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Reposted by Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון

Chris Stokel-Walker @stokel.bsky.social · 16d

If Karoline Leavitt is correct and TikTok’s algorithm is going to split so a new US entity has oversight of it, it could lobotmise the app in America. My latest for @fastcompany.com, featuring @jessmaddox.bsky.social, @boesch.bsky.social and @tomdivon.bsky.social www.fastcompany.com/91408598/tru...

How a new U.S.-flavored algorithm will alter the experience of TikTok

A rumored split between TikTok’s algorithm in the United States and the computer code running the app elsewhere could put off users—and destroy TikTok’s secret sauce.

www.fastcompany.com

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Reposted by Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון

blake hallinan @blakeplease.bsky.social · Jul 21

How does the professionalization of Trust & Safety shape global content moderation practices? We compare Community Guidelines using the typology of harms from TSPA to identify policy priorities and exclusions, available #openaccess in New Media & Society: doi.org/10.1177/1461...

Priorities and exclusions within Trust and Safety industry standards - Blake Hallinan, CJ Reynolds, Rebecca Scharlach, Dana Theiler, Noa Niv, Omer Rothenstein, Isabell Knief, Yehonatan Kuperberg, 2025

Platform governance is simultaneously a matter of public concern and a professional calling for Trust and Safety, the nascent field tasked with setting and enfo...

doi.org

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Reposted by Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון

Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון @tomdivon.bsky.social · Sep 22

📢📢📢 PhD publication! after 1.5 years of ethnographic exploration of Ukrainian creators on TikTok, I'm thrilled to share our OA work with my brilliant friend @moaerikssonkrut.bsky.social on PLAYFUL TRAUMA in times of war and adversity 🇺🇦 💛 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Playful Trauma: TikTok Creators and the Use of the Platformed Body in Times of War - Tom Divon, Moa Eriksson Krutrök, 2024

Amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, TikTok has emerged as a pivotal platform, where creators utilize its compressed video formats to mediate the harsh realiti...

journals.sagepub.com

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Reposted by Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון

Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון @tomdivon.bsky.social · Feb 14

New publication! 🚨 Together with my brill team (@taylorannabell.bsky.social & @cgoanta.bsky.social), we explore how parents turn kids into commodities on TikTok, diving into the nuances of *kidfluencers* & raising legal questions about platform governance. See🧵 journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1...

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Reposted by Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון

Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון @tomdivon.bsky.social · Feb 4

📢📢📢 My brilliant friend @danijaradent.bsky.social and I have released a report (from our TCRN event) shedding light on the structural inequalities that shape the experiences of Latin American creators on TikTok. Their reality is one of constant struggle; see 🧵 tiktokcultures.com/latam-report/

Latin American Cultures on TikTok

Download the report (PDF). About ‘Latin American Cultures on TikTok’ collects and expands on some of the main takeaways from the Latin American Cultures on TikTok event, which took place on N…

tiktokcultures.com

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Reposted by Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון

Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון @tomdivon.bsky.social · Dec 10

Sadly, our iPhones have become sources of trauma. Perves can harass with their dick pic via AirDrop, and 'Memories' resurface painful moments we'd prefer to forget; @nicolettelittle.bsky.social & I delve into the unsolicited nature of algos with this OA piece (🧵) www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....

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Reposted by Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון

Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון @tomdivon.bsky.social · May 15

From Ukraine🇺🇦 to Gaza🇵🇸, Syria🇸🇾, Lebanon🇱🇧, and now India🇮🇳 & Pakistan🇵🇰, creators use SM platforms to make their conflicts more visible. They're curators, eyewitnesses, and living archives of atrocity. @moaerikssonkrut.bsky.social & I call them *War Influencers*; OA in @platformsnsociety.bsky.social 🧵

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Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון @tomdivon.bsky.social · Jul 13

Beautiful, my friend! 😍

Reposted by Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון

Esteban Morales @estebanmorales.bsky.social · Jun 26

New annotated resource on #SocialMediaViolence:

The rise of war influencers: Creators, platforms, and the visibility of conflict zones, by @tomdivon.bsky.social and @moaerikssonkrut.bsky.social

Read my notes here: esteban-morales.com/lit-review-v...

The rise of war influencers: Creators, platforms, and the visibility of conflict zones – Esteban Morales

esteban-morales.com

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Reposted by Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון

Marie Hermanova @mariher.bsky.social · Jul 4

New publication alert: The algorithm loves the war”: ambivalent visibility in content creator practices during war"
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... with the amazing duo @tomdivon.bsky.social and @moaerikssonkrut.bsky.social !! findings below >>>

“The algorithm loves the war”: ambivalent visibility in content creator practices during war

Content creators in war zones are critical in shaping global perceptions of conflict. Through social media, they document real-time events and reach audiences beyond the traditional news frameworks...

www.tandfonline.com

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Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון @tomdivon.bsky.social · May 15

Dream team incoming - @taylorannabell.bsky.social @gorwa.ca @rscarlets.bsky.social Jacob van de Kerkhof @thelesbertaglia.bsky.social with a powerful reminder of how search recommendations shape what is visible, trusted and treated as credible knowledge & we better keep our eyes on it as researchers👇

Rebecca Scharlach @rscarlets.bsky.social · May 15

What if platforms decided what you should search for, without telling you how or why? In this position paper co-authored with @taylorannabell.bsky.social, @gorwa.ca, Jacob van de Kerkhof & @thalesbertaglia.bsky.social, we explore the TikTok Search feature and the governance challenges it creates.

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Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון @tomdivon.bsky.social · May 15

a true challenge by the brill @bloggeronpole.bsky.social & @pamogranite.bsky.social to the corporate discourse of *community* on platforms. They capture how creators at risk are forced to navigate corpo-civic spaces where care, visibility & belonging are destabilized by commercial governance; GOLD👇

Dr Carolina Are / Blogger On Pole @bloggeronpole.bsky.social · May 14

In a new paper for Convergence, @pamogranite.bsky.social & I examine the challenges Instagram & TikTok creators at risk of de-platforming face when holding onto communities, arguing that these spaces' turn towards entertainment & selling is producing fatigue: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

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Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון @tomdivon.bsky.social · May 15

We’ve poured much care into crafting this piece; please read and share! See full paper below 👇 Thank you, Julie Yujie Chen, @grohmannrafael.bsky.social, Andrea Pollio, @cheryllsoriano.bsky.social, and @nielsvdoorn.bsky.social for being such a home for us! journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

journals.sagepub.com

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Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון @tomdivon.bsky.social · May 15

We argue war influencers matter because they (1) fill the void left by mainstream journalism, (2) democratize conflict communication, (3) build bottom-up epistemologies, (4) reshape how war is seen, felt, and known by young ppl & (5) blur witnessing with performance, raising urgent ethical stakes👇

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Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון @tomdivon.bsky.social · May 15

🔎 Using ethnographic lens, we analyzed 97 TikTok videos from Ukrainian (🇺🇦) creators, identifying three styles of war communication: POV Storytelling - intimate war testimonies; Memetic Remixing - war + trending memes; Playful Politainment - using LIVE, humor, and performance to fundraise & mobilize👇

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Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון @tomdivon.bsky.social · May 15

To make sense of war influencers, we draw from three key traditions: 📸 War Photography - the long legacy of visualizing suffering, ✊ Citizen Journalism - real-time, mobile, from-the-ground truth-telling, 🔉 Creator & Platform Studies - platform vernaculars, algorithmic fluency, and visibility labor👇

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Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון @tomdivon.bsky.social · May 15

We dive into *user-war influencers* and read them as content creators embedded in conflict zones who document, narrate, and aestheticize their experiences through platform-native vernaculars. They don’t monetize for profit, but for their authoritative voice in shaping public discourse👇

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Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון @tomdivon.bsky.social · May 15

We offer a typology with two kinds of war influencers: 🤳Celebrity-war influencers - existing stars who use their status to engage in wartime advocacy (like Gigi Hadid); 🤳User-war influencers - individuals who rise from anonymity into global fame, depending solely on algorithmic amplification👇

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Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון @tomdivon.bsky.social · May 15

From Ukraine🇺🇦 to Gaza🇵🇸, Syria🇸🇾, Lebanon🇱🇧, and now India🇮🇳 & Pakistan🇵🇰, creators use SM platforms to make their conflicts more visible. They're curators, eyewitnesses, and living archives of atrocity. @moaerikssonkrut.bsky.social & I call them *War Influencers*; OA in @platformsnsociety.bsky.social 🧵

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Reposted by Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון

Alan Jagolinzer @jagolinzer.bsky.social · May 9

@alicetiara.bsky.social:

"It's very important that we, as a community, counter those [false accusations of censorship] narratives head on and not cede ground. …When you let another party frame the debate, you lose the debate before it's even started."

m.youtube.com/watch?v=p8ST...

UNC Professor Alice Marwick on the need to counter false narratives

YouTube video by Cambridge Disinformation Summit

m.youtube.com

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Reposted by Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון

Nathalie Schäfer @nathalierimb.bsky.social · May 6

I am officially part of @aoir.bsky.social exec!! Thank you to all who voted and @tomdivon.bsky.social for the encouragement ✨

Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) @aoir.bsky.social · May 6

Your 2025-2027 AoIR Executive Committee!

President: Sarah Roberts
Vice President: Andra Siibak
Immediate Past President: Nicholas John
Secretary: Nathalie Schäfer
Treasurer: Robert W. Gehl
Graduate Student Rep: Lynrose Jane Genon
Open Seats: Admire Mare, Rebecca Scharlach, & Meg Jing Zeng.

Here is your 2025-2027 AoIR Executive Committee,
taking office in October 2025!

President (elected as Vice President in the 2023 Election): Sarah Roberts, UCLA, USA

Vice President (becomes President in two years):
Andra Siibak, University of Tartu, Estonia

Immediate Past President (elected as Vice President in the 2021 Election): Nicholas John, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

Secretary: Nathalie Schäfer,
Weimar University, Germany

Treasurer: Robert W. Gehl, York University, Canada

Graduate Student Representative:
Lynrose Jane Genon, QUT, Australia

Open Seats: Admire Mare, University of Johannesburg, South Africa; Rebecca Scharlach, University of Bremen, Germany; and Meg Jing Zeng, University of Zurich, Switzerland.

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Reposted by Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון

Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) @aoir.bsky.social · May 6

Your 2025-2027 AoIR Executive Committee!

President: Sarah Roberts
Vice President: Andra Siibak
Immediate Past President: Nicholas John
Secretary: Nathalie Schäfer
Treasurer: Robert W. Gehl
Graduate Student Rep: Lynrose Jane Genon
Open Seats: Admire Mare, Rebecca Scharlach, & Meg Jing Zeng.

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Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון @tomdivon.bsky.social · Apr 26

It’s so tiring to fight a majority that keeps driving us toward a reckless future. But we know there is still a path forward; one that begins with the basic recognition of existence for both Israelis & Palestinians. Hope is resistance @standing-together.bsky.social @alonlee.bsky.social 🟣 💜

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Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון @tomdivon.bsky.social · Apr 26

That same Meir Kahane, symbol of violent, racist Jewish ultranationalism. "The singer, who also spent time in prison, explains why he believes both The Hague and Gaza should be flattened (...) claims that Netanyahu is the 'left of the right'"; This isn't a marginal voice. This is Israel.

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Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון @tomdivon.bsky.social · Apr 26

Israel, 2025. This is where the media and everyday civilians now stand morally. The front page of a major newspaper calling for the flattening of Gaza and the Hague, featuring a piece on one of the country's leading singers, with the headline. “I would vote for Kahane.” Yes, that Meir Kahane ⬇️

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