{"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}
{"title":"Seeing into the air: Media practices of blind vloggers and the visual paradox of mediated visibility","authors":"Sijing Song","doi":"10.1177/14614448261437810","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448261437810","url":null,"abstract":"Although discussions of visibility often presuppose that it transcends the visual dimension, within short-video platforms, the realization of visibility is in fact highly dependent on a visually dominant communication environment. Through in-depth interviews with Douyin blind vloggers, this study reveals three layers of invisibility they encounter: operational, presentational, and algorithmic. To share their unique sensory experiences, blind vloggers have to adapt to the ocularcentric structure of the platform through strategies such as repetition, imitation, and compensation, reflecting the ableist pre-assumptions in today’s digital media landscape. Drawing from this “visibility paradox,” the study proposes a perceptual model of mediated visibility for future theoretical analysis and practical applications.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"48 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147682141","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":"Mapping the relationship between journalistic discourse, tech industry layoffs, and artificial intelligence","authors":"Anne Herfurth, Jessica Maddox","doi":"10.1177/14614448261437808","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448261437808","url":null,"abstract":"The tech industry’s 2023–2024 mass layoffs represented a critical moment in which an infallible industry seemed to suddenly lay bare its weak spots. Historically, Big Tech and the American press have had a complementary relationship, journalism often reinforcing an industry long viewed as too big to fail. Through textual analysis of long-form coverage of the tech layoff crisis, we identify three themes. First, even amid layoffs, Big Tech is presented as too complex and important to regulate, with layoffs framed as necessary for long-term health—and as justification for subsequent layoffs by other firms. Second, AI is presented as both a positive and a negative factor in layoffs, yet remains largely unchallenged. Finally, coverage paid minimal attention to disproportionate impacts on women and racial minorities, upholding gender and racial imbalances in Big Tech. Taken together, the press did not simply explain layoffs—it acted as an active stakeholder.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"52 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147682108","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":"Race, ethnicity, and technology-facilitated violence: The experience of activists in Chocó, Colombia","authors":"Miyerlandy Cabanzo Valencia, Laura Gianna Guntrum","doi":"10.1177/14614448251344286","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251344286","url":null,"abstract":"Racism extends into the digital realm, manifesting in various forms of technology-facilitated violence (TFV). Although much research centers on the Global North, it is essential to investigate this issue in other settings, such as Colombia, where activists are particularly vulnerable to TFV. This study enriches the debate with a qualitative approach, conducting 18 interviews with activists from Chocó and Bogotá. The literature on race and TFV reveals that technology can exacerbate racism through social media, like anonymity, and introduce new forms of racist violence, including deepfakes and algorithmic bias. However, these forms were not prevalent in our interviews. For activists, structural racism, especially limited Internet, and electricity access emerged as a primary factor in their experiences with racist TFV. Overt TFV escalates to offline threats, silencing dissenting voices. This research emphasizes the need to understand TFV within non-Western regions, advocating for nuanced approaches to addressing digital racism in diverse contexts.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147649167","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}