Media
Radio/Podcasts/Video
X, formerly Twitter, to allow paid political advertising again NexStar Media Group (Local TV stations in major U.S. metro areas)
Meta’s Threads, which is basically a Twitter clone, minimizes news and politics NPR’s Morning Edition, hosted by Steve Inskeep & Bobby Allyn
Behold, The Algorithm (or, parts of it, sort of) Moderated Content, hosted by Alex Stamos & Evelyn Douek
What can we learn from a $9 million social media advertising experiment? Differential Turnout and Early Voting Moderated Content, hosted by Alex Stamos & Evelyn Douek
CITP: Bringing Transparency to Digital Political Campaigns Symposium Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP) and the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics (CSDP)
Should We Stop Paying Attention To Election Forecasts? NPR’s Science Friday, hosted by Ira Flatow & Elah Feder
Data Science across Academia, Industry, and Progressive Campaigns, with Dr. Solomon Messing. Social Media and Politics Podcast, hosted by Michael Bossetta
Technology in Political Campaigns and Activism 2020 CODE@MIT - Fireside Panel, hosted by Dean Eckles
Using Trumps Tactics Against Him with The Leaders of Barometer. The Great Battlefield Podcast, hosted by Nathaniel G. Pearlman
A Look Beyond Traditional Audiences + Models with Solomon Messing FWIW 2020 Debrief, hosted by ACRONYM
Op-Eds
The train has left the station: Agentic AI and the future of social science research. Brookings (with Joshua A. Tucker)
State media control impacts the output of U.S.-based LLMs. Good Authority
What color is Obama? These researchers examined reactions when his skin looks darker. Washington Post’s Monkey Cage
How election forecasts confuse Americans — and may lead them not to vote at all. Washington Post’s Monkey Cage
Election forecasts helped elect Trump in 2016. It could happen again in 2020. USA Today
Media Clips
Governments May Shape What AI Chatbots Say by Shaping the Data They Learn From. NYU News
State media control shapes LLM behaviour by influencing training data. Nature (News & Views)
The Impact of Government-Controlled Media on LLMs. Princeton School of Public and International Affairs
The ICE Shooter’s Face Was Everywhere Online Within Hours. There’s Just One Problem.. HuffPost
This Video Trend Is Everywhere On Social Media — And You Should Be Terrified. HuffPost
What did Twitter’s ‘open source’ algorithm actually reveal? Not a lot.. Engadget
From emergency alerts to Taylor Swift lyrics: Twitter risks alienating developers. NBC News
Twitter users say they haven’t paid for their blue checks but still have them. NPR News
More Academics Take Flight From Twitter as Restrictions, Alternatives Grow. Inside Higher Ed
Bluesky, championed by Jack Dorsey, was supposed to be Twitter 2.0. Can it succeed?. ABC News
Twitter curbs researcher access, sparking backlash in Washington. Washington Post
How a Digital Ad Strategy That Helped Trump Is Being Used Against Him. New York Times
Did Trump win in 2016 because people are bad at probability? Washington Post
Americans Don’t Understand Probabilities – and It Could Affect Election Turnout. New York Magazine
Study Finds Election Forecasts Lower Voter Turnout. Political Wire
Kobe Bryant’s ‘light-skinned’ remark hints at NBA’s peculiar racial politics. The Guardian
Study: 2008 McCain attack ads depicted Obama with darker skin tone. CBS News
Obama’s skin looks a little different in these GOP campaign ads. Washington Post
Study: Campaign Ads with Dark-Skinned Black People Appeal to White Racism. Atlanta Black Star
What can researchers find among the 32 million URLs Facebook just released to Social Science One? Poynter
Does Facebook drive political polarization? Data science and research. Harvard Shorenstein Center
Two-thirds of links on Twitter come from bots. The good news? They’re mostly bland. Vox
Most Links to Popular Sites on Twitter Come From Bots. Wired
Twitter bots are getting busy making sure your tweet goes viral. FastCompany
Bots on Twitter share two-thirds of links to popular websites. TechCrunch
Twitter bots are behind 66% of tweeted links for most popular sites. VentureBeat
Twitter bots rampant in news, porn and sports links. USA Today
Report: Bots Promote 66 Percent of Twittersphere Links. Observer
Think your articles are getting a lot of attention on Twitter? It could be a lot of posting by bots. NiemanLab
New study finds 66% of shared links on Twitter came from bots. Yahoo News
FiveThirtyEight Politics Podcast. FiveThirtyEight
Clinton’s Achilles’ heel in 2016 may have been overconfidence. Washington Post
Facebook reactions to posts by Democrats got a lot angrier after Trump was elected. Quartz
How politicians’ use of social media is reinforcing a partisan media divide. Washington Post
Lawmakers’ Facebook news feeds reflect political polarization. Politico
Republican lawmakers ‘go negative’ more often than Democrats, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis. Washington Post
Republicans Disagree With You, and They Disagree Indignantly. Mother Jones
Q&A with Solomon Messing of Pew Research Center’s Data Labs. Pew Research Center
Facebook Use Polarizing? Site Begs to Differ. New York Times
Does Facebook’s News Feed control your world view?. CBS News
Don’t (just) blame Facebook: We build our own bubbles. Ars Technica
It’s mainly your fault that you click on things you already agree with. Washington Post
It’s The Frequency, Not The Size: Compromise & Credit Claiming in Congress. Mischiefs of Faction (Vox)
When it comes to policy, moderate politicians keep their mouths shut. Stanford News