Sheryl Wei Ting Ng’s research while affiliated with Nanyang Technological University and other places

Visual messaging is a cornerstone of campaign strategies of political parties and candidates that can complement and amplify the effects of the written/spoken word. Through a thematic analysis of the Facebook ads of the two main political parties during the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections in India, this paper shows the interplay of identity, ideology, and gender in the visual communication strategies of political parties on Facebook as they tried to mobilize voters in an intensely polarized context. Both the incumbent and the opposition parties framed issues in their visual campaigns that were culturally situated; these issues centered around identity and ideology while simultaneously emphasizing strong leadership with gendered rhetoric. Our findings contribute to the advancement of theoretical understanding of political personalization, highlighting the intricate interplay between gender, ideological inclinations, and cultural identity, all of which profoundly influence the personalization process in the context of an intensely polarized election campaign.

Deepfakes are a troubling form of disinformation that has been drawing increasing attention. Yet, there remains a lack of psychological explanations for deepfake sharing behavior and an absence of research knowledge in non-Western contexts where public knowledge of deepfakes is limited. We conduct a cross-national survey study in eight countries to examine the role of fear of missing out (FOMO), deficient self-regulation (DSR), and cognitive ability in deepfake sharing behavior. Results are drawn from a comparative survey in seven South Asian contexts (China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) and compare these findings to the United States, where discussions about deepfakes have been most relevant. Overall, the results suggest that those who perceive the deepfakes to be accurate are more likely to share them on social media. Furthermore, in all countries, sharing is also driven by the social-psychological trait – FOMO. DSR of social media use was also found to be a critical factor in explaining deepfake sharing. It is also observed that individuals with low cognitive ability are more likely to share deepfakes. However, we also find that the effects of DSR on social media and FOMO are not contingent upon users’ cognitive ability. The results of this study contribute to strategies to limit deepfakes propagation on social media.