Social Influence and Political Communication Commons^™

Hub Brief: Spamouflage Targeting Of U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, Darren Linvill, Patrick Warren

Media Forensics Hub Reports

The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) campaign known as Spamouflage Dragon has targeted sitting U.S. Senator Maroc Rubio with an ongoing disinformation campaign. Attacks on Senator Rubio began in 2022 during his reelection campaign, apparently paused for nearly two years, but began again in September 2024 though at a much lower rate. This report will briefly outline the changing tactics Spamouflage has employed in their work against Senator Rubio.

The Psychological Impacts Of Algorithmic And Ai-Driven Social Media On Teenagers: A Call To Action, Sunil Arora, Sahil Arora, John Hastings

Research & Publications

This study investigates the meta-issues surrounding social media, which, while theoretically designed to enhance social interactions and improve our social lives by facilitating the sharing of personal experiences and life events, often results in adverse psychological impacts. Our investigation reveals a paradoxical outcome: rather than fostering closer relationships and improving social lives, the algorithms and structures that underlie social media platforms inadvertently contribute to a profound psychological impact on individuals, influencing them in unforeseen ways. This phenomenon is particularly pronounced among teenagers, who are disproportionately affected by curated online personas, peer pressure to present a perfect digital image, and the …

The Digital Battlefield: Extremists On Social Media, Daniel P. Shanks

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The rise of social media has transformed the battleground for extremist groups like ISIS and the Taliban, enabling them to reach global audiences with unprecedented ease. This dissertation investigates the social media strategies employed by the Taliban and ISIS. These social media strategies are used to further their strategic objectives in propaganda, recruitment, and operational coordination. Through a comprehensive analysis, the study explores how these extremist groups adapt their digital tactics in response to evolving military and political landscapes. Utilizing case studies from key military engagements and applying theoretical frameworks of rational actor theory, social identity theory, and finite and …

Digital Yard Signs: Analysis Of An Ai Bot Political Influence Campaign On X, Darren Linvill, Patrick Warren

Media Forensics Hub Reports

This report details an ongoing social media influence campaign employing AI powered bots to influence political conversations in U.S. federal elections. This inauthentic network includes at least 686 accounts, and likely more. The campaign uses large language models to create organic seeming content in the replies of real users’ posts. Taking on conservative persona and perspectives, this campaign has targeted both Republican candidates (in primaries) and Democrats (in generals) in addition to advocating for specific issues. This report explores the network’s messaging, operations, and implications.

Considering Ai For The Classroom To Boost Civic Learning And Democratic Engagement, Joseph P. Zompetti, Lance R. Lippert, Stephen K. Hunt

eJournal of Public Affairs

Artificial Intelligence (AI) poses significant risks to society generally and higher education specifically. However, it offers potential benefits in terms of students’ civic learning and democratic engagement. By equipping students with the skills to use AI for the common good and fostering their awareness of the potential dangers of AI, we can bolster democracy. In this article, we explore the status quo along with expectations and near-term predictions for AI. Next, we explore some of the most significant and common concerns related to AI. Finally, we draw upon a variety of resources, identify “best practices,” analyze the strengths and weaknesses …

Social Media Influencers' Impact On Consumer Purchasing Decisions, Kennedi O. Kutz, Kiara Espinal, Erin Flynn, Julia Cheney

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

The study entails how social media usage and parasocial relationships with social media influencers impact the audience’s purchases as a consumer. The survey covers a wide range of questions discussing the different social media platforms, how often they engage on them, and how often they click and engage with advertisements and influencers. It also covered questions that collected the participants' demographics to better understand which groups are more likely to be influenced by advertisements and influencers. We have found that younger audiences are more likely to have their consumer purchases influenced by social media advertisements and influencers than older audiences. …

From Tweets To Streets: How Kenya's Generation Z (Gen Z) Is Redefining Political And Digital Activism, Hossana Twinomurinzi

African Conference on Information Systems and Technology

This paper examines how Kenya's Generation Z (Gen Z) used digital technologies and platforms in a leaderless political and digital activism against the 2024 Finance Bill. Using post-digital theory and critical realism as analytical lenses, the paper examines how the embedded digital technologies and platforms were used for mass grassroots mobilisation. The paper adopted both qualitative content analysis with quantitative data scraping from social media and online news sources to reveal the main trigger as the deep economic grievances, which then triggered a demand for government accountability. The analysis also revealed how digital platforms (mainly X and Facebook) played a …

An Extremely Important Document: Khea's Struggle For A Contract, 1974-1978, John L.S. Daley Dr

KNEA 50th Anniversary

In 1973, the Kansas State College, Pittsburg administration fired thirteen faculty members without cause. In order to improve administration-faculty relations, remaining faculty organized, petitioned for recognition, and drafted PSU/KNEA's first contract with PSU/KBOR, which went into effect five years later. The narrative covering this period draws on Axe Library's KNEA Collection and interviews of former faculty.

Hierarchy Of Influence On The Implementation Of Search Engine Optimization In The Tribun-Bali.Com Newsroom, Oktava Anggara, Ni Made Ras Amanda Gelgel, Ni Luh Ramaswati Purnawan

JURNAL KOMUNIKASI INDONESIA

Technological disruption has driven changes in the media and journalism industry, affecting the workflow in the newsroom. One emerging practice in the newsroom is the application of search engine optimization (SEO). This practice raises concerns about editorial decisions being directed toward topics that are "popular and easily clickable". Tribun-Bali.com is one of the biggest news portals in Bali that implements SEO. This study aims to depict the hierarchy of influences on the implementation of SEO in the Tribun-Bali.com newsroom. It is a qualitative descriptive study that employs interview methods with key informants. Utilizing the hierarchy of influences theory proposed by …

Transforming Whatsapp And Zoom Into Religious Space: A Digital Ethnography Of An Online Meditation Community In Indonesia, Wirawan Wirawan, Rudi Sukandar

JURNAL KOMUNIKASI INDONESIA

Drawing on an online meditation community mentored by Samanera Abhisarano in Indonesia, this study explores how the members use digital media to engage in religious practices and teachings. The data were collected through multisited digital ethnographic fieldwork conducted from December 2021 to July 2022. During this period, we immersed ourselves in the WhatsApp group and the Zoom virtual room of the community. In addition to participating in their online activities and interviewing five community members remotely, we conducted on-site fieldwork at the temple where the mentor lives and organized a face-to-face in-depth interview with him. Employing Hjarvard’s theory of mediatization …

Disaster Reporting In Indonesian National Online Media: Agenda Setting And Sentiment Analysis, Erwin Rasyid, Erni Saharuddin, Zahro Varisna Rohmadani

JURNAL KOMUNIKASI INDONESIA

In the context of disasters, the mass media is one of the main sources of information for the community. Mass media, as a communication channel, can be utilized as a disaster management system to mitigate the impact of disaster risk. However, disaster events are often treated as commodities by the mass media to attract audience attention. This study analyzes the agenda-setting and sentiment of disaster news coverage by national online media in Indonesia. It uses the Agenda-Setting Theory of McCombs and Shaw to explore how media agenda-setting relates to disaster issues. This research employs a descriptive quantitative approach using sentiment …

Implementation Of Violations Of The Ite Law Article 27 Verse (2) Of 2016 Concerning Promotion Of Online Gambling By Influencers In Indonesia, Mohammad Fawaid Pradika, Lukman Taufik Tri Hidayat, Achmad Habib Dwi Prakoso, Aasim Ahmad Khan

JURNAL KOMUNIKASI INDONESIA

The 2016 Electronic Information and Transactions Law (UU ITE) which was created by the government to tackle cyber problems has generated a lot of controversy, one of which is the regulation governing online gambling and its promotion in Article 27 verse (2) of the ITE Law. A number of influencers violate these regulations by using social media to promote online gambling, which carries a moral burden of influence in promoting illegal products, to provide good universal service to the community. Furthermore, as someone who has many followers, one influencer also has high public interest which requires, as someone who is …

Representation Of Lgbtq Identity On Social Media: Multimodality Analysis On Instagram Account @Yayasangayanusantara, Muhammad Fauzi Fitri Andika, Ana Indriastuti, Khoirunnisa Nur Fithria, Pramudya Ardhika Hernanto, Tutik Wijayanti

JURNAL KOMUNIKASI INDONESIA

This research examines the representation of LGBTQ identity on Instagram using multimodal content analysis on the @yayasangayanusantara account. Using Muted Theory, this study highlights how LGBTQ identities are formed and presented in social and digital contexts. Instagram was identified as an essential platform for authentic and multidimensional LGBTQ identities by challenging conventional stereotypes and discrimination in traditional media. The research methodology involves qualitative analysis of various forms of content (text, images, and videos). The main focus is how LGBTQ individuals use social media to express themselves, seek support, and build solidarity. The findings show that Instagram is not just a …

The Political Economy Of Knowledge: Navigating Scientometric Enthusiasm Amidst Political And Economic Forces Shaping The Production And Dissemination Of Scientific Knowledge, Maria Cernat

Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis

While we witness heightened enthusiasm in certain peripheral areas of scientific production regarding scientometric standards, there are increasingly pressing issues concerning how the ideal of objective and rational science is being called into question. In this article, I contrast the enthusiasm for the "prestige" of top-tier journals with the increasingly urgent problems related to the lack of independence of researchers and scientific research itself in a world dominated by security institutions and corporations. While many authors rush to blame postmodernists for the lack of trust in science, recent studies in the history of science reveal an increased role of security …

Carceral Liberalism: Feminist Voices Against State Violence, Andrea Michaels

Feminist Pedagogy

The following book review of Shreerekha Pillai’s Carceral Liberalism: Feminist Voices against State Violence (2023) is an expansive and timely collection of essays on the carceral state in its implications for feminist educators. This review focuses on the connections and connectivity of two essays in the collection that attempt to address a minor examination of the person as political.

Arab Citizens’ Contributions To Investigative Reporting: An Examination Of Arabs' Awareness, Willingness, And Satisfaction Toward Citizen Investigative Reporting, Ahmed Makharesh

Dissertations

This dissertation aims to measure Arabs' understanding of investigative reporting and willingness to engage in investigative reporting practices through a survey of 421 Arab citizens from countries that include the Eastern African, Northern African, Arabian Peninsula, and Fertile Crescent regions. It also aims to measure Arabs' understanding of gatekeeping and their willingness to serve as gatekeepers. Further, this dissertation emphasizes various hypotheses, including that increased investigative reporting would benefit the region's citizens and increase the quality of journalistic work. The gatekeeping theory fits into this dissertation because of the significant development of the news delivery process on social media in …

We're Swarming Again! Swarming, Collectivity, And Trope: The Case Of Extinction Rebellion, Tyler J. Behymer

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis explores the rhetoric of the eco-movement Extinction Rebellion, focusing on the use of swarming and nature tropes to mobilize collective action and revivify contemporary notions of collectivity. Drawing on rhetoric of social movement scholarship, cultural studies, and psychoanalysis, this essay theorizes swarming as a tropological economy that expands the conditions of propriety in the context of collectivity. Through an analysis of Extinction Rebellion’s discourse, this study demonstrates how the naturalization of swarming tropes works in various ways to rewild conventional political discourse, galvanize disruptive collective assembly, and challenge green neoliberalism.

Advisor: Casey Ryan Kelly

The Dangers Of Terrorist Organizations Using Deepfakes And Ways To Confront, Mohammad Bedeir

Journal of Police and Legal Sciences

Societal reliance on digital data and cyber technology has increased, and an amazing boom in the field of artificial intelligence technologies has occurred in recent years, resulting in the rapid integration of artificial intelligence into daily life, through smart devices and smart cities, and although this has many advantages, as it is used in the entertainment and media industries, it also represents an increasing vulnerability to cyberattacks, which may manifest itself in deepfake attacks.

The researcher relied on the descriptive analytical approach, with the aim of describing the phenomenon under research, studying it from its various dimensions and aspects, and …

Introduction To Strategies And Outcomes, Lisa A. Leitz, Socrates Mbamalu

Peace Studies Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"In this, Volume 48 of Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, chapters contribute to scholarship on the strategies and outcomes of social movements, with only one (Corrigall-Brown, this volume) exploring the relationship between the two and others examining each aspect of social movement scholarship independently."

Social Media Journalism And Its Impact On Social Change: The Case Of Twitter(X), Daniel Ebo

Waldo Library Student Exhibits

Traditional journalism has converged with digital media to provide easier and accessible ways of news production and distribution. Several studies have interrogated the impacts of social media on journalism, but less has been studied on specific mediums and how they impact some of the traditional journalistic roles of addressing social issues. This study specifically adopted a user approach in identifying the roles of news organizations and journalists on X and how those roles influence social change initiatives utilizing the agenda-setting model. A correlational analysis conducted showed that there is a significant positive relationship between user engagement with news organization tweets …

Emotional Diplomacy From Tel Aviv To Baghdad: Analyzing The Impact Of Emotional Appeals On Social Media Engagement, Soheil Kafiliveyjuyeh

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigates the use of emotional appeals in the diplomatic communication of U.S. ambassadors in the Middle East. In the realm of diplomacy, actors might strategically and deliberately exhibit emotions to shape and control how their nation is perceived internationally. The project's primary objective is to explore the effectiveness of emotional appeals in generating social media interactions with politicians’ and ambassadors’ messages, and in building relationships with their target audience through these engagements. Using three studies, I examine the diplomatic communications of U.S. ambassadors in the Middle East by focusing on their utilization of Twitter/X and emotional diplomacy strategies. …

Scaling Expertise: A Note On Homophily In Online Discourse And Content Moderation, Dylan Weber

New England Journal of Public Policy

It is now empirically clear that the structure of online discourse tends toward homophily; users strongly prefer to interact with content and other users that are similar to them. I review the evidence for the ubiquity of homophily in discourse and highlight some of its worst effects including narrowed information landscape for users and increased spread of misinformation. I then discuss the current state of moderation frameworks at large social media platforms and how they are ill-equipped to deal with structural trends in discourse such as homophily. Finally, I sketch a moderation framework based on a principal of “scaling expertise” …

Progressive Paradox In Political Rhetoric: The Hart-Celler Immigration Act Of 1965, Amanda Rolston Henderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the interplay between U.S. norms for inclusion, the embedded role of religion within these norms, and how political rhetoric challenges or sustains them. Using a historical lens, I outline key moments in U.S. history, unravel central ideologies entrenched in U.S. narratives, and illuminate the ideographic function of the key concepts land, family, and work. These terms serve as conduits for conveying complex systems of meaning, which are entrenched in societal assumptions and concretized through political discourse and action.

These dynamics are demonstrated in a case study of the discourse surrounding the Hart-Celler Immigration Act …

Rhetorical Resonances: An Affective Logic Of Emergence In Space And Time, Craig R. Weathers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project explores the affective circulation of controversy in contemporary public discourse through a rhetorical ecological approach. It addresses the problem of how flattened conceptions of power and social movements cast in binary opposition prevent effective deliberation around public controversies. The research method involves analyzing three case studies through a new framework for rhetorical studies, called a logic of emergence, to consider the resonance and trajectories of actants (individuals, groups, and institutions) in conflict. The first case study examines the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville and the discursive equating of antifa and the Alt-Right. The second case analyzes the …

Towards An Inclusive Media Policy Framework Targeting Adolescents In Egypt, Saja Elgredly

Theses and Dissertations

For years, adolescents have been lost between adulthood and childhood. This is even reflected in the policies that directly affect their lives and well-being. In Egypt, there has hardly been a clear political line on how the media should deal with adolescents. As this age group belongs to childhood, most of the laws and regulations are hardly dedicated to address them despite their different characteristics. Within the Egyptian context, there are children's laws concerned with basic children's rights and other laws that relate to the media. However, we notice a gap in adolescent-friendly laws, policies and regulations, especially in the …

Phillis Wheatley Peters’S British Publicity Campaign, Susan Carlile

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

Scholarship has tended to place its focus on Phillis Wheatley Peters’ unsuccessful efforts in America, followed by an account of one British figure, the Countess of Huntingdon, who patronized the publication of Poems on Various Subjects in London in 1773. However, the chronology of the British campaign, the modes of print publication, and the locations in which Phillis Wheatley Peters’ words were published deserve closer attention. This essay highlights previously unknown or unremarked upon British publications outside London, the Drewry Derby Mercury, the Ipswich Journal, the Hibernian, and John Gillies’s Memoirs of the Life of the Reverend George Whitefield, …

Social Media And The Technological Infrastructure Of Polarization In The United States: How Do We Move Forward?, Phoebe Cordova

Dissertations and Theses

The United States is currently experiencing extremely high levels of polarization that is unique to other times in history. One way to account for this historical difference is the fact that polarization is playing out under the novel conditions generated by technology and, specifically, social media. Thus far, work in the area of social media and polarization has primarily focused on proving a causal relationship between the two with contributions across disciplines remaining disparate without an integrative framework of understanding. Strikingly, there are few contributions from the field of conflict resolution, indicative of the more sweeping need for the field …

It's Not Just What You Say: The Impact Of Message Tone On Intra-Party Endorsements, Tom Vizcarrondo, Milad Minooie

Faculty Articles

This study expands previous research on political endorsements by focusing on the tone of the endorsement, rather than the endorser or the presence/absence of any endorsement at all. Using a 2×2 experimental design and a sample of 906 registered voters from a midwestern U.S. state, this study measures the effect of positive and negative endorsements on the voter perceptions of the endorsee, endorser, and unendorsed candidate during a partisan primary election campaign. Results support the idea that positive endorsements generally improve voters’ attitudes toward the endorsee and the endorser and negative endorsements generally hurt voters’ perception of the unendorsed candidate. …

How Political Parties Can Appeal To Voters, Brenden David Jacoby

Communication Studies

Young voters are not voting. According to the United States Census Bureau, young voters, aged 18-29, have not turned out to vote in Presidential Elections at a rate higher than 50% since 1968. Millions of ballots – with the potential to swing elections, policies, and political momentum – are left blank. It is in the interest of both parties to identify why young voters are not going to the polls. In order to understand what makes political messaging persuasive to younger voters, this study presented participants with actual campaign speeches made by Democrats and Republican candidates for office. The author …

Echo Chambers And The Rise Of The Alt-Right, Ian Robert Mcdonald

Masters Theses

The uses of social media have expanded with the growing number of platforms and niches that these platforms seek to fulfill. One of the more common uses of many current social media platforms is to engage with politics. Social media platforms have become a political tool to some, with an enormous amount of news and information being shared throughout social media platforms. The increasing use of social media has coincided with an increase in political polarization, with some raising concerns over the ability for certain groups to operate in ideological isolation, referred to as echo chambers, and the role they …