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The social lives of COVID-19 data: following disease surveillance from institutions of power into everyday pandemic society

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Information, Communication & Society @icsjournal.bsky.social · 13d

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This article examines the social lives of COVID-19 data, illustrating how statistics on infections and deaths have become tools of governance, sources of anxiety, and everyday reference points.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

In the early stages of COVID-19, investments in digital infrastructures supported the rapid circulation of disease surveillance data throughout pandemic society. Scholarship on the social lives of ...

The welfare state vs influencers: the regulatory attitude towards social media in Denmark and its implications for influencers

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Information, Communication & Society @icsjournal.bsky.social · 13d

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This article reveals how Danish regulators frame influencers within the context of welfare traditions. The result is a mix of protection and constraint, with implications for digital labour and media policy.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

In this article we investigate the Danish government’s regulatory attitude towards social media influencers and how this has impacted the current debate on the regulation of influencers in Denmark....

Who is concerned about online false news and why? Evidence from 46 countries between 2018 and 2023

Information, Communication & Society @icsjournal.bsky.social · 13d

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Across 46 countries, concerns about false news look very different. This article maps the global patterns, linking them to trust, politics, and media environments.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

People are concerned about false news online and media coverage of the problem is on the rise. Yet little is known about how these concerns have changed over time, and how they vary across countrie...

Problematic social media use and mental health among disabled emerging adults

Information, Communication & Society @icsjournal.bsky.social · 13d

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Based on survey research with disabled emerging adults, this article explores the links between social media practices and mental health. It highlights the importance of studying digital life in contexts of disability.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Very little research has been conducted with disabled emerging adults regarding whether they experience problematic social media use and negative consequences of such use. An online survey of U.S. ...

Being aware of algorithmic personalization? Insights from three European Countries

Information, Communication & Society @icsjournal.bsky.social · 13d

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This article reports on surveys in Germany, Norway and the UK to study awareness of algorithmic personalisation. The findings highlight differences in how people notice and interpret platform curation.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

News recommender systems offer significant benefits for news media organizations by enabling the algorithmic selection and personalization of content based on individual user preferences. However, ...

Online misogyny against female candidates in the 2022 Brazilian elections: a threat to women's political representation?

Information, Communication & Society @icsjournal.bsky.social · 19d

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Drawing on a qualitative analysis of digital platforms during the 2022 Brazilian elections, this article uncovers how online misogyny targeted women candidates, highlighting the dangers such abuse poses to democratic participation.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Technology-facilitated gender-based violence has become a global threat to women’s political representation and democracy. Understanding how online hate affects its targets is thus paramount. We an...

Value orientations and social cohesion in organizational discourses: a civil-society perspective

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Information, Communication & Society @icsjournal.bsky.social · 19d

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What does “social cohesion” mean in practice? This article examines civil-society debates, revealing how organisations use value talk (trust, participation, solidarity) to promote different visions of collective life.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Against the backdrop of political polarization and societal fragmentation, liberal democracy, more than ever, rests on social cohesion. Civil-society organizations (CSOs) are pivotal in fostering t...

‘Hook’-shaped polarization: how conservative super-commenters shape conspiracy beliefs and news engagement across the political spectrum

Information, Communication & Society @icsjournal.bsky.social · 19d

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Analysing patterns of online commenting, this article shows how a small group of conservative “super-commenters” fuels conspiracy beliefs and drives a hook-shaped curve of polarisation across the political spectrum.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Conservative news comment sections are raising concerns about polarization. These sections have become hotbeds for participatory propaganda, as some conservative media outlets employ this strategy ...

Protest movements against COVID-19 containment measures, like Germany’s Querdenken, aim to put their position on the political agenda. The German far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) acted...

Information, Communication & Society @icsjournal.bsky.social · 19d

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When protest organisers on Telegram and politicians on Twitter sound alike, boundaries blur. This piece tracks populist frames across platforms, revealing language overlaps linking alternative media and mainstream politics.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Free Trade, Fraught Tech: the impact of pilot free trade zone establishment on digital inequality within cities – evidence from China

Information, Communication & Society @icsjournal.bsky.social · 19d

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This article explores how China’s pilot free trade zones are increasing digital inequality in cities, favouring those with better digital skills and resources.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

In response to institutional innovation and economic transformation, a regional development model that combines policy pilots with the digital economy is emerging, bringing renewed attention to the...

Media use, cultural orientations and support for radical right-wing parties: comparing nine European countries

Information, Communication & Society @icsjournal.bsky.social · 19d

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This article analyses data from nine European countries to explore how media use and cultural orientations influence support for radical right-wing parties. Findings reveal patterns linking news habits, identity orientations, and politics.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

In the past decades, radical right-wing parties have gained increasing prominence in European politics, often promoting xenophobia, intolerance towards minority groups, anti-elitism, and anti-democ...

Tourists in the ‘metaverse’: disability identities in virtual reality gaming

Information, Communication & Society @icsjournal.bsky.social · 19d

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This article explores disability identities in VR gaming in China. Interviews with 22 players with mobility impairments reveal how digital gaming fosters inclusion, challenges stereotypes, and prompts reflection on everyday exclusion.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Situated in the context of China, this study investigates how VR gaming reshapes the identities of individuals with mobility disabilities through immersive technologies. The findings reveal that VR...

Generative AI, generating crisis: framing opportunity and threat in AI governance

Information, Communication & Society @icsjournal.bsky.social · 19d

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This article examines how generative AI reshapes crisis communication. Analysing case studies, it shows AI can amplify anxiety through misinformation, but also foster resilience when used for trusted messaging and support.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The public release of high-profile generative AI models in late 2022 and early 2023 spurred widespread concerns over ‘existential threats’ to humanity from AI. This paper explores how this AI ‘cris...

Meaningful informed consent? How participants experience and understand data donation

Information, Communication & Society @icsjournal.bsky.social · Sep 1

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This article shows the limits of informed consent in data donation. Participants valued seeing their own data, yet often misunderstood the process, overlooking ways to control or delete information.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Data donation makes it possible to invite participants to request and share their data from digital platforms for research purposes. While it is a user-centric approach to digital trace data collec...

Navigating community-transaction and egalitarian-hierarchy divides: redefining virtual communities in the darknet drug trade and beyond

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Information, Communication & Society @icsjournal.bsky.social · Sep 1

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Drawing on ethnography and 16,000 posts from a Polish drugs market forum, this article shows how spaces built for transactions also develop communal ties. Egalitarian ideals often coexist with hierarchies, complicating the concept of a virtual community.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

The darknet drug trade presents a complex interplay between transactional and communal dynamics. This study nuances these dual dimensions by employing a long-term digital ethnography and content an...

A computational analysis of the platformization of music: comparing hit songs on TikTok and Spotify

Information, Communication & Society @icsjournal.bsky.social · Sep 1

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This article compares TikTok and Spotify hit charts, showing how platformisation works differently. Spotify favours major labels, while TikTok sustains fewer but longer-lasting songs, with little crossover between the two.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The (re)creation and distribution of cultural products such as music are increasingly shaped by digital platforms. This study explores how TikTok and Spotify, situated in different governance and u...

Are anxiously attached dating app users less successful and feeling worse after use? The moderating role of perceived anonymity affordance

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Information, Communication & Society @icsjournal.bsky.social · Sep 1

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Surveying 381 Chinese dating app users, Hu & Thomas show that anxious attachment is linked to feeling less successful and worse after use. Yet strong anonymity affordances soften these effects, suggesting design features matter for user well-being.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Previous research has demonstrated that anxiously attached individuals have frustrating dating experiences in face-to-face communication. However, little research has tested the association between...

From personalized news curation to shared issue concerns in fragmentation era: a dynamic network approach by levels of issue involvement

Information, Communication & Society @icsjournal.bsky.social · Sep 1

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In this article, Choi employs stochastic actor-oriented modelling of survey and log data from a presidential election to demonstrate how personalised news curation influences political involvement.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

As the phrase ‘no issue, no public’ signifies, attention to shared issues brings strangers together. The erosion of shared issue awareness threatens social consensus-building and democratic decisio...

Human–technology entanglement in digital-human themed talent shows programmes: multi-interactivity of biopower in Alter Ego

Information, Communication & Society @icsjournal.bsky.social · Sep 1

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Zhao, Wu & Zhang analyse Alter Ego, the first avatar-based singing competition, to show how digital-humans reshape talent shows. Through multimodal discourse analysis, they trace empowerment, divergence and disempowerment in contestants’ performances.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

This study explores the integration of digital-humans in the talent show Alter Ego and its ramifications. It aims to examine how, and to what extent, biopower is exercised by performers and manifes...

Building a virtual community: online Mexican vendors, live-streaming, culture and emotions

Information, Communication & Society @icsjournal.bsky.social · Sep 1

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Flores-Yeffal follows two Mexican vendors over 2.5 years to show how live-streaming on Facebook and TikTok builds more than sales. Through stories, emotions and cultural exchange, broadcasters and audiences co-create strong virtual communities.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

In this article, I investigated the relationship between live-streaming on social media, culture, and emotions. To explore this relationship, I performed a longitudinal study for two and a half yea...

The interplay between loyalty and legitimacy in blockchain-based metaverses: the case of Decentraland

Information, Communication & Society @icsjournal.bsky.social · Sep 1

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Using Decentraland, Mannan, De Filippi, and Merk show how legitimacy and loyalty feed each other. High-stakes users practise self-legitimation to protect value, while others turn to exit or voice.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

This article explores the role of legitimacy in fostering user loyalty in open-source blockchain-based metaverses which offer an innovative alternative to the exit-and-loss logic of large centraliz...

Beyond the individual level: a social-ecological perspective to understanding technology maintenance barriers and strategies among low-income U.S. adults

Information, Communication & Society @icsjournal.bsky.social · Sep 1

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Drawing on 34 interviews with low-income Latina/o/x adults in the U.S., this article shows how struggles with digital access are shaped not only by individual resources but also by household, community and institutional factors.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Scholarship examining the difficulties of maintaining stable access to digital technology typically emphasizes individual-level phenomena. In response, we apply a social-ecological lens to the tech...

Governance of discriminatory content in conversational AIs: a cross-platform and cross-cultural analysis

Information, Communication & Society @icsjournal.bsky.social · Sep 1

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How do conversational AIs deal with discriminatory content? Ta, Zeng & Li compare six leading systems across languages and platforms, showing sharp differences in refusal rates and strategies, from moral lecturing to cultural alignment.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

As the widespread adoption of conversational artificial intelligence (AI) systems has raised concerns about social bias, especially towards vulnerable groups, this study explores how these systems ...

Why does digital literacy matter? a longitudinal investigation of its temporal impact on children’s developmental outcomes

Information, Communication & Society @icsjournal.bsky.social · Sep 1

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Li, Ding & Wang follow 759 children in Jilin, China, over two waves to test how digital literacy shapes well-being and online behaviour. Results show literacy reduces exclusion and supports mental health, especially in urban contexts.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Limited research has explored the mechanisms among digital literacy, digital exclusion, internet altruistic behavior, and psychological well-being among children. This study examined the potential ...