@ldnsocmedobs
We are a multidisciplinary research centre based @royalholloway.bsky.social. We use computational methods and big data to investigate the role of social media platforms in politics, in partnership with key stakeholders and policymakers.
❓ Want to know more about our TikTok, Politics, and Elections briefing paper co-created with @wfd.org ?
🗞️ Read our official press release on the @royalholloway.bsky.social website
➡️ www.royalholloway.ac.uk/about-us/new...
📩 For any enquiries, send us an email at lsmo@rhul.ac.uk !
🗣️ Here's some coverage by @npr.org on our recent
@goodauth.bsky.social post !
🚨This doesn’t mean that other kinds of changes in moderation practices are taking (or will take) place after the TikTok USDS takeover
More research 🔜
@benguinaudeau.bsky.social @solmg.bsky.social Molly Roberts @kengchichang.bsky.social @jatucker.bsky.social Hennes Barnhel Kylan Rutherford
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💡We saw a sudden drop in post volume & engagement across the board on Jan. 26th (not only for political contentious topics) & activity resumed to pre-event rates 1 day later
🔑 Yet, our analysis is limited to studying aggregated patterns based on a particular set of keywords
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❓How did we do it?
🔎 We tracked TikToks mentioning a set of politically-relevant (ice, alex pretti, trump, epstein) and non-political keywords (recipe, oscar) posted throughout last week
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Our preliminary results show that:
🔹 We find no evidence of a change in platform moderation
🔸 Instead, a power outage is more likely to explain anomalies in TikTok activity in the US last week
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🌐 📲 With international collaborators, the Observatory’s director @andreucasas.bsky.social revisited recent “TikTok censorship” claims after the TikTok USDS takeover
➡️ Detailed information about the analysis available: goodauthority.org/news/was-the...
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It was our pleasure! Thank you for your great discussion points 😊
🙌 Thank you to all the panellists & participants for their excellent insights!
@sophiasgaler.bsky.social Seyi Akiwowo @photini.bsky.social @bloggeronpole.bsky.social Matteo Bergamini @shoutoutuk.bsky.social @jamessloam.bsky.social @hannahrphill.bsky.social Rachel Marcus, Neil Lavie-Driver
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🔑 Discussion points include:
✅ content curation & moderation standards
✅ highly-personalised algorithms that can exacerbate polarisation
✅ lack of sufficient digital media skills training for educators
✅ need for better researcher access to platform data to further study these concerns
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🗣️ Synthesised from discussions at our 8th Dec event, we explore some emerging concerns to democratic participation on the platform
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📣🚨 New Briefing Paper Alert !
📃 We are excited to announce the launch of our briefing paper on TikTok, Politics and Elections, co-produced with @wfd.org
➡️ www.wfd.org/tiktok-polit...
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💡It was great to engage with fellow researchers & present our work on content moderation
📃Our research uses state-of-the-art VLMs to examine the moderation of content from 11k+ YouTube channels & their 6mil+ videos on US politics during the 2024 Pres Election
🙌Thank you @oii.ox.ac.uk for hosting!
🔭🚨 One more week to apply to the fully funded (3.5 years) PhD position at the Observatory!
💻 Deadline: 2nd November
ℹ️ For more information, see the link below!
➡️ www.royalholloway.ac.uk/media/hquftp...
🔭 Want to hear more about the Observatory's trip to Berlin?
💻 Read our article detailing our time at @dsa40collaboratory.bsky.social's Data Access Days, which furthered our commitment to seek better access to platform data for academic research!
➡️ london-social-media-observatory.org/dsa40_berlin/
🎉 We're really excited to be collaborating with our excellent partners on this, as part of WP3 of the What-If Horizon project, hosted at the Observatory.
🎯 Understanding what interventions affect citizen misinformation effects is crucial to build evidence based policy in the area!
More insights 🔜
🔬📚 Come do your PhD with us at the Observatory!
🔗 For more details, see the quoted thread!
This report, which was recently cited by @ofcom.bsky.social, and our other commentary on platform data sharing, is central to our mission that platform data should be accessible for independent academics.
Read the Ofcom report here:
www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safet...
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@georgidag.bsky.social
⚠️ For us, accessing platform data is central in enhancing online political safety research, particularly its credibility, validity and ethical standards!
📑 In fact, we have already produced a report on this topic!
➡️ osf.io/preprints/so...
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🇩🇪 Hello from Berlin!
📍This week, LSMO is at the #DSA40 Workshop, thanks @dsa40collaboratory.bsky.social for the invitation!
🤝 We’re here to connect with other academics to learn more about how to access platform data for research via DSA & to advocate for better data access more generally
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🟠 We chose orange to honour our present and future at the university
🟢 We chose green from the suffragette flag to symbolise hope, that our research will deliver good things!
🔵 Finally, we chose blue to signify possibility and inspiration, for all the new projects we have to come!
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💪 Did you know about @royalholloway.bsky.social's history of supporting social justice, especially women's suffrage? We did!
🖌️ When it came to designing our logo, we chose colours that honoured these alumnae, while also maintaining a close connection to the current identity of the college
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While we’re on the subject of press releases, here is the official announcement from @ukri.org 🎉
Congratulations to all the new fellows! 👏
👋 Hello again!
🗞️ We are happy to share an official press release announcing our launch on the @royalholloway.bsky.social website!
➡️ www.royalholloway.ac.uk/about-us/new...
📩 If you have any questions or are interested in collaborating, send us a message!
🔭 We’re excited to get started soon! ☺️
🤝 Beyond our commitment to rigorous academic research, by working closely with stakeholders, this project seeks to inform evidence-based policymaking in the area.
➡️ Follow us today for updates, research highlights and more!
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Our key research questions include:
🔹 Do platforms moderate and curate political content?
🔹 How, and how often?
🔹 Under what conditions?
🔹 To what extent, if at all, do these platform actions shape people’s political attitudes and behaviours?
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📱 Social media platforms shape how political speech is moderated and curated, but there’s still so much we don’t fully understand
🔬 Our research will examine the role of private companies in framing political debates and amplifying or downplaying particular voices online
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📣 We’re launching the London Social Media Observatory! 🎉
➡️ We are a new multidisciplinary research centre, directed by @andreucasas.bsky.social & funded by the @ukri.org Future Leaders Fellowship
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