Eunchae Jang, Mengqi Liao, Chris Skurka, Homero Gil de Zúñiga
{"title":"Mitigating the News-Finds-Me Perception: Evaluating the intended (and unintended) effects of educational warnings on political learning","authors":"Eunchae Jang, Mengqi Liao, Chris Skurka, Homero Gil de Zúñiga","doi":"10.1177/14614448261438455","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448261438455","url":null,"abstract":"Social media foster a News-Finds-Me perception (NFM), whereby individuals believe important news will “find them” without actively seeking it. Although the negative consequences of NFM are well-documented, strategies to mitigate NFM’s effects remain unexplored. In a pre-registered 3 (educational warning: general vs. personalized vs. control) ✕ 2 (NFM level: low vs. high) between-subjects experiment ( <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">N</jats:italic> = 405), we test whether general educational warnings (forewarning individuals about NFM and its detrimental outcomes) and personalized warnings (targeting specific NFM groups) affect political news learning and NFM reliance. Low-NFM participants exhibited greater political learning from news stories and greater intention to reduce NFM than high-NFM participants. Neither warning reduced these gaps. However, a personalized warning (vs. general) elicited stronger defensive reactions among high-NFM participants, which in turn negatively predicted political learning and intention to reduce NFM. These findings underscore the need to thoughtfully develop intervention strategies that avoid triggering unintended reactions among high-NFM individuals.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147752652","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"From search engines to AI agents: Interface control and the restructuring of communication power","authors":"Juan Ortiz-Freuler, Manuel Castells","doi":"10.1177/14614448261437812","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448261437812","url":null,"abstract":"Control over digital interfaces has become a significant aspect of geopolitical struggles. This article advances an analytical framework illuminating how global communication power manifests across three key interfaces: search engines, social media, and AI agents. We articulate the evolution of these interfaces from corporate innovation to an aspect of contested transnational control, and conceptualize how corporate multinationals like Google, Facebook, TikTok, and DeepSeek leverage interface design to consolidate authority while state interventions challenge their market control. Governments seek to instrumentalize or challenge corporate interfaces to advance national goals, while firms strategically align with or resist state agendas to secure market access. The framework articulates how these forces reconfigure relations between information, people, and machines, with implications for the internet’s next phase.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147751555","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Erratum to “Flattening the News: Platformisation and the Erosion of Topical Diversity Across News Outlet Types”","authors":"","doi":"10.1177/14614448261447138","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448261447138","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147743974","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“Always perfect, discrimination free, and informed”: The perfect intersectional feminist and digital feminist allyship discourses","authors":"Katrin Schindel","doi":"10.1177/14614448261441871","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448261441871","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines how popular intersectional allyship discourses in contemporary digital feminism align with the neoliberal ethos of self-actualizing encouraged by the capitalist social media platforms on which these discourses circulate – and how this ethos materializes in feminists’ subjectivities through “the perfect.” Drawing on interviews with German-speaking feminists about their perceptions of and affective engagements with intersectionality and allyship discourses in digital feminism, I demonstrate that these discourses converge in producing “the perfect intersectional feminist.” Unpacking this theoretical figure, my analysis elucidates its three key tenets in line with neoliberal subjectivity – self-competition, self-improvement, and individualized responsibility – and how these reproduce ideals of perfect white middle-class femininity. My analysis further highlights how the perfect intersectional feminist is conditioned by the judgment-enticing design of social media platforms, enabling not only self- but also peer surveillance, which produces intra-feminist callouts, as well as (self-)competition, exhaustion, insecurity, and anxiety.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147744023","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“Douyin is taming us”: Visibility, governance, and feminist discourses on Douyin","authors":"Guan Wang, Shaheen Kanthawala","doi":"10.1177/14614448261442092","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448261442092","url":null,"abstract":"Drawing on 14 in-depth interviews, this study examines how feminist content creators on Douyin navigate platform visibility, governance, and gendered censorship to disseminate feminist discourse. Findings show that participants position themselves as <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">knowledge cultivators</jats:italic> rather than influencers, emphasizing dialogic engagement and collective understanding over authority or personal idolization. To reach broader publics, creators strategically engage with platform visibility logics through practices such as <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">trendjacking</jats:italic> , while orienting their work toward what we conceptualize as <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">critical visibility—</jats:italic> valued for its capacity to foster reflection and dialogue rather than mere exposure. We introduce the concept of <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">topic density</jats:italic> to describe the structural barriers of conveying feminist ideas under conditions of audience skepticism, fast-paced short-video consumption, and political constraint. To remain visible, creators adopt extensive pre-publication self-censorship practices that function not merely as individual accommodations but as a depoliticizing force constraining what feminist critique can become publicly legible on the platform.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147744024","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Freja Sørine Adler Berg, Lene Heiselberg, Thomas Enemark Lundtofte, Lena Frischlich
{"title":"Growing up with misinformation: A mixed-methods study of the perceptions, experiences, and responses among the 5- to 12-year-olds","authors":"Freja Sørine Adler Berg, Lene Heiselberg, Thomas Enemark Lundtofte, Lena Frischlich","doi":"10.1177/14614448261435124","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448261435124","url":null,"abstract":"This mixed-methods study explores how children aged 5–12 years experience and respond to perceived misinformation on social media. Drawing on mobile ethnographic data and a survey of 401 Danish children, the research shows that children perceive misinformation as a frequent part of their digital lives, especially on platforms such as YouTube. Children encounter diverse forms of misleading content—from playful videos to harmful challenges and fake science—and react with emotions ranging from amusement and curiosity to confusion, fear, and anger. Older children display greater awareness and vocabulary related to misinformation, while younger ones engage with it more imaginatively. The study also highlights the role of parents in shaping how children interpret and react to misleading content and underscores the need for age-sensitive approaches to media literacy. By centering children’s perspectives, the study offers new insights into how misinformation affects the youngest users.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"65 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147725789","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Michaela Šaradín Lebedíková, David Lacko, Ine Beyens, David Smahel
{"title":"Are smartphones stress-inducing or stress-buffering for adolescents? An experience-sampling study","authors":"Michaela Šaradín Lebedíková, David Lacko, Ine Beyens, David Smahel","doi":"10.1177/14614448261438432","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448261438432","url":null,"abstract":"Despite the far-reaching impact of stress on overall well-being, current research offers little information on whether smartphone use (SU) is stress-inducing or stress-buffering for adolescents. Building on existing media effects theories and the transactional theory of stress, this study is the first to address the effect of SU on perceived stress in adolescents (17,152 observations, <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">N</jats:italic> = 184, 13–17 years old) with an experience-sampling design combined with trace data. We found no effects of time spent using smartphones on stress for approximately 80% of our sample. For 20%, SU was stress-inducing, albeit with a small effect size. The results point to the importance of smartphone usage patterns besides the time spent using smartphones. Furthermore, the results provide evidence that media effects are not universal and that adolescents cannot be regarded as a homogeneous group. Our work has important implications for future research, as well as for parents and educators.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147725790","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lobna Hassan, Miikka J. Lehtonen, Mohammed (Abdelaty) Mohammed, Karen Schrier
{"title":"Balancing moral, financial, and legal considerations: How practitioners in the game industry justify spending on accessibility","authors":"Lobna Hassan, Miikka J. Lehtonen, Mohammed (Abdelaty) Mohammed, Karen Schrier","doi":"10.1177/14614448261439733","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448261439733","url":null,"abstract":"As the global game industry expands, accessibility for players with disabilities has become a growing concern. Implementing accessibility is mostly technologically feasible, yet it remains scarce. This study investigates how practitioners justify accessibility spending in an industry marked by rapid growth, weak regulation, and platform pressures. Drawing on a mixed-method survey of 272 professionals, we identify three decision-making strategies: proactive (morally driven), rational (profit-driven), and reactive (compliance-oriented). The proactive strategy was associated with relatively higher accessibility spending, and non-male participants showed a higher likelihood of supporting accessibility. The findings highlight the ethical, economic, and organizational tensions professionals navigate in digitized or platform-intensive industries. The findings contribute to research on ethical decision-making and creative labor by theorizing on how moral, financial, and legal considerations intersect within digitized or platformized industries.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"135 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147725788","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hannah Weinmann, Tanja V Messingschlager, Markus Appel
{"title":"Gender bias in text-to-image generative artificial intelligence: Neglect and stereotypical presentations across three popular platforms","authors":"Hannah Weinmann, Tanja V Messingschlager, Markus Appel","doi":"10.1177/14614448261435197","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448261435197","url":null,"abstract":"Images generated by artificial intelligence (AI) were assumed to underrepresent women and to contain stereotypical portrayals. A total of 1344 images were generated at two times of measurement by DALL·E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion and were analyzed via a preregistered content analysis. Results revealed representational and presentational bias, varying between prompts and between AI platforms. Women were depicted less frequently than men in images generated with the prompt “competent person,” whereas women were generated more often with a neutral prompt (i.e. “person”) or with the prompt “warm person.” Regarding stereotypical presentations, images representing women (vs men) showed lower facial prominence (face-ism), higher intensity smiles, and more pronounced lateral head tilts (head canting). These biases varied significantly between AI platforms. The findings suggest that gender stereotypes are spread by generative AI systems and highlight the need for interventions in the development and deployment of image-generating AI.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147708642","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Going negative across platforms and time: Assessing the supply and demand of negative campaigning","authors":"Anders Olof Larsson","doi":"10.1177/14614448261430714","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448261430714","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates dynamics of negative campaigning by Norwegian political parties on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter from 2013 to 2024. Analysing 89,791 posts from nine major parties, it uses a novel content analysis approach combining Large Language Models (LLMs) and human annotation to categorize posts as negative, positive or neutral. The findings show an overall rise in negative campaigning across platforms, with significant changes following leadership shifts in the right-wing populist Progress Party (PP). The study examines engagement levels, measured by likes, for different content types. Initially, negative content attracted more engagement on Facebook. This trend, however, decreased over time, while Instagram saw increased engagement with negative content during later years. Twitter users appeared to have rather consistently favoured negative content, reflecting its reputation for incivility. The article enhances understanding of political communication strategies in a high-choice media environment, emphasizing the need to tailor campaign strategies to platform-specific user dynamics.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147682107","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}