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Yannis Theocharis

@yannistheocharis.bsky.social

1.4K followers 440 following 31 posts

Professor and Chair of Digital Governance | Department of Governance | Technical University of Munich. Info: https://www.hfp.tum.de/en/digitalgovernance/home/

www.hfp.tum.de

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Yannis Theocharis @yannistheocharis.bsky.social · Jan 24

[New Paper] with @franziskapradel.bsky.social, @janzilinsky.bsky.social & @spyroskosmidis.bsky.social now out in APSR!

So happy with this piece which significantly reflects the trajectory of our research agenda at the Chair of Digital Governance!

polisky Commsky

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

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Politics & Gender @politicsgenderj.bsky.social · Aug 11

📣Out on #FirstView 📣

In "When Does Fame Not Matter?" @maarja.bsky.social, Stiene Praet, Sebastian Adrian Popa, @yannistheocharis.bsky.social, Pablo Barberá, @zoltanfazekas.bsky.social & @jatucker.bsky.social conduct a cross-national study on online incivility.

polisky gendersky
buff.ly/vkcPI2Y

Research article "When Does Fame Not Matter? Examining Gender Differences in Politicians’ Social Media Experiences" by Maarja Lühiste, Stiene Praet, Sebastian Adrian Popa, Yannis Theocharis, Pablo Barberá, Zoltán Fazekas and Joshua A. Tucker,
Abstract begins: Past research alerts to the increasingly unpleasant climate surrounding public debate on social media. Female politicians, in particular, are reporting serious attacks targeted at them. Yet, research offers inconclusive insights regarding the gender gap in online incivility. This paper aims to address this gap by comparing politicians with varying levels of prominence and public status in different institutional contexts. Using a machine learning approach for analyzing over 23 million tweets addressed to politicians in Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States, we find little consistent evidence of a gender gap in the proportion of incivility.

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Maarja Lühiste @maarja.bsky.social · Jul 30

This paper tested my resilience in ways I can't quite remember (or I have given up). Massive thanks to the amazing co-authors Stiene Praet, Sebastian Popa, @yannistheocharis.bsky.social, @zoltanfazekas.bsky.social, Pablo Barbera, @jatucker.bsky.social and to the many dedicated reviewers!!

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Jan Zilinsky @janzilinsky.bsky.social · Jul 21

New paper with @yannistheocharis.bsky.social

When it comes to health choices that seem to run counter to people's own self-interest, politics is overwhelmingly more important than individuals' cognitive styles or media diet:

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Reposted by Yannis Theocharis

Claes de Vreese @claesdevreese.bsky.social · Jul 1

Publication alert🚨

Can AI-Attributed News Challenge Partisan News Selection?

“Citizens evaluate AI-attributed news as negatively as cross-cutting news sources, both in terms of attitudes (perceived trustworthiness) and behavior (willingness to read the news)”

journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

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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Reposted by Yannis Theocharis

The Coalition for Independent Technology Research @thecoalition.bsky.social · Jun 27

A 10-country survey led by Coalition member @yannistheocharis.bsky.social of the Technical University of Munich Think Tank (with the University of Oxford) finds that most people support content moderation on social media to restrict harmful behavior, even as large tech companies push back.

Read 👇

Majority support moderation on social media platforms and reject unrestricted freedom of expression

Most people want harmful social media content to be restricted according to a survey in 10 countries. This also applies in the USA.

www.tum.de

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Reposted by Yannis Theocharis

Mia Nahrgang @mianahrgang.bsky.social · Jun 25

🔗📃 Link to he paper now published in the ICWSM conference proceedings (ojs.aaai.org/index.php/IC...) co-authored with @nilsweidmann.bsky.social, @friederikeq.bsky.social, @sebnagel.bsky.social, @yannistheocharis.bsky.social & Molly Roberts

Written for Lawyers or Users? Mapping the Complexity of Community Guidelines | Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media

ojs.aaai.org

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Friederike Quint @friederikeq.bsky.social · Jun 25

🛫 Off to Madrid for this year’s EPSA conference, where I’ll be presenting co-authored work with @yannistheocharis.bsky.social , @spyroskosmidis.bsky.social , and Molly Roberts.

💡You’ll find me in the panel “Insights into Countering Misinformation” on Friday, June 27, at 09:30 in Room 1A.13.

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Yannis Theocharis @yannistheocharis.bsky.social · Jun 10

This raises a key question:

Is publishing rules enough if users can't understand them?
Our team, led by @friederikeq.bsky.social, answers this question with two innovative experimental studies on user comprehension.

More on that soon !!

Yannis Theocharis @yannistheocharis.bsky.social · Jun 10

Our key findings:
-- The largest platforms are most likely to publish guidelines
-- But those guidelines tend to be longer and more complex
-- Guidelines have grown more complex under new regulation (like the DSA)

Yannis Theocharis @yannistheocharis.bsky.social · Jun 10

COMPARE includes 132 moderation policies and 89 community guidelines.

We analyzed them for:
-- Length
-- Readability
-- Semantic complexity

Yannis Theocharis @yannistheocharis.bsky.social · Jun 10

What do 132 of the most popular social media platforms globally actually say in their community guidelines?

And more importantly — can regular users understand those rules?

We built a new dataset (COMPARE) to find out. Access it on Github: github.com/transparency...

GitHub - transparency-in-content-moderation/COMPARE

Contribute to transparency-in-content-moderation/COMPARE development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Yannis Theocharis @yannistheocharis.bsky.social · Jun 10

🚨 New Paper 🚨
"Written for Lawyers or Users? Mapping the Complexity of Community Guidelines"

Led by @mianahrgang.bsky.social, with @nilsweidmann.bsky.social, @friederikeq.bsky.social, @sebnagel.bsky.social & Molly Roberts, published at #ICWSM2025.

🧵Thread👇

Mia Nahrgang @mianahrgang.bsky.social · Jun 10

📣 Happy to announce the publication of our article (w @nilsweidmann.bsky.social, @friederikeq.bsky.social, @sebnagel.bsky.social, @yannistheocharis.bsky.social & Molly Roberts) on the complexity and availability of community guidelines @icwsm.bsky.social! 🔗 ojs.aaai.org/index.php/IC...

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Yannis Theocharis @yannistheocharis.bsky.social · May 9

🚨New at Tech Policy Press🚨

"What People Want from Platforms Isn’t What Musk + Zuckerberg Are Selling"

Tech execs say they’re giving users what they want—less moderation, more “free speech.” But our 10-country survey shows most people don’t want unmoderated spaces. They want balance + protections.

Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · May 6

Musk and Zuckerberg claim to champion free expression—but surveys across 10 countries reveal a troubling gap between billionaire rhetoric and public expectations on social media, content moderation, and free expression, write Yannis Theocharis, Spyros Kosmidis, Friederike Quint, and Jan Zilinsky:

What People Want from Platforms Isn’t What Musk and Zuckerberg Are Selling | TechPolicy.Press

Researchers fielded surveys in 10 countries to understand how citizens perceive platforms and potential trade-offs related to free expression.

www.techpolicy.press

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · Mar 4

No one in DC can bargain in good faith with Trump because he will not follow laws passed by Congress.

No one internationally can bargain in good faith with Trump because he will not respect agreements made by the United States.

Being a counterparty just makes you a target for another shakedown.

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Reposted by Yannis Theocharis

John Conor Ryan @johnconorryan.bsky.social · Mar 3

Thoughtful study shows that many countries want moderation to suppress hate speech and misinformation - but not so much in the US!
@yannistheocharis.bsky.social led this work!

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · Mar 3

US least supportive of content moderation vs. hate speech and misinformation versus nine other countries tumthinktank.de/wp-content/u...

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · Mar 3

US least supportive of content moderation vs. hate speech and misinformation versus nine other countries tumthinktank.de/wp-content/u...

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Yannis Theocharis @yannistheocharis.bsky.social · Feb 11

As debates on platform regulation continue, this report offers new, data-driven insights for policymakers, platforms & civil society.

Download and read the full report: osf.io/s3kcw

OSF

osf.io

Yannis Theocharis @yannistheocharis.bsky.social · Feb 11

This research wouldn’t have been possible without an incredible team:

🎓 @spyroskosmidis.bsky.social
🎓 @janzilinsky.bsky.social
🎓 @friederikeq.bsky.social
🎓 @franziskapradel.bsky.social

Led by the Chair of Digital Governance @tum.de + the Content Moderation Lab (a TUM & @ox.ac.uk collaboration)

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Yannis Theocharis @yannistheocharis.bsky.social · Feb 11

Our data show:

🔹 Most people want some level of content moderation—but opinions vary on who should be responsible.

🔹 There’s strong public concern about misinformation, toxicity, and online harm.

🔹 Many users feel platforms aren’t doing enough—but they also worry about overreach.

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Yannis Theocharis @yannistheocharis.bsky.social · Feb 11

What’s inside?

🔹 Who do people think should moderate online content?
🔹 How do they balance free speech vs. harm prevention?
🔹 What concerns them most—toxicity, misinformation, platform power?

Below you can find a glimpse into some of the many key findings you will find in the report.

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Yannis Theocharis @yannistheocharis.bsky.social · Feb 11

What do people really think about online speech, moderation & platform responsibility? Despite claims that users want fewer restrictions, there’s surprisingly little empirical evidence on public opinion,especially beyond the U.S. Our study fills this gap with representative samples from 10 countries

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Yannis Theocharis @yannistheocharis.bsky.social · Feb 11

Thrilled that our report "CONTENT WARNING: Public Attitudes on Content Moderation and Freedom of Expression", launched today, has received a very warm reception by the media!

📖 Read the coverage: www.zeit.de/news/2025-02...

More info below on some of the questions we tackle 🧵👇

Gewalt im Internet: Umfrage: Mehrheit wünscht sich Kontrolle in sozialen Medien

Hier finden Sie Informationen zu dem Thema „Gewalt im Internet“. Lesen Sie jetzt „Umfrage: Mehrheit wünscht sich Kontrolle in sozialen Medien“.

www.zeit.de

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Yannis Theocharis @yannistheocharis.bsky.social · Jan 13

🌐 How do citizens view the trade-off between tackling harmful content and preserving free expression online?

Stay tuned for the upcoming report with @janzilinsky.bsky.social, @friederikeq.bsky.social, @spyroskosmidis.bsky.social & @franziskapradel.bsky.social. 🚀

Yannis Theocharis @yannistheocharis.bsky.social · Jan 13

40% of respondents agreed:

"We should be free to express ourselves, even if it hurts, offends, shocks, or disturbs others."

But where do we draw the line between free expression and harmful speech?

In an upcoming report, we dive into this critical trade-off 📊

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Yannis Theocharis @yannistheocharis.bsky.social · Jan 13

Only 17% of respondents across 10 countries support allowing offensive content targeting certain groups on social media.

In the U.S., support rises to just 29%.

There seems to be very little tolerance for hateful speech.

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