Political Online Research Articles

Regulating the Political Wild West: State Efforts to Disclose Sources of Online Political Advertising

The problem of disinformation in online political advertising is growing, with ongoing and potential threats to campaigns coming from both within and outside the United States. Most scholarship in this area has focused on either disclosures and disclaimers under the proposed Honest Ads Act or other fixes aimed at a gridlocked Federal Election Commission (FEC). With federal reform at a standstill, states have jumped into the void. Since 2016, eight states have passed legislation to expressly regulate online political advertising for state candidates and ballot measures, including Maryland, whose state law was declared unconstitutional as applied to a group of media plaintiffs by a federal appeals court. This article examines these state laws as well as the one federal appeals court opinion as a springboard for thinking about efforts at the national level to address the problem. We raise important considerations for future legislation in light of the appeals court decision. We propose that independent record-keeping bodies, similar to what the state of New York has established for independent expenditure committees, are more likely to pass First Amendment scrutiny than requiring record-keeping of platforms or websites.

Approaches to the Study of the Possibilities and Effects of Online Activism as Part Of Political Communication

The article examines the theoretical approaches applicable to the study of online activism. The author introduces the definition of online activism as a phenomenon that represents a set of political practices in virtual space associated with the designation of actors' positions on political and socially important problems of society. The paper analyzes the ideas of foreign authors, both classical and modern, and proposes mechanisms for testing theoretical ideas based on quantitative methods of policy analysis. The analysis of publication activity on the Scopus database presented in the article allows determining the dynamics of development of the investigated problems, leading foreign researchers on the topic of political online activism. Keyword sampling of publications from Scopus allows us to conclude the main scientific focuses within the problem (feminism, protests, democracy, etc.). The article presents a classification of scientific Russian schools working within the framework of the problem: St.Petersburg, Moscow and Kuban schools. The author also gives an idea of techno optimistic and critical theoretical approaches, within the framework of which it is possible to study the problem of the effects and possibilities of online activism. The conducted analysis of the literature and scientific research devoted to the problems of political online activism demonstrated the heterogeneity of Russian and foreign authors' points of view on the effectiveness, role and place of virtual communication in politics. The conclusion is made about the need to develop a comprehensive approach, the basis of which will be mixed methods of research on the role and place of virtual activism in politics. The synergetic effect of combining qualitative and quantitative methods will improve the quality of applied political science research.

“Do You Want to Be a Well-Informed Citizen, or Do You Want to Be Sane?” Social Media, Disability, Mental Health, and Political Marginality

This article examines the experiences of people with disabilities, a traditionally marginalized group in US politics, with social media platforms during the 2016 presidential election. Using focus groups with participants with a wide range of disabilities, the significance of YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook is discussed. Results highlight ambivalent experiences with these platforms, which support some elements of political inclusion (more accessible and more relevant election information) but at the same time also exacerbate aspects of marginality (stress, anxiety, isolation). Four coping strategies devised by participants to address digital stress (self-censorship, unfollowing/unfriending social media contacts, signing off, and taking medication) are illustrated. The relationship between these contrasting findings, social media design and affordances, as well as potential strategies to eliminate an emerging trade-off between discussing politics online and preserving mental health and social connectedness for people with disabilities are discussed.

Technologies and Models of Youth Political Online Mobilization and Online Discourse in Modern Socio-Political Process: Event Analysis of Particular Cases in the Megacities of the Russian Federation

The article is a research into the role, technologies and models of the youth political online activism in modern Russia. The examination of event analysis of two particular cases (Ekaterinburg and Saratov, 2019) revealed the relevance, the main aspects and the performance criteria of youth policy in the sphere of communication. However, certain mechanisms can be used by the state to improve the level of such communication. They should be clearly articulated to follow the youth expectations, with the help of professional socio-­political monitoring, independent quantitative and qualitative studies, and a useful and mutually respectful dialogue designed to promote a positive, constructive and conventional activation of the political behavior of youth groups. Exposing the pattern of protest at several levels, each with its own characteristics and analysis, leads to the conclusion that there are different patterns of protest that have manifested themselves differently in the handling of cases (in Yekaterinburg and Saratov). All of the above makes it possible to record the relevance of the built models of online mobilization, which in turn makes the study practical.

All the News That’s Fit to Click: The Economics of Clickbait Media

The news media industry has changed as the internet and social media have matured and become integral to modern life. I describe these changes through a theoretical analysis of the economic structure of the industry and explore the implications for scholars of online media and politics. The crux of my argument is that social media simultaneously serves as a distribution platform and reputation builder, as social recommendations take the place of expensive investments in high-quality journalism. This development rendered crucial portions of previous models of the market for news inaccurate due to the declining importance of firm reputation. This mechanism interacts with the massive heterogeneity in digital literacy and growing animosity toward the news media among conservatives to create “credibility cascades,” which I argue are a necessary condition for Fake News to flourish.

Tweeting to Democracy: A new anti-authoritarian liberation struggle in Zimbabwe

What does it take for a citizen movement to topple a deep-rooted authoritarian regime? This paper analyses the successes and failures of citizen-led social media campaigns in Zimbabwe. Using data drawn from an extensive ethnographic study of 50 WhatsApp and Facebook communities, this paper studies the conditions under which citizen activism, particularly those movements that originate on social media, become street protests that can effectively unseat an illegitimate regime. I find that the success of recent movements – evidenced by policy changes and increased citizen participation – is in part because of the rise of a youth citizenry that does not feel indebted to the liberation struggle. Zimbabwean born frees are more willing to take political risks by speaking candidly about politics online and mobilizing their peers.

Why Do Citizens Pay for Online Political News and Public Affairs? Socio-psychological Antecedents of Local News Paying Behaviour

ABSTRACTLocal news organizations play a crucial role in informing rural or suburban communities about current events and politics. With the growing concentration of populations in large cities, many citizens may feel they are missing out on essential information about their local communities, thus affecting their knowledge about local issues and public policies. This study examines how readers’ perceptions of the financial state of local news organizations, journalists’ engagement with local communities and users’ local content creation affect readers’ paying behaviour for local news. Drawing on data from the Pew Research Center, results indicate that readers’ perceptions of the financial state of local news organizations predict their paying behaviour. Second, findings show that journalists’ engagement with their local communities and users’ content creation are crucial factors for increasing the probability of paying for local news. Finally, readers’ age is explored as a moderator between news organizations financial state and readers’ paying behaviour. This study adds to the growing literature on the socio-psychological antecedents involved in paying behaviour for local news organizations.

Rethinking Digital Democracy: From the Disembodied Discursive Self to New Materialist Corporealities

Abstract To understand what digital democracy is, this article suggests looking at the individual level of democratic subjectivity. Who is the democratic subject and how is it constituted in digital democracy? It revisits the poststructuralist-inspired debate about cyberdemocracy in the 1990s, which conceptualized the democratic subject as disembodied discursive self, reifying through textuality in cyberspace. In contrast, current debates on new materialism offer novel perspectives with attention to the materiality of bodies and things. New materialist thought has been fruitfully incorporated for social interaction online, but they have yet to be applied to political participation. By discussing three examples of political online participation in which users materialize their classed, raced, and gendered bodies, this article contributes to a novel understanding of embodied democratic subjectivity in the digital age.

The Rise of Online Political Advertising

The Rise of Online Political Advertising

‘It’s So Hard Not to be Funny in This Situation’: Memes and Humor in U.S. Youth Online Political Expression

In light of the promise of humorous political memes as popular routes to citizen empowerment as well as concerns over their potential dangers, it is necessary to examine how everyday citizens make sense of their role in political expression and how they engage with them—or not—in their everyday social media activities. This focus group study explores these questions by focusing on the digital practices of U.S. young adults. The findings suggest a range of benefits of posting political memes and humor online, including building solidarity with likeminded peers and reinforcing communal identity, as well as advancing accessible and influential political critiques. However, these positive assessments are complicated by concerns over the relationship between political meme humor and threats of trivialization and hyper-polarization, which limit some users from participating in its circulation and lead them to seek alternative modes of online engagement that are perceived as more civically valuable.

Teaching Comparative Political Behavior in the Era of Digital Activism

As a contribution to the Teaching & Learning Symposium on Comparative Politics organized by APSA, this short article discusses the challenges in Introduction to Comparative Politics classes when comparative political behavior is examined. In the tradition of studying political participation, the discipline has witnessed the development of additional measures and modes of activism. It has become more complicated for instructors to explain the relevance of political participation in a democracy, when a multitude of concepts and measures (voting, protesting, or online political engagement) compete for the attention of citizens. Furthermore, measuring all modes of political activism for many countries has added to the problem. This contribution makes two recommendations about how to teach comparative political behavior in an era when undergraduates are exposed primarily to digital activism.

28 times feminist joke lists were real AF: feminist humour and the politics of joke lists

ABSTRACT Despite the pervasive visibility of joke lists in online popular culture, the latter remains a surprisingly neglected site of scholarly inquiry. Feminist joke lists represent the concerted efforts of online content producers to curate a wide range of feminist humour—content that is expressly feminist in political orientation and/or sympathetic to highlighting feminist issues and sensibilities. These lists offer a compelling point of departure for interrogating the uses, limitations, and possibilities of joke lists for feminist communities of practice and how this cultural form enacts or inscribes feminist politics online. In this essay, I theorize the political significance of feminist joke lists through an examination of 20 distinct lists featuring over 350 jokes spanning a six-year period (2013–2019). Through an examination of general curated feminist joke lists, as well as humour lists produced in the wake of the 2017 and 2018 Women’s Marches, I argue that these broader activities contribute to the visibility and validation of feminist humour, the sharpening of feminist critique, and the solidarity of feminist communities.

Should We Worry About Sponsorship-Induced Bias in Online Political Science Surveys?

AbstractPolitical scientists rely heavily on survey research to gain insights into public attitudes and behaviors. Over the past decade, survey data collection has moved away from personal face-to-face and telephone interviewing towards a model of computer-assisted self-interviewing. A hallmark of many online surveys is the prominent display of the survey’s sponsor, most often an academic institution, in the initial consent form and/or on the survey website itself. It is an open question whether these displays of academic survey sponsorship could increase total survey error. We measure the extent to which sponsorship (by a university or marketing firm) affects data quality, including satisficing behavior, demand characteristics, and socially desirable responding. In addition, we examine whether sponsor effects vary depending on the participant’s experience with online surveys. Overall, we find no evidence that response quality is affected by survey sponsor or by past survey experience.

Corrigendum to “Civic engagement, social capital, and ideological extremity: Exploring online political engagement and political expression on Facebook”

Corrigendum to “Civic engagement, social capital, and ideological extremity: Exploring online political engagement and political expression on Facebook”

Facebook and political participation in Cambodia: determinants and impact of online political behaviours in an authoritarian state

ABSTRACTAlong with the explosive growth of Facebook in Cambodia in recent years, analysts have noted the rise of online civic and political participation among Cambodians on this social networking platform. Empirical research focusing on the nature and effects of such online behaviour, however, remains scarce. Through a face-to-face survey of 500 urban residents, this study explores the forms, determinants and impact of online political participation by Cambodians on Facebook. Results suggest that while online political participation on Facebook took a variety of forms, the levels of engagement varied from one form of online activity to another. The study also demonstrates that some key sociodemographic, psychological and Facebook-related behavioural factors were associated with intense online participation, including socioeconomic status, age, online political efficacy and online news consumption habits. The findings, in addition, indicate that online political engagement on Facebook was a robust predictor of offline political behaviour in Cambodia. This study adds to a growing understanding of the determinants of online political participation, while also providing insights into the potential of Facebook in raising citizens’ political engagement, particularly in authoritarian political settings.

Responsive Government: The Diversity and Institutional Performance of Online Political Deliberation Systems

Along with innovation in ICT technology and the spread of the internet, the online network, through its “technological empowerment” of citizens and governments, has driven a series of institutional changes designed to promote government responsiveness. The global spread of online political deliberation is indeed an achievement of the internet-driven construction of responsive government. In recent years, the Chinese government has vigorously promoted online political deliberation, established virtual platforms to build bridges between netizens and public power, brought internet activism into institutional channels, and implemented political absorption and online consultation. Under the influence of policy initiatives and local innovations, China has created diversified response systems that strengthen the institutionalization of online political deliberation and thereby enable this system to play an active role in improving government capacity and regulating the relationship between the state and society. At present, China has seven types of online response: the Communist Party Committee-led mode, the mixed mode, the government-led mode and the modes led by the departments in charge of absorption, business, supervision departments, and petitioning. Empirical studies show that the diversity and degree of institutionalization of online political deliberation significantly affect institutional performance and that political authority and professionalism are important features that enable the different response systems to influence institutional performance. In short, the endogenous elements of the response system—level of institutionalization and institutional diversity—are key factors in institutional performance.

Play as an Indicator of Public Opinion in Online Political Commentary: A Content Analysis of Online News Forums Leading Up to the 2014 South African General Elections

Play as an Indicator of Public Opinion in Online Political Commentary: A Content Analysis of Online News Forums Leading Up to the 2014 South African General Elections

Civic engagement, social capital, and ideological extremity: Exploring online political engagement and political expression on Facebook

Using a method incorporating both survey and trace data measures, this study presented and tested a theoretical model for understanding political expression on Facebook. The data suggested that self-reported measures of offline civic engagement, bonded social capital, and ideological extremity were predictive of a self-reported measure of general online political engagement. For its part, self-reported levels of online political engagement were positively and significantly associated with observed political expression on Facebook. These results are discussed in the context of both on and offline political connection and communication.

Feminism! What Is It Good For? The Role of Feminism and Political Self-Efficacy in Women’s Online Political Participation

Despite initial hopes for more egalitarian access to democracy, research has shown that political participation on the Internet remains as stratified as its offline counterpart. Gender is among the characteristics affecting an individual’s degree of political engagement on the Internet—even when controlling for socioeconomic status. To explain this gender divide, it is necessary to go beyond purely resource-based perspectives. Social cognitive theory allows for an analysis of how environmental factors shape cognitions, such as political efficacy, which, in turn, foster political participation. Political efficacy has been shown to be lower among women compared to men. This study explores determinants of gendered online political participation (OPP) by analyzing how self-efficacy mediates the effect of newly developed measures of three different waves of feminist attitudes on OPP. Based on a survey of 1,078 Internet users in Germany, 70% of them women, we analyze the effects of feminism on political efficacy and participation. Feminism is associated with higher internal political efficacy. Also, some feminist paradigms are shown to empower women to participate politically online. This effect, however, is not mediated through efficacy. This finding sheds light on opportunities to foster women’s political participation.

Gender and Online Politics: Digital Media as Friend and Foe in Times of Change

This volume highlights gender issues related to using digital media for online politics. The submissions offer a balanced perspective about the role of digital media; this tool can be used for social change or to limit social change. The submissions use qualitative and quantitative analyses of digital trace data and survey data to present a rich perspective on gender and online politics. The collection offers a cross-national perspective including research on China, Germany, Norway, Spain, the United States, and the United Kingdom.