The notion of machine companions has long been embedded in socio-technological imaginaries. Recent advances in AI have moved those media musings into believable sociality manifested in interfaces, robotic bodies, and devices. Those machines are often referred to colloquially as âcompanions,â yet there is little careful engagement of machine companionship (MC) as a formal concept or measured variable. This PRISMA-guided scoping review systematically samples, surveys, and synthesizes current scholarly works on MC (N = 71; 2017â2025). Works varied widely in considerations of MC according to guiding theories, dimensions of a priori specified properties (subjectively positive, sustained over time, co-active, autotelic), and in measured concepts (with more than 50 distinct measured variables). We ultimately offer a literature-guided definition of MC as an autotelic, coordinated connection between human and machine that unfolds over time and is subjectively positive; through a facet-theoretical lens, we suggest how this definition can scaffold future research.
Social Media + Society
The TikTok Caliphate: How Jihadist Supporters Exploit Algorithmic Recommendations and Evade Content Moderation
Jihadist organizations and their supporters have long used social media to spread propaganda, creating enduring content moderation challenges. Despite TikTokâs purported zero-tolerance approach to violent extremism, terrorist propaganda persists on the platform. This study investigates how supporters of ISIS and Al-Qaeda employ TikTokâs features to exploit algorithmic recommendations and evade content moderation, increasing their visibility within a hostile platform environment. We strategically enrolled the platformâs recommendation system to surface terrorist propaganda and inductively developed a typology of five communicative techniques: audio camouflage (manipulating recorded audio and metadata), meme infiltration (embedding extremist content within pop culture references), blurred intent (distorting sensitive visuals), emoji codes (using coded language and symbols), and bait-and-switch (deferring the reveal of extremist messaging). Together, these tactics constitute a form of everyday extremism embedded within TikTokâs vernacular practices, aesthetics, and pop culture references, exposing the limitations of TikTokâs moderation and state regulations. Our study underscores the need for improved governance, culturally informed moderation, and greater collaboration between platforms and governments to combat online radicalization and extremism.
The âSolo of Deliberatorâ: Political Deliberation and Discourse Quality in Chinaâs Cyberspace
Nuanced studies have scrutinized the facilitative role of digital media in fostering political deliberation and in contributing to the prospect of democratization in (semi-) authoritarian societies. This study illuminates a less-explored facet of non-democratic contextsâ digital politics by shedding light on discourse quality in cyberspace. Guided by Gastil and Blackâs analyticalâsocial framework of deliberation, we propose an integrated analytical model comprising seven dimensions and employ a case study approach combined with supervised machine learning to analyze Chinese netizensâ digital engagement with the public policy of âdelaying retirement ageâ on the popular Q&A platform. The findings reveal deliberative virtuesâtopic relevance, rationality, and civilityâalongside a low presence of political alienation and minimal institutional alignment, suggesting generally strong analytical performance. In contrast, the social dimension, represented by argument reciprocity and transpositional consideration, remains weak, reflecting a lack of sustained interaction. Based on these empirical results, we coin the concept of the â solo of deliberator â to describe a pattern of online deliberation where analytical reasoning prevails while social engagement is subdued. Implications for deliberative democracy in non-democratic nations are discussed.
âRape Isnât Real, and If It Is, Foids Deserve Itâ: The Complex and Contradictory Articulations of Rape and Gender-Based Hate Among Incels
Sexual hate and violence are core tenets of incel ideology, yet few studies have examined in detail how rape is understood and articulated within these digital communities. This article addresses this gap through a critical discourse analysis of 3,353 posts published in one of the largest international incel forums. It investigates (1) how women are portrayed in the context of rape; (2) how rape is understood among incels and how these understandings are substantiated; (3) how incels situate themselves in these discussions; and (4) how claims about women and rape are mitigated or reinforced through user interactions. The analysis highlights the contradictions and inconsistencies embedded in incel discourse about sex, rape and women, as well as incelsâ strategic use of victimhood. The article further demonstrates the extremism of gender-based hate and the abhorrent language used to construct meaning around women and rape. Importantly though, the article shows how incel articulations of rape do not fundamentally diverge from mainstream misogyny. Instead, they are intensifications of ideas about rape and women which persist through the rape culture and rape myths in mainstream society, but are exacerbated by collective culture, lack of moderation and the separatist nature of the incel communities.
Informational Over Aspirational: Delineating âInfluencers With Expertiseâ and âExperts With Influenceâ in the Wellness Industry
The line between âinfluencers with expertiseâ and âexperts with influenceâ in the health and wellness industry has blurred and has confused the public on whom they can rely for their health information. Influencers with expertise in the wellness industry are those who have amassed authority through their online content and their ability to reflect an authentic self, often questioning and even outright denying the role of institutional experts and science. Experts with influence, on the contrary, are institutionally credentialed leaders with professional acumen in health and medicine who share credible information while attempting to debunk rampant misinformation. First, I describe the relationship between knowledge, expertise, and credibility, the last of which is considered a central norm of the influencer industry. Then, I offer differentiation between influencers with expertise and experts with influence. Then, through semi-structured interviews, I ask how influencers understand their perceived expertise and how they navigate and communicate their role to their audiences. The findings explicate the utilization of embodied knowledge in the wellness influencer industry, the use of disclaimers and claims to knowledgeability as protection from critique, and how many wellness influencers ultimately see themselves as a âdifferent kindâ of expert.
Managing multiple accounts on social networking sites (SNSs) like Instagram is a common strategy for users to tailor self-presentation and manage privacy by segmenting audiences and content. This practice supports privacy management and reflects identity processes such as identity evolution (how users perceive their self-concepts to shift over time) and identity synchronization (how these identities are integrated across accounts). Grounded in privacy management theory, this study uses survey data from 408 Instagram users and a structural equation modeling approach to examine how two distinct types of privacy management, platform-enabled and interpersonal privacy concerns, shape identity construction. Our findings reveal that content management and curation significantly contribute to both identity evolution and synchronization, while interpersonal privacy concerns are tied to network-based self-presentation. These results challenge assumptions of the privacy paradox, showing that users engage in deliberate, context-sensitive strategies and privacy strategies. In addition, audience segmentation, more than content itself, shapes identity work on SNSs.
Experiments offering social media users the choice to avoid toxic political content
Fatima Alqabandi, Graham Tierney, Christopher Bail, D. Sunshine Hillygus, Alexander Volfovsky
Social media platforms increasingly offer users control over their feeds, promising to reduce toxic discourse. This study tests how the mere offer of algorithmic control shapes user experiences. Respondents evaluated identical posts from a fictional platform, with half given the option to filter out toxic political content. Those given this choice reported greater platform satisfaction. However, those who opted for filtering rated content as more hostile than similar respondents who were not offered the choice. A follow-up experiment showed that exposure to only positive content did not reduce hostility ratings; it heightened them compared to exposure to both positive and negative content. These findings challenge the assumption that user autonomy will improve content experiences. Instead, algorithmic choice raises expectations, prompting users to scrutinize content more critically or attempt to âtrainâ the algorithm to align with their preferences. Platforms must consider how expectations, not just content exposure, shape online experiences.
The governance of AI-generated pornography platforms: A content analysis
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming adult content production by enabling users to generate highly customized sexual media through AI pornography platforms. Despite growing concerns about risks (e.g. illegal material generation and sex worker exploitation), AI pornography platform governance remains largely undocumented. We conceptualize AI pornography governance as fantasy arbitration, the process by which platforms determine which sexual fantasies can be technologically instantiated. Using an inductive content analysis of governance materials from 98 AI pornography platforms, we examine content prohibitions, moderation strategies and enforcement mechanisms, liability allocation, intellectual property rights, and privacy policies. Findings reveal heterogeneous governance regimes that create differential risk environments and illuminate how platforms independently dictate legitimate sexuality, determine who captures value from content generation, and commodify intimate data. Collectively, these governance practices position AI pornography platforms as corporate arbiters of sexual possibilities, with broader implications for intimate freedom, labor exploitation, and our co-evolution with technologies.
Deliberative quality and discursive incivility in authoritarian context: An analysis of Covid-19 discussions on Facebook in Vietnam
This study explores online deliberation and discursive (in)civility within Vietnamâs authoritarian context, focusing on Facebook discourse during the COVID-19 pandemic. It examines how different types of Facebook pages (i.e. government information pages, state-sponsored media, foreign media, and private discussion groups) shape deliberative quality and how (in)civility can both facilitate and hinder public discussion. Quantitative analysis reveals that foreign media pages foster more rational, diverse, reflexive, and interactive discussions, despite higher levels of incivility. In contrast, government and state-sponsored media pages maintain greater civility but demonstrate lower deliberative quality, while private groups show high incivility with minimal deliberation. To further contextualize these patterns, a close reading identifies emotional triggers and target-induced behaviors in uncivil comments. By integrating macro-level metrics with micro-level discursive practices, this study offers valuable insights for scholars and policymakers seeking to enhance deliberative engagement in digital environments under varying degrees of state control.
Live music imaginaries in the reception of online popular music concerts
This article critically interrogates a range of themes in writing about online popular music performances. It uncovers dominant conventional narratives, experiences, and understandings of online concerts, captured under the term âlive music imaginariesâ. Recent scholarship, journalism, and other commentary typically emphasise the limitations of online music events compared to in-person performances. Most pressingly, online concerts are pervasively viewed as merely a temporary lifeline for live music during the COVID-19 pandemic. They need not be. Commentators also frame technology as determining online performance practices, based on speculation about some inevitably virtual future of entertainment. Yet the history and variety of online concerts as a media form and cultural practice are under-considered. By highlighting and evaluating the historically and culturally situated live music imaginaries that shape the experience of online concerts, this article sets the stage for a theoretical reframing of the value of online music events.
âcongrats on the instagram soft launch of ur boyfriendâ: Platform-specificity, cultural production, and theorizing meta-intimate publics
This article explores âsoft launching,â a digital phenomenon predominantly associated with female users that involves deploying deliberately âaskewâ photographs to subtly reveal oneâs romantic partner on their Instagram profile. I use soft launching as a case study to interrogate the relationship between intimate publics and platformization, especially as it concerns feminized cultural production. I argue that intimate publics are platform-specific, and I recenter cultural production as a tool for studying intimate public spheres. Following this, I analyze the cross-platform existence of soft launching by applying discursive and textual methods. Examining the cultural products that surround and constitute soft launching reveals how platform-specificity contours both intimate publics and what I call meta-intimate publics , defined as intimate publics that reflexively and ambivalently repackage others. I offer meta-intimate publics as a framework for identifying and understanding how users (in particular, women and historically disenfranchised users) construct and present themselves across hypercommodified platform ecologies amid the âimpassesâ of contemporary digital life.
Populism in the age of social media: A systematic review of recent digital populism research
Ihsan Yilmaz, Ana-Maria Bliuc, Robb Norrie, Chloe M Smith, James Smith, Cerys Evans, Daniel S Courtney, Daniel Barnett
Digital platforms have become central infrastructures of contemporary populism, shaping how actors communicate, mobilise supporters and contest democratic norms. This article offers a systematic, cross-disciplinary review of empirical research on digital populism published between 2015 and early 2025. Analysing 188 studies from political communication, media studies and political science, we map how platform affordances structure populist communication, how digital populism is conceptualised and how it is studied. The literature portrays digital populism as the communicative enactment of populist ideology in environments that privilege personalisation, affective intensity and direct leaderâfollower engagement. Methods span qualitative, computational and experimental designs, with research concentrated on Twitter/X and Facebook. Most studies examine exclusionary, right-wing cases in European and Western contexts and associate them with polarisation, misinformation and declining institutional trust. Evidence remains largely correlational, and inclusionary or participatory variants are underexplored. We identify key gaps and call for greater analytical precision in assessing democratic consequences.
Vulnerable peopleâs digital good in four life domains: Insights and future recommendations
This article explores vulnerable peopleâs experiences of the digital and its potential for âgoodâ across four life domains and four digital inclusion levels. Conceptually, it is framed around the notions of the digital good, vulnerability and intersectionality. Methodologically, the study was conducted in 2024 using a social lab framework and the idea of a âsocial labâ space, in which 19 older people with intersecting vulnerabilities creatively shared insights into their experiences of good aspects of the digital. By combining manual and NVivo-assisted thematic and discourse analysis with visual analysis, we found that the digital good coexists with challenges in the digital domain, and that participants emphasised challenges more than positive experiences in all life domains except education and training. Regarding interventions, they recommended practical assistance, skills training and other support from those with lay knowledge or professional expertise, while discursively placing responsibility for support-seeking on themselves as individual users.
Policy and Internet
Where Risk Travels: A DualâPath Model of Media and Governance in the Perception of AI Hallucination
Existing research on AI hallucinations has largely framed them as technical flaws undermining user experience, with little attention to their role as emergent risk signals in sociocognitive processes. To address this gap, this study applies the Social Amplification of Risk Framework to examine how hallucinationâdriven risk perception relates to perceptions of media narratives and government performance. Using survey data from 811 generativeâAI users in mainland China, we test a dualâpath mediation model exploring the associations between perceived hallucination, perceptions of media hype and governance ineffectiveness, and subsequent risk perception and information behaviors. Results show an asymmetrical pattern: hallucination is linked to elevated risk through the media hype pathway, which is further associated with higher informationâsharing intention, whereas the governance pathway shows no direct association unless moderated by perceived behavioral control. Neither pathway is related to enhanced verification, revealing a decoupling of risk perception from epistemic vigilance. Implications for theorizing risk processing in opaque AI environments and for designing responsive governance strategies are discussed.