News & Commentary

The paper’s findings reveal how misinformation spreads across networks and point to need to improve content-moderation techniques.

In 2020, Craig Newmark Philanthropies donated $400,000 to support our PhD students, ensuring they could continue their research projects examining some of the biggest questions at the intersection of social media and democracy. Here is an update on what they've been working on this past year thanks to Craig's generous support.

We analyzed Twitter discussions around two very different topics and found striking similarities in how political discussions evolve online.

Those who deactivated their Facebook profiles report a lower regard for other ethnic groups, shows a new study of users in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Our research shows that the amount of hate speech on Twitter did not systematically increase during and immediately after the 2016 presidential campaign.

Joshua A. Tucker discusses the future of social media research as false information about COVID-19 spreads alongside the disease itself.

A new book argues academic researchers should have more access to the data locked inside Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms.

We're committed to supporting open and accessible science, which includes promoting the creation and use of open-source software, providing high-quality replication materials for our publications, and contributing to existing open-source tools and frameworks. To do so, we created an open-source tool to make using transformers easier and explain how to use it here.

Coordinated campaigns by sock puppets on social media are likely neither necessary nor sufficient to signify serious foreign threats to electoral integrity.

Tweets mentioning hydroxychloroquine peaked when President Trump touted the drug — without evidence — as a cure to the disease.

With the support of an NSF Grant, we’re studying susceptibility to false and misleading news around COVID-19.

Our research shows protesters are far more connected to each other — via direct and indirect social ties — than are non-protesters.

Older adults, Republicans, and independents, according to our research.

Our research shows political bubbles, or echo chambers, are not as widespread as many pundits make them out to be.

Here’s how we create a healthy research environment for those studying harmful online content.

Our co-director Joshua A. Tucker testified before the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress.

NYU has established the Center for Social Media and Politics, which will examine the production, flow, and impact of social media content in the political sphere, as well as support research that uses social media data to study politics.

Although social media may have given dissidents a temporary advantage over repressive governments, now that Twitter is a mature platform, repressive regimes can and do use social media to solidify their grip on power.

Initial emotional responses on Twitter gave way to a call for more political responses in the wake of Newtown massacre.