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- ItemLGDE: Local Graph-based Dictionary Expansion(2025) Schindler, Juni; Jha, Sneha; Zhang, Xixuan; Buehling, Kilian; Heft, Annett; Barahona, MauricioWe present Local Graph-based Dictionary Expansion (LGDE), a method for data-driven discovery of the semantic neighbourhood of words using tools from manifold learning and network science. At the heart of LGDE lies the creation of a word similarity graph from the geometry of word embeddings followed by local community detection based on graph diffusion. The diffusion in the local graph manifold allows the exploration of the complex nonlinear geometry of word embeddings to capture word similarities based on paths of semantic association, over and above direct pairwise similarities. Exploiting such semantic neighbourhoods enables the expansion of dictionaries of pre-selected keywords, an important step for tasks in information retrieval, such as database queries and online data collection. We validate LGDE on two user-generated English-language corpora and show that LGDE enriches the list of keywords with improved performance relative to methods based on direct word similarities or co-occurrences. We further demonstrate our method through a real-world use case from communication science, where LGDE is evaluated quantitatively on the expansion of a conspiracy-related dictionary from online data collected and analysed by domain experts. Our empirical results and expert user assessment indicate that LGDE expands the seed dictionary with more useful keywords due to the manifold-learning-based similarity network.
- ItemEpistemic authority in the digital public sphere. An integrative conceptual framework and research agenda(2025) Bartsch, Anne; Neuberger, Christoph; Stark, Birgit; Karnowski, Veronika; Maurer, Marcus; Pentzold, Christian; Quandt, Thorsten; Quiring, Oliver; Schemer, ChristianWe develop an integrative conceptual framework and research agenda for studying epistemic authorities in the digital age. Consulting epistemic authorities (e.g., professional experts, well-informed laypeople, technologies) can be an efficient fast-track to knowledge. To fulfill this functional role, those who claim epistemic authority need to be both subjectively recognized (have a perceived advantage in knowledge) and objectively justified (have an actual advantage in knowledge). In a digital media context, new and unconventional knowledge sources have emerged that can fulfill the functional role of epistemic authorities. But false authorities that disseminate misinformation have emerged as well while other sources with important knowledge remain unrecognized. We further analyze the functional role of epistemic intermediaries that can mitigate such problematic developments by correcting false authorities and by providing endorsement for unrecognized authorities. We conclude with a research agenda to study functional forms of epistemic authorities and epistemic intermediaries in the digital public sphere.
- ItemRadicalization or relief: Divergent impacts of the COVID-19 lockdown on incels by seniority(SAGE Publications, 2025) Wedel, Lion; Coufal, LindaIncels (involuntary celibates) base their identity on the inability to form romantic relationships. We conceptualize the ideology promoted by incels as misogynist extremism and explore the impact of the first COVID-19 lockdown on the radicalization of this online community. Based on computational measures, we conducted a multi-perspective exploration, comparing the prevalence of and participation in threads dealing with extremism, ideology and mental health on the incels.is forum between pre-lockdown, lockdown and post-lockdown periods. We found evidence of long-term and temporary radicalization. Moreover, we found that, specifically, older forum members increasingly post in extremist-themed threads triggered by the lockdowns. Crucially, we show that activity on mental health–themed threads temporarily decreased during the lockdown. These findings indicate that real-world social isolation reduces mental health complaints among incels but, at the same time, exacerbates misogynist extremism among active community members.
- ItemDisinformation Resilience in Backsliding Democracies: Media Trust, Civil Society, and Institutional Capture(Weizenbaum Institute, 2025-04-25 00:00:00) Peißker, Antonia; Cowburn, Mike; Klinger, UlrikeSocieties’ resilience to disinformation is often linked to democratic backsliding, but the relationships between these concepts remain poorly understood. To measure structural resilience to disinformation, we expand the framework developed for consolidated Western democracies by Humprecht et al. (2020) to democracies that are experiencing varying degrees of democratic backsliding; the Visegrád Group of Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. Our application leads us to generate additional macro-level features that should be incorporated when thinking about disinformation resilience in states experiencing democratic backsliding. Specifically, we identify how the role of civil society operates differently depending on the level of democracy and that the value of media trust is conditioned by the degree of institutional capture, adding these complementary measures to the original framework. Our updated empirical analyses suggest that, of our cases, Slovakia had the greatest and Hungary had the least resilience to disinformation. The advancement of the framework enables its application beyond consolidated democracies by identifying additional aspects that help build structural resilience to disinformation elsewhere.
- ItemVeiled conspiracism: Particularities and convergence in the styles and functions of conspiracy-related communication across digital platforms(2025) Buehling, Kilian; Zhang, Xixuan; Heft, AnnettDigital communication venues are essential infrastructures for anti-democratic actors to spread harmful content such as conspiracy theories. Capitalizing on platform affordances, they leverage conspiracy theories to mainstream their political views in broader public discourse. We compared the word choice, language style, and communicative function of conspiracy-related content to understand its platform-dependent differences and convergence. Our cases are the conspiracy theories of the New World Order and Great Replacement, which we analyzed on 4chan/pol/, Twitter, and seven alternative US news media longitudinally from 2011 to 2021. The conspiracy-related texts were comparatively analyzed using a multi-method approach of computational and quantitative text analyses. Our results show that conspiracy narrations are increasingly present in all venues. While language differs vastly between platforms, we observed a style convergence between Twitter and 4chan. The results show how more coded language veils the spread of racist and antisemitic content beyond the so-called dark platforms.