods.

Language: Английский

---

Curtailing False News, Amplifying Truth

SSRN Electronic Journal, Journal Year: 2023, Volume and Issue: unknown

Published: Jan. 1, 2023

We develop a comprehensive framework to assess policy measures aimed at curbing false news dissemination on social media. A randomized experiment Twitter during the 2022 U.S. mid-term elections evaluates such policies as priming awareness of misinformation, fact-checking, confirmation clicks, and prompting careful consideration content. Priming is most effective in reducing sharing while increasing true model decisions, motivated by persuasion, partisan signaling, reputation concerns, predicts that affect through three channels: (i) changing perceived veracity partisanship content, (ii) raising salience reputation, (iii) frictions. Structural estimation shows all impact via cost friction. Affecting plays negligible role mechanism policies, including fact-checking. The intervention performs best enhancing with minimal added

Language: Английский

---

Metaverse maelstrom: Dissecting information dynamics and polarisation

Journal of Information Science, Journal Year: 2025, Volume and Issue: unknown

Published: Jan. 3, 2025

The Metaverse represents a collaborative virtual realm blending physical and digital realities, fostering limitless avenues for online interaction, discovery innovation. As technological strides propel immersive worlds to the forefront of social media platforms, scholarly interest in surges, prompting extensive discourse. Drawing from identity theory, this article introduces novel framework analysing polarisation within discussions on Metaverse, specifically X (Twitter). Leveraging multifaceted approach that integrates clustering, network analysis, text mining, our study delves into both group opinion dynamics surrounding Metaverse. Our findings uncover distinct community divisions structures, shedding light prevalent themes, such as ‘Non-Fungible Token (NFTs)’, ‘Virtual Products Collections’, ‘Blockchain Technology’, ‘Gaming’, ‘Financial Markets’ resonate public

Language: Английский

---

How in-person conversations shape political polarization: Quasi-experimental evidence from a nationwide initiative

Journal of Public Economics, Journal Year: 2025, Volume and Issue: 242, P. 105309 - 105309

Published: Jan. 24, 2025

Language: Английский

---