Philipp Lorenz-Spreen

Graphs are maximally expressive for higher-order interactions We demonstrate that graph-based models are fully capable of representing higher-order interactions, and have a long history of being used for precisely this purpose. This stands in contrast to a commo...

New on the arxiv:

“Graphs are maximally expressive for higher-order interactions”

arxiv.org/abs/2602.16937

We clarify central misconceptions in the recent literature on "higher-order networks".

w/ @piratepeel.bsky.social , @manlius.bsky.social, and @thilogross.bsky.social

Explainer 🧵: 1/N

Whatever we do on social media regulation, let’s accompany it with rigorous social science and platform transparency so that we can learn about the effects and improve iteratively.

Screenshot of the title and authors: 1: Heterodox research practices in digital and computational SSH (Introduction to the Handbook of Digital and Computational Research Methods) Anders Koed Madsen and Anders Kristian Munk

I *love* the introduction to this new handbook. Yes to it all.

"We ... hope that the book can help wrongfoot the widespread assumption that the integration of computational techniques ... comes at the expense of qualitative and/or hermeneutic sensibilities."

www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap/b...

New article in Nature describes a field experiment on X which shows that assigning users to an algorithmic feed pushes conservative content and demotes mainstream news.

Sounds obvious but important in light of prior claims algorithms don't cause attitudinal changes.

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

KI-Desinformation auf TikTok: Angriffe zielen auf die Bundesregierung Mit Hilfe von KI können politische wie kommerzielle Desinformationsakteure massenhaft Inhalte produzieren. Tausende TikTok-Videos auf Deutsch greifen seit Monaten die Bundesregierung und den Bundeskan...

KI-generierte Inhalte von niedriger Qualität – sogenannter „KI-Slop“ – nehmen auf den Social-Media-Plattformen immer weiter zu. Senior Researcherin @jsmirnova.bsky.social untersucht im neuen CeMAS-Blogbeitrag, wie diese Inhalte zur gezielten politischen Desinformation in Deutschland genutzt werden:

🚨🚨🚨The Berlin Court of Appeal ruled today that @democracyreporting.bsky.social (DRI) is entitled to publicly available data from X to conduct research on election interference and disinformation on X in connection with the elections in Hungary 🗳️ 🇭🇺

democracy-reporting.org/en/office/EU...

At GESIS, researchers work in various phases of their scientific careers: as student assistants, doctoral candidates, postdocs, senior researchers, team leaders, and department heads. The institute's goal is to provide its scientific staff with the best possible support in their various career phase Scientific career at GESIS

#jobs #stellenangebote #GESISjobs #jobfairy
Pursue your scientific career at GESIS!
youtu.be/zMY2zqYFIMg

Apply now for a job as a Research Associate (#PostDoc) for the #FReDA Children and Youth Survey, specializing in Data Preparation!
(Salary group 13 TV-L, 100 %)

gesis.jobs.personio....

Zentrum für Digitalrechte und Demokratie Zentrum für Digitalrechte und Demokratie

Eurosky, Mastodon, Wedium, W Social – Worauf es bei europäischen Plattformen ankommt:

digitalrechte.de/news/eurosky...

me giving a talk at the complexity science hub in vienna

Thanks to Mirta Galesic and Henrik Olsson for inviting me to the impressive @csh.ac.at in Vienna, where I could present my research under the bold title "The complexity of Platform Power" and have inspiring and interdisciplinary discussions all day!

Visual mit der Überschrift republica 26 und Fotos der Track Team Mitglieder Alex Wolf, Geraldine de Bastion, Sarah-Indra Jungblut, Katharina Meyer, Katharina Naumann, Marie Kochsiek, Dodo Vögler und Philipp Lorenz-Spreen. Ihre Gesichter sind in runden Rahmen platziert.

Dürfen wir vorstellen? Unser Track Team für den Themenschwerpunkt #Wissenschaft & Technologie: Alex Wolf, Geraldine de Bastion, Sarah-Indra Jungblut, Katharina Meyer (@kthrnmyr.bsky.social), Katharina Naumann, Marie Kochsiek, Dodo Vögler & Philipp Lorenz-Spreen (@lorenzspreen.bsky.social). Danke!

#LoveData26 #FDMPower
How can research data be shared easily and conveniently?

We have compiled useful information to show you how you can publish your data and related documents at GESIS and share them with third parties.

Check out our How-to Guide – #SharingData:
www.gesis.org/datens...

🚨New preprint! 🚨
"Boosting metacognition in entangled human-AI interaction to navigate cognitive-behavioral drift"
arxiv.org/pdf/2602.01959

Happy to see this new work coming to the surface alongside @cabels18.bsky.social @lorenzspreen.bsky.social @lewan.bsky.social and @stefanherzog.bsky.social
🧵

Great location to be in:

Bluesky Map Interactive map of 3.4 million Bluesky users, visualised by their follower pattern.

I made a map of 3.4 million Bluesky users - see if you can find yourself!

bluesky-map.theo.io

I've seen some similar projects, but IMO this seems to better capture some of the fine-grained detail

This fits still:

youtu.be/7j4QIayjAaY?...

English: youtu.be/Qvum2HzocWs?...

We should view Social Media as a systemic issue instead of a symptomatic one and tackle its root:

Overcoming the commercial and exploitative logic we applied to digitalization so far.

Making social media better and safer for eyeryone will be more sustainable for young people AND for democracy.

Can Europe get kids off social media? [FREE TO READ] Move follows Australia’s decision to introduce age restrictions over child safety concerns

Ban addictive designs, ban illegal content, regulate companies.

Don't ban teenagers from digital platforms

www.ft.com/content/cf46...

Heute Abend in Berlin 🎬 Filmvorführung von BLAME und anschließendes Gespräch u.a. mit dem ehemaligen ARC-Mitglied @lorenzspreen.bsky.social @arc-mpib.bsky.social
👇

Gosh, post 2/9 of the thread below had a link that required authentication, here is the direct link to the piece: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Special events:

Berlin:
Eva-Lichtspiele – 06.02. um 20.00 Uhr
| Q&A mit Christian Frei (Regie) & Dr. Philipp Lorenz-Spreen @lorenzspreen.bsky.social (MPI Bildungsforschung) |
Moderation: Dorothe Nolte (Tagesspiegel) | unterstützt v. d.: Max Planck Gesellschaft @maxplanck.de

Big news: I started a new position as Professor for Computational Social Science (W1 tenure track) at the Center for Critical Computational Studies (C3S) at Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main!

www.c3s-frankfurt.de/who-we-are#m...

Apply as a supervisor until February 10! If you are a PhD student or postdoc working on topics related to this year's theme of 'Psychological Science in a Digital Age: From Individual Well-Being to Societal Processes', this opportunity could be perfect for you! 🚀

Very happy to see our ice-fishing paper on the cover of @science.org this week! 🎣🎉

We tracked large groups of Finnish competitive ice-fishers to study how social foragers use social information when searching for resources. 🐟

Link: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... (contact me for open access)

Interviewpodcast "Nur eine Frage": Zerstört das Internet die Demokratie, Ralph Hertwig? Der Psychologe Ralph Hertwig erforscht, wie das Internet Demokratien verändert. Er kennt die Gefahren von Fake News und Hetze – aber auch die Chancen globaler Vernetzung.

Die #Algorithmen vieler #SocialMedia - Plattformen belohnen Aufregung. Desinformation, Hass und Hetze dominieren. Zerstört das Internet die #Demokratie? Darüber spricht Ralph Hertwig @mpib-berlin.bsky.social im Podcast "Nur eine Frage" 🎧 Eine Hörempfehlung -> www.zeit.de/wissen/2026-... @zeit.de

So great to see this published now! Have been a big fan of the ice-fishing project all along, by @alexschakowski.bsky.social @ralfkurvers.bsky.social and many others! 👏👇

This is still really irritating me because the response to a rumor like this in 2026 shouldn’t be to write a “Users say” article. We should have the ability to audit or investigate such claims and we don’t, and that is due to failure by the United States Congress to pass basic transparency laws.

Commission investigates Grok and X\'s recommender systems under the Digital Services Act The European Commission has launched a new formal investigation against X under the Digital Services Act (DSA).

Just in: EU Commission is opening a new investigation into Grok’s nudification tool on X under the DSA.
“This includes risks related to the dissemination of illegal content in the EU, such as manipulated sexually explicit images, including content that may amount to child sexual abuse material.”

Apply now for the M.A. Digital Media and Society at the University of Bremen! No tuition fees, just €400/semester (incl. nationwide public transport).

📅 Apply: Feb 1–Mar 15 for October start.
💌 Submit a 2-page motivation letter.

More info: zemki.uni-bremen.de/...

🎺 On May 21/22 @lespin.bsky.social , @doriantsolak.bsky.social, and I host “Democracy at Risk? Societal Challenges, Data, and Research Infrastructures in the Age of CSS” in Vienna

Keynotes: @lauraknelson.bsky.social and @lorenzspreen.bsky.social

computational-social-science.org/workshops/20...

Kai's write up and @cailinmeister.bsky.social's thread do a great job of summarizing our results. Rather than cover them a third time, I thought I'd clarify some misconceptions over our piece and COIS more broadly that keep cropping up scattered across replies. 🧵🧪