Related papers: Censorship in Democracy
Online social networks (OSNs) play a crucial role in today's world. On the one hand, they allow free speech, information sharing, and social-movements organization, to cite a few. On the other hand, they are the tool of choice to spread…
The use of language is innately political and often a vehicle of cultural identity as well as the basis for nation building. Here, we examine language choice and tweeting activity of Ukrainian citizens based on more than 4 million…
During Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Telegram became an essential social media platform for Kremlin-sponsored propaganda dissemination. Over time, Anti-Kremlin Russian opposition channels have also emerged as a prominent…
Social media, once hailed as a vehicle for democratization and the promotion of positive social change across the globe, are under attack for becoming a tool of political manipulation and spread of disinformation. A case in point is the…
Empirical studies of online disinformation emphasize matters of public concern such as the COVID-19 pandemic, foreign election interference, and the Russo-Ukraine war, largely in studies that treat the topics separately. Comparatively fewer…
Radicalized beliefs, such as those tied to QAnon, Russiagate, and other political conspiracy theories, can lead some individuals and groups to engage in violent behavior, as evidenced in recent months. Understanding the mechanisms by which…
The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 dramatically reshaped the European security landscape. In Finland, public opinion on NATO had long been polarized along the left-right partisan axis, but the invasion led to a rapid convergence of the…
The recent past has highlighted the influential role of social networks and online media in shaping public debate on current affairs and political issues. This paper is focused on studying the role of politically-motivated actors and their…
Governments use propaganda, including through visual content -- or Politically Salient Image Patterns (PSIP) -- on social media, to influence and manipulate public opinion. In the present work, we collected Telegram post-history of from 989…
This study quantifies influence between media outlets by applying a novel methodology that uses causal effect estimation on networks and transformer language models. We demonstrate the obscured influence of state-controlled outlets over…
Polarization, declining trust, and wavering support for democratic norms are pressing threats to U.S. democracy. Exposure to verified and quality news may lower individual susceptibility to these threats and make citizens more resilient to…
The advent of social media changed the way we consume content favoring a disintermediated access and production. This scenario has been matter of critical discussion about its impact on society. Magnified in the case of Arab Spring or…
On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, also known now as Russo-Ukrainian War. We have initiated an ongoing dataset acquisition from Twitter API. Until the day this paper was written the dataset has reached the amount of 57.3 million…
Aggression against Ukraine has drawn widespread international attention, particularly in the wake of the two Russian invasions into Ukrainian territory in 2014 and 2022. Although previous studies have examined social-media dynamics around…
Information-based attacks on social media, such as disinformation campaigns and propaganda, are emerging cybersecurity threats. The security community has focused on countering these threats on social media platforms like X and Reddit.…
This study examines elite-driven political communication on Telegram during the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war, the first large-scale European war in the social media era. Using a unique dataset of Telegram public posts from Ukrainian and…
Online Social Networks (OSNs) play a significant role in information sharing during a crisis. The data collected during such a crisis can reflect the large scale public opinions and sentiment. In addition, OSN data can also be used to study…
Many governments impose traditional censorship methods on social media platforms. Instead of removing it completely, many social media companies, including Twitter, only withhold the content from the requesting country. This makes such…
In this paper, we are interested in understanding the interrelationships between mainstream and social media in forming public opinion during mass crises, specifically in regards to how events are framed in the mainstream news and on social…
In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This event had global repercussions, especially on the political decisions of European countries. As expected, the role of Italy in the conflict became a major campaign…