There is widespread concern that foreign actors are using social media to interfere in elections worldwide. Yet data have been unavailable to investigate links between exposure to foreign influence campaigns and political behavior. Using longitudinal survey data from US respondents linked to their Twitter feeds, we quantify the relationship between exposure to the Russian foreign influence campaign and attitudes and voting behavior in the 2016 US election. We demonstrate, first, that exposure to Russian disinformation accounts was heavily concentrated: only 1% of users accounted for 70% of exposures. Second, exposure was concentrated among users who strongly identified as Republicans. Third, exposure to the Russian influence campaign was eclipsed by content from domestic news media and politicians. Finally, we find no evidence of a meaningful relationship between exposure to the Russian foreign influence campaign and changes in attitudes, polarization, or voting behavior. The results have implications for understanding the limits of election interference campaigns on social media.
Scholars have pinpointed that women's underrepresentation in peacemaking results in gendered outcomes that do not address women's needs and interests. Despite recent increased representation at the negotiating table, women still have a limited influence on peacemaking outcomes. We propose that differences in female and male speeches reflected in the gendered patterns in discourse during peacemaking explain how women's influence is curtailed. We examine women's speaking behavior in transitional justice debates in the post-conflict Balkans. Applying multimethod quantitative text analysis to over half a million words in multiple languages, we analyze structural and thematic speech patterns. We find that men's domination of turn-taking and the absence of topics reflecting women's needs and interests lead to a gendered outcome. The sequences of men talking after men are longer than those of women talking after women, which restricts women's deliberative space and opportunities to develop and sustain arguments that reflect their concerns. We find no evidence that women's limited influence is driven by lower deliberative quality of their speeches. This study of gendered dynamics at the microlevel of discourse identifies a novel dimension of male domination during peacemaking.
Existing literature recognizes growing threats to press freedom around the world and documents changes in the tools used to stifle independent press. However, few studies investigate how independent media respond to state pressure. Do independent outlets comply, orienting coverage to favor regime interests? Or does repression encourage more negative coverage of the regime instead? To shed light on these questions, we investigate how the abrupt removal of independent outlet TV Rain from Russian television providers influenced its coverage. We find that shortly after TV Rain was dropped by providers, the tone of its political coverage became more positive and its similarity with state-controlled television increased. However, these effects were short-lived. Additional evidence suggests that subscription revenue contributed to the station's resilience. These findings, from the first causal test of how attacks influence independent media coverage in a nondemocracy, add to our understanding of media manipulation and authoritarian endurance.
Existing literature recognizes growing threats to press freedom around the world and documents changes in the tools used to stifle independent press. However, few studies investigate how independent media respond to state pressure. Do independent outlets comply, orienting coverage to favor regime interests? Or does repression encourage more negative coverage of the regime instead? To shed light on these questions, we investigate how the abrupt removal of independent outlet TV Rain from Russian television providers influenced its coverage. We find that shortly after TV Rain was dropped by providers, the tone of its political coverage became more positive and its similarity with state-controlled television increased. However, these effects were short-lived. Additional evidence suggests that subscription revenue contributed to the station's resilience. These findings, from the first causal test of how attacks influence independent media coverage in a nondemocracy, add to our understanding of media manipulation and authoritarian endurance.
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