Did I just cause a shitstorm? 😅 Read my thoughts and reflections on this: medium.com/@ali.salloum...

Are all digital spaces where political discussion takes place destined to become hierarchical, politically divided, and develop echo chambers? At the social networks session Ali Salloum tackles this question using Bluesky as a case study. Very nice talk my friend!

#NetSci2025

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Our findings point to a broader shift:

Not just polarization within topics, but the rise of politically homogeneous platforms.

This work (arxiv.org/pdf/2506.03443) is in collaboration with
@letiziaian.bsky.social, @dorianquelle.bsky.social, @abovet.bsky.social, and @bolozna.bsky.social.

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The highest polarization scores (AEI):

Israel–Palestine: 0.95
Russia–Ukraine: 0.90
Elon Musk: 0.88
Trump: 0.74

Measured using LLM-inferred stances and interaction networks.

We also studied other topics, including DEI, LGBTQ+ rights, LA wildfires and AI.

Is Bluesky a bubble?

We collected all 1B+ posts since Dec'24.

13% of content is political.

We found high polarization, but also strong imbalance: on most topics, the opposing stance made up just 1–2% of users.

Strongest split: Gaza, Ukraine, Musk & Trump

Link: arxiv.org/abs/2506.03443

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