A5077795637- Social Media and Politics
- Complex Network Analysis Techniques
- China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance
- Computational and Text Analysis Methods
- Media Influence and Politics
- Middle East and Rwanda Conflicts
- Misinformation and Its Impacts
- Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection
- Information and Cyber Security
- Electoral Systems and Political Participation
- Cybersecurity and Cyber Warfare Studies
- E-Government and Public Services
- Media Studies and Communication
- Advanced Text Analysis Techniques
- Chemistry and Stereochemistry Studies
- Corruption and Economic Development
- Political Conflict and Governance
- Social Policy and Reform Studies
- Radiomics and Machine Learning in Medical Imaging
- Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics
- Chinese history and philosophy
- Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting
- Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies
- Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence
- Communication and COVID-19 Impact
Stanford University
2016-2025
Island Hospital
2025
University of Southern California
2020-2021
Stanford Medicine
2021
Palo Alto University
2019
Princeton University
2019
Harvard University Press
2010-2019
University of Haifa
2018
Carnegie Mellon University
2018
Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport
2018
We offer the first large scale, multiple source analysis of outcome what may be most extensive effort to selectively censor human expression ever implemented. To do this, we have devised a system locate, download, and analyze content millions social media posts originating from nearly 1,400 different services all over China before Chinese government is able find, evaluate, (i.e., remove Internet) subset they deem objectionable. Using modern computer-assisted text analytic methods that adapt...
The Chinese government has long been suspected of hiring as many 2 million people to surreptitiously insert huge numbers pseudonymous and other deceptive writings into the stream real social media posts, if they were genuine opinions ordinary people. Many academics, most journalists activists, claim that these so-called 50c party posts vociferously argue for government’s side in political policy debates. As we show, this is also true openly accused on being 50c. Yet almost no systematic...
A growing body of research suggests that authoritarian regimes are responsive to societal actors, but our understanding the sources responsiveness remains limited because challenges measurement and causal identification. By conducting an online field experiment among 2,103 Chinese counties, we examine factors affect officials' incentives respond citizens in context. At baseline, find approximately one‐third county governments citizen demands expressed online. Threats collective action...
Existing research on the extensive Chinese censorship organization uses observational methods with well-known limitations. We conducted first large-scale experimental study of by creating accounts numerous social media sites, randomly submitting different texts, and observing from a worldwide network computers which texts were censored not. also supplemented interviews confidential sources our own site, contracting firms to install same censoring technologies as existing and--with their...
The study of ideology in authoritarian regimes—of how public preferences are configured and constrained—has received relatively little scholarly attention. Using data from a large-scale online survey, we China. We find that weakly constrained, the configuration is multidimensional, but latent traits these dimensions highly correlated. Those who prefer rule more likely to support nationalism, state intervention economy, traditional social values; those democratic institutions values market...
Protest event analysis is an important method for the study of collective action and social movements typically draws on traditional media reports as data source. We introduce from (CASM)—a system that uses convolutional neural networks image recurrent with long short-term memory text in a two-stage classifier to identify posts about offline action. implement CASM Chinese more than 100,000 events 2010 2017 (CASM-China). evaluate performance through cross-validation, out-of-sample validation,...
We investigated the effects of Facebook’s and Instagram’s feed algorithms during 2020 US election. assigned a sample consenting users to reverse-chronologically-ordered feeds instead default algorithms. Moving out algorithmic substantially decreased time they spent on platforms their activity. The chronological also affected exposure content: amount political untrustworthy content saw increased both platforms, classified as uncivil or containing slur words Facebook, from moderate friends...
Does Facebook enable ideological segregation in political news consumption? We analyzed exposure to during the US 2020 election using aggregated data for 208 million users. compared inventory of all that users could have seen their feeds with information they saw (after algorithmic curation) and which engaged. show (i) is high increases as we shift from potential actual engagement; (ii) there an asymmetry between conservative liberal audiences, a substantial corner ecosystem consumed...
Digital experiences capture an increasingly large part of life, making them a preferred, if not required, method to describe and theorize about human behavior. media also shape behavior by enabling people switch between different content easily, create unique threads that pass quickly through numerous information categories. Current methods recording digital provide only partial reconstructions lives weave - often within seconds among multiple applications, locations, functions media. We...
Abstract Many critics raise concerns about the prevalence of ‘echo chambers’ on social media and their potential role in increasing political polarization. However, lack available data challenges conducting large-scale field experiments have made it difficult to assess scope problem 1,2 . Here we present from 2020 for entire population active adult Facebook users USA showing that content ‘like-minded’ sources constitutes majority what people see platform, although information news represent...
We studied the effects of exposure to reshared content on Facebook during 2020 US election by assigning a random set consenting, US-based users feeds that did not contain any reshares over 3-month period. find removing substantially decreases amount political news, including from untrustworthy sources, which are exposed; overall clicks and reactions; reduces partisan news clicks. Further, we observe produces clear in knowledge within sample, although there is some uncertainty about how this...
An increasing number of scholars have established that authoritarian regimes employ quasi-democratic institutions as part their efforts to retain power. However, we know little about the potential variation among providing citizens with opportunities for voice and conditions under which such are true channels responsiveness. In this article, develop test concept “receptivity,” is, whether autocrats willing incorporate citizen preferences into policy, using a list experiment 1,377...
Saudi Arabia has imprisoned and tortured activists, religious leaders, journalists for voicing dissent online. This reflects a growing worldwide trend in the use of physical repression to censor online speech. In this paper, we systematically examine consequences imprisoning well-known Saudis by analyzing over 300 million tweets as well detailed Google search data from 2010 2017 using automated text analysis crowd-sourced human evaluation content. We find that deterred continuing However, it...
Amidst growing concern over media manipulation, NLP attention has focused on overt strategies like censorship and "fake news". Here, we draw two concepts from political science literature to explore subtler for government manipulation: agenda-setting (selecting what topics cover) framing (deciding how are covered). We analyze 13 years (100K articles) of the Russian newspaper Izvestia identify a strategy distraction: articles mention U.S. more frequently in month directly following an...
A prerequisite for the durability of authoritarian regimes as well their effective governance is regime’s ability to gather reliable information about actions lower-tier officials. Allowing public participation in form online complaints one approach have taken improve monitoring In this paper, we gain rare access internal communications between a agency and upper-level officials China. We show that citizen grievances posted publicly contain corruption are systematically concealed from...
The proliferation of social media and digital technologies has made it necessary for governments to expand their focus beyond propaganda content in order disseminate effectively. We identify a strategy using clickbait increase the visibility political propaganda. show that such is used across China by combining ethnography with computational analysis novel dataset titles 197,303 posts 213 Chinese city-level on WeChat. find propagandists face intense pressures demonstrate effectiveness...
We study the effect of Facebook and Instagram access on political beliefs, attitudes, behavior by randomizing a subset 19,857 users 15,585 to deactivate their accounts for 6 wk before 2020 U.S. election. report four key findings. First, both deactivation reduced an index participation (driven mainly online). Second, had no significant knowledge, but secondary analyses suggest that it knowledge general news while possibly also decreasing belief in misinformation circulating online. Third, may...
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There is ongoing debate over whether authoritarian regimes can maintain control information given the rise of social media and Internet. In this debate, China often cited as a prime example how retain control, but to date, there has been limited research on China's online censorship strategies be replicated in other regimes. This article shows that ability censor rests dominance domestic firms market for Internet content. The absence U.S. allows Chinese government engage through content...
Abstract Research shows that government-controlled media is an effective tool for authoritarian regimes to shape public opinion. Does remain when it required support changes in positions autocrats take on issues? Existing theories do not provide a clear answer this question, but we often observe governments using government frame policies new ways significant policy are required. By conducting experiment exposes respondents media—in the form of TV news segments—on issues where regime...
As audiences have moved to digital media, so too governments around the world. While previous research has focused on how authoritarian regimes employ strategies such as use of fabricated accounts and content boost their reach, this paper reveals two different tactics Chinese government uses Douyin, version video-sharing platform TikTok, compete for audience attention. We a multi-modal approach that combines analysis video, text, meta-data examine novel dataset Douyin videos. find large...
When COVID-19 first emerged in China, there was speculation that the outbreak would trigger public anger and weaken Chinese regime. By analyzing millions of social media posts from Sina Weibo made between December 2019 February 2020, we describe contours public, online discussions pertaining to China. We find became widespread on January 20, consisting primarily personal reflections, opinions, updates, appeals. largest bursts discussion, which contain simultaneous spikes criticism support...