Information, Communication & Society

Sustainable datacentres and eco-modernist frictions in Sweden This article discusses frictions related to a datacentre enterprise in a municipality in northern Sweden. These frictions were related to the eco-modernist underpinnings of the enterprise and at th...

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Based on a planned AI datacentre in northern Sweden, this article examines how sustainability is negotiated, contested, and reframed when eco-modernist visions collide with local resistance.

doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Examining the implications of different news avoidance practices during elections in Greece and Brazil Longitudinal research has documented an increase in news avoidance frequency in many countries. Following this line of research, a number of studies have examined the patterns and drivers of news a...

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Using panel surveys from Greece and Brazil, this article shows that low news use is tied to higher belief in misinformation and lower trust in elections. In contrast, people who selectively avoid political news are less likely to vote.

doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Information and news use by older adults in social media and messenger apps: a systematic literature review With the growing digitization of communication, older adults are increasingly integrating social media and messenger apps into their daily information practices. This article presents a preregister...

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This review synthesises research on older adults’ news and information use on social media and messenger apps and outlines priorities for future, more theory-driven work.

doi.org/10.1080/1369...

‘Virtuality is a Matter of Class’: sociological determinants of teletherapy in mental health work In this paper I examine the sociological determinants of the provision of teletherapy by clinical psychologists and psychiatrist in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires, Argentina. I draw from a l...

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Virtual therapy in Buenos Aires is a matter of class. Boczkowski’s ethnography with clinicians traces how social position structures who is offered online care.

doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Humanizing digital governance: human-centered sociological scholarship into digital governance We introduce a special issue of Information, Communication & Society that showcases research from the 2024 annual meeting of the American Sociological Association and related symposia. Collectively...

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This special issue introduction brings together work from ASA 2024 to humanise digital governance and challenge reductionist accounts that treat technology as the driver, foregrounding negotiated sociotechnical systems instead.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Enhancing digital literacy in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis of school-based interventions Digital literacy is increasingly recognized as a pivotal twenty-first-century skill for children and adolescents. In response, schools across diverse regions have implemented programs targeting spe...

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Digital literacy can be taught. This meta-analysis of school interventions with children and adolescents shows where gains are strongest and offers guidance for educators and policymakers.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

A daily diary study on the relationship between negative affect and problematic short video use: the mediating role of rumination and the cross-level moderating role of self-control The widespread use of short video applications (apps), a rapidly expanding form of digital social media particularly popular among young adults, has raised growing concerns about problematic short ...

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A 14-day diary study links dips in daily mood among Chinese students to problematic short-video use. Rumination intensifies this link, while higher self-control interrupts it. doi.org/10.1080/1369...

‘More than a feeling’ – Facebook reactions and the sharing of political posts during Scandinavian elections Social media have impacted political communication processes in relation to how information is produced, distributed, and consumed – particularly during elections. Here, we address the role of emot...

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This paper maps how emotional cues in Facebook posts during Scandinavian elections shape engagement, revealing that populist parties gain particular visibility when their messages provoke anger.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

AI Governance as scale work: synthetic journalism across scalar collisions Governing Artificial Intelligence (AI) is difficult, in part, because AI systems never stand still in any one place. They are usually made by private companies, hidden within proprietary infrastruc...

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In this article, Mike Ananny argues that governing generative AI is “scale work”, using synthetic journalism to show how AI collides with news practices, infrastructures and audiences across multiple levels.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Frame alignment through network structures: advancing framing theory through network analysis to map the #savewomenssports social movement Utilizing a network analysis of all 871,095 tweets from 205,116 unique authors, this study examines the #savewomenssports social movement on Twitter/X from September 2019 to August 2024. The findin...

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Analysing more than 870,000 tweets, this article shows how #savewomenssports moved from focusing on individual athletes to anchoring itself in wider debates about gender fluidity and the sex binary.

doi.org/10.1080/1369...

News media framing on abortion in the post-Dobbs era We apply framing theory to investigate how the news media framed the issue of abortion after the 2022 Dobbs decision. We conducted a rigorous content analysis of 1607 local news stories in states w...

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In the first year after Dobbs, local news in restriction states broadly framed abortion through broader themes rather than isolated cases, shaping how public debate on a key women’s issue unfolded.

doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Active vs. passive bystander reactions to online political hostility: the role of personality in counterspeech and silencing among German facebook users Hostility is an important obstacle to constructive online political discourse. Combating online political hostility often involves mobilizing the behavior of bystanders. Bystanders can react active...

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Not all bystanders respond to online political hostility in the same way. This paper shows how personality shapes whether German Facebook users confront abuse with counterspeech or quietly mute and unfriend.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Understanding behavioral and psychological predictors of social media misinformation sharing gratifications among emerging adults across four countries Understanding the mechanisms behind emerging adults’ (18-30) misinformation sharing motivations is essential in combating misinformation, yet such understanding remains limited on a global scale. T...

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Drawing on surveys in four countries, this article finds that what young adults do with social media and how they read content matters more than posting frequency in explaining misinformation sharing.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Research handbook on digital sociology Published in Information, Communication & Society (Ahead of Print, 2025)

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Hu reviews The Research Handbook on Digital Sociology, showing how it tackles the core challenges of researching life in datafied societies, from methodological innovation to the reproduction of inequality.

doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Individual choice, collective effects: recommender systems, law by design, and the DSA’s double choice architecture For a long time, social media recommender systems have been developed in the wild. Recommender systems promote, hide and distribute content and while doing this, shape online experiences and public...

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This article examines how the EU’s Digital Services Act reshapes recommender systems, arguing that tools meant to enhance user choice may also reinforce platforms’ own power through new choice architectures.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Artificial intelligence and the image war: does exposing AI-generated images as fake limit the images’ influence on perceptions about wars and conflicts? The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) has reshaped how visual narratives influence public perception during conflicts, challenging long-held assumptions about wartime image credibility and ...

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This article uncovers a notable tension in the image war: AI visuals influence opinions, but telling viewers they are artificial can flip those effects. A finding with implications for conflict reporting.

doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Active vs. passive bystander reactions to online political hostility: the role of personality in counterspeech and silencing among German facebook users Hostility is an important obstacle to constructive online political discourse. Combating online political hostility often involves mobilizing the behavior of bystanders. Bystanders can react active...

New & OA w/ @lutzid.bsky.social in @icsjournal.bsky.social: The role of personality in bystander reactions to online pol. hostility. We find that both active (counterspeech) & passive (silencing) reactions negatively relate to agreeableness & conscientiousness 1/3 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

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How do tradition-heavy institutions adapt to digital life? This article shows how Benedictine monks justify everyday media use through renewed readings of tradition and personal discipline.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

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Using large U.S. datasets, this article shows that the Affordable Connectivity Program is linked to better labour market outcomes for low-income workers, especially women with high-speed home internet, partly through more remote work.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Pandemic activism in comparative perspective: exploring the roles of populist attitudes, direct online political sources, and misinformation Managing the COVID-19 pandemic required governments to act quickly with little input from legislatures, civil society, and citizens. This crisis created a critical opportunity for populists to fuel...

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How do populist attitudes, misinformation, and direct online political sources feed pandemic activism? This comparative study traces those links across Germany, Canada, the UK, the US, and France.

doi.org/10.1080/1369...

If i perceive the influence of health misinformation, will i correct it? The roles of information verification and health knowledge Social correction is considered an effective strategy to combat health misinformation. While existing research has shown that perceived influence of health misinformation can stimulate individuals’...

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This article shows that feeling the impact of health misinformation does not directly lead to correcting it. Instead, verification practices and subjective health knowledge mediate whether people step in to correct others.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Climate communication in the stormy transition of Twitter to X This study investigates the transition of Twitter to ‘X’ under Elon Musk's ownership, focusing on its impact on climate change discourse. Historically, Twitter has served as a public sphere for pol...

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The move from Twitter to X reshaped climate talk. Studying millions of posts, this article traces new interaction patterns and rising opinion leaders as users negotiated the platform’s turbulent transition. doi.org/10.1080/1369...

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Youth activists in Israel and Turkey describe what it means to stand at the edge of Fridays for Future. This article traces how disagreements, local struggles, and thin ties with the “global” movement can lead to stepping back.

doi.org/10.1080/1369...

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Do emojis help people speak up politically? Comparing China and the United States, this article links personality traits to different emoji uses and shows how perceived hostility shapes indirect expression on Weibo and X.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Political dogwhistles and semantic change in Swedish politics This article investigates how citizens’ understanding of multivocal political words – dogwhistles – changes over time and varies between groups. Dogwhistles are ambiguous political messages that co...

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Not everyone hears the same thing in Swedish migration debates. This paper charts how coded phrases gain a tougher meaning over time, and links who decodes them to age, party ties, and media use.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

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In the context of the EU’s Digital Services Act, this article shows how platforms categorise and moderate disinformation, highlighting four regulatory clusters and the dominance of removal-based enforcement. doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Devising DigiD: the performativity of sociotechnical imaginaries in national digital identity systems Digital identity systems serve as essential gateways to public services in digital-by-default societies, yet they are often overlooked or regarded as ‘neutral’ tools. We argue, however, that these ...

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Tracing two decades of Dutch policy documents, this article shows how DigiD evolved as political visions shifted from efficiency to security to user centricity, revealing how sociotechnical imaginaries actively shape digital identity systems.
doi.org/10.1080/1369...

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YouTube’s search API forgets fast. This article uncovers sharp drops in discoverable videos, inconsistent results, and biases that make systematic research difficult.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

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Public views of AI beauty apps are not uniform. This article reveals discomfort with invasive features such as attractiveness scoring, and more acceptance of edits seen as playful or useful. doi.org/10.1080/1369...

Happy to share our paper reporting the results of an online experimental survey of public perspectives about #AI-enabled beauty apps. Shout out to my brilliant co-authors: Tobias Rohrbach and Patti Shih.

Link to full text: doi.org/10.1080/1369...

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