Information, Communication & Society

Algorithmic recommender systems have become a regularised part of the current information infrastructure, as they have been increasingly integrated into many online platforms. This study aims to examine and thus improve our understanding of young people’s agency and their imaginaries related to algorithmic recommendations within the information infrastructure by applying Giddens’s (Citation1984) conception of resources to the domain of recommender systems. The study is guided by the following research questions: How do imaginaries of algorithmic recommendations shape young people’s agency? How do different resources constitute information and information infrastructure in this context? Thematic interviews were conducted with 20 young Finnish people, and the material was analysed using qualitative content analysis with a focus on agency, resources and imaginaries in relation to algorithmic recommendations on different online platforms. The key findings of the study depict the duality of power relations: recommender systems limit young people’s agency by offering them scarce opportunities for self-expression and determining how their data is being used, yet young people were able to use resources for their own benefit. The notion of allocative resources was useful for noticing how participants’ imagined their personal information being utilised to generate recommendations, while authoritative resources offered insights into how users expressed placing trust on different platforms based on their size and the kind of opportunities participants had for self-expression on these platforms. This study contributes new knowledge regarding the ways algorithmic recommendations shape the agency of young people by making them adapt to the logic of recommender systems.

Social media platforms can be effective tools for mainstreaming and transnationalization of radical positions. Anti-gender ideas have particularly gained traction transnationally in recent years. Despite extensive research on the anti-gender movement, the specific role of social media remains underexplored. How do anti-gender organizations use social media to strategically mainstream and transnationalize their agenda? This study addresses this overarching question by focusing on CitizenGO, a digital advocacy organization that holds a key position within the anti-gender transnational advocacy network. We examine its multilingual social media network and activities over a decade (2013-2022) using computational and digital methods. The findings indicate that CitizenGO uses a sophisticated network of social media accounts to coordinate and amplify anti-gender messages across different languages and regions. The study suggests that CitizenGO's strategic use of social media is aimed at mainstreaming and globalizing anti-gender agendas, contributing new insights into the mechanisms of digital advocacy and the transnational expansion of anti-gender networks.

Set in the Global South context of India, this article examines how users of digital media used their platforms and devices to mitigate loneliness and create moments of solitude during the Covid-19 pandemic. Historically, experiencing loneliness has been understood as debilitating but solitude has been deemed necessary for individuality and achieving self-growth. This study, qualitative in nature, examines how users of digital media distinguished between the two and charts this engagement to examine their capabilities while using their platforms and services of choice. By adopting a longitudinal design of iterative interviews with 10 participants across age groups and demographics, our findings indicate that digital media users in the Global South repurposed their platforms and services in many ways during the pandemic but found little meaning in their online interactions. The participants, while critically reflecting on their online practices, found social media isolating, and digital media’s attempts at remediating solitude suspect.

For fact-checks to be effective, they must first and foremost reach their intended audience. Yet, little is known about what determines engagement with fact-checks and how to enhance their reach. We conducted a pre-registered online survey experiment in Pakistan (N participants = 302, N observations = 1208) investigating the effectiveness of fact-checking, and the determinants of engagement with fact-checks and misinformation. We found that fact-checking reduced misperceptions, especially among the most misinformed. Trust was an important moderator of the effectiveness of fact-checking and of engagement with both the fact-checks and misinformation. For instance, fact-checks were more effective among participants who trust the news the most and least effective among participants who trust social media the most. Participants more concerned about misinformation were more likely to like and share fact-checks on social media. Understanding and promoting engagement with factual corrections on social media is a pressing challenge to increase the quality of our information ecosystem.

The world’s information systems are arguably owned by American and Chinese companies. So far, studies on China’s globalising Internet adopt either monolith approach or fragmented approach, lacking a comprehensive image to capture the architecture of China’s global information systems. Critically adopting the metaphor of ‘platformisation tree’, this article maps China’s network of global platform ecosystems and identifies its main stakeholders, based on a 2022–2023 ethnography with Chinese tech personnel and venture capitalists in Shenzhen, Indonesia and Vietnam. It argues that China’s globalising Internet shows a triangulation of China, the US, and recipient countries. Similarly to how vines grow and spread using various climbing strategies, Chinese tech companies have developed their ecosystem of digital infrastructures, intermediary platforms, and sectional apps. However, they significantly depend on the GAFAM (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft)-led ecosystem, interact with their surroundings, and embed deeply into recipient countries’s digital geographies. This research provides a grounded, empirical perspective to the contemporary debate on China’s digital expansion, highlighting varying techno-mediated positionalities and socially driven innovation in the Global South. It contributes to the conceptualisation of ‘global platform ecosystems’ as a relational and ecological social technical system, situated within a dynamic integrity of ‘centre-periphery’, ‘online- offline’ and ‘human-non-human’.

Caste-based discrimination in India is a highly politicized and sensitive matter, deeply rooted in social practices and now extending to various digital platforms and spaces. The advent of social media has led to an increase in reports of caste-based discrimination and reinforcing caste prejudices belonging to Dalit people. Examining the nature and consequences of these experiences is essential for addressing these inequalities and promoting inclusivity in online platforms. This paper focuses on identifying the forms and frequency of discrimination, its psychological and emotional impacts on the affected individuals, and the strategies Dalits employ to counter casteism in these virtual spaces. Forty-five participants (30 males, 15 females) were recruited using purposive and snowball sampling methods, with data gathered through online and offline focus group discussions. Employing Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis, the study identifies diverse forms of online caste-based discrimination, including hate speech, derogatory remarks, cyberbullying, threats, and exclusion from online groups. These encounters often result in negative psychological and emotional responses such as anger, frustration, distress, anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and psychological trauma. The study indicates that Dalits employ various strategies to cope with online discrimination, including assertive engagement, silent endurance, and avoidance. The long-term societal implications include reinforcing caste hierarchies and stereotypes and hindering social mobility and economic opportunities for Dalits. The study recommends formulating platform policies and interventions to combat online casteism, alongside broader societal initiatives, the promotion of digital literacy, improved reporting mechanisms, and collaboration with Dalit advocacy groups to eradicate caste-based disparities. KEYWORDS: Dalitscasteismdiscriminationsocial mediaonline experienceshate speech