ICT and Social Justice
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Item Analyzing TikTok’s Role in Mobilizing Dynamics for Information Campaigns during Taiwan’s 2024 Elections(2025-01-07) Shaik, Mainuddin; Agarwal, NitinThis research investigates and identifies the key mobilizing characteristics in contemporary online information campaigns using novel multi-method socio-computational techniques. Utilizing social theories and network science to study social process, we leveraged Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) theory to extract key mobilization elements at different stages (initialization, amplification, sustainment) of mobilization process from social network (TikTok). We identify and analyze mobilization characteristics of disinformation and anti-disinformation campaigns during Taiwan’s 2024 presidential elections. Our investigation delves into dataset comprising 343 TikTok videos, 46,551 comments, 2,955 co-commenter nodes, and their 25,830 edges. Findings reveal that campaigns’ successes hinge on audience engagement rather than rapid initiation or content volume. Notably, the network cohesion and topical stance of anti-disinformation co-commenters during the amplification stage played a crucial role in countering disinformation. This comparative analysis highlights the significance of understanding the mobilization process for a comprehensive view of online information campaigns.Item The Amplifiers of Dissent: Examining Influence of Key Users and Content Modality on Collective Actions(2025-01-07) Bhattacharya, Sayantan; Agarwal, Nitin; Poudel, DiwashThis study investigates the role of content modality and key agents in the collective action process during the 2022 Brazilian presidential election protests on Instagram. Employing a socio-technical approach, we analyze the emotional and moral dimensions of Instagram posts, comparing text and imagery. We hypothesize that content modalities play a crucial role in spreading and amplifying protest effects and key agents, identified through betweenness centrality, high engagement, and post frequency, significantly shaping the emotional landscape and mobilizing resources. Our findings demonstrate that text and images contribute differently to collective identity formation and mobilization, with the text responses being emotionally charged and exhibiting prominent emotions of rage and victimization. By understanding the influence of multimedia content and key agents on collective action, this study contributes to the growing body of literature on the role of multimedia-rich social media communication in shaping public opinion and driving social movements during pivotal societal events.Item Can the Internet Help Curb Environmental Injustice? Implications for Marginalized Communities(2025-01-07) Jabr, Wael; Dhanorkar, SuvratA well-informed public is better placed to act upon issues of concern such as environmental injustice. Hence, regulators mandate owners of certain types of private information to publicize it on a regular basis. However, without ease of information acquisition and dissemination, the value of such disclosures may be limited. In this paper, we study the role of the Internet in enabling public access to information about toxic releases from manufacturing facilities and assess the implications it has on curbing those releases. We also further explore the implications for minority communities. Using a panel dataset on toxic releases, and applying an instrumental variable approach, we find that Internet penetration reduces the level of toxic releases, and that regions with higher minority concentration enjoy a further reduction. We find, however, that firms engage in transferring toxic releases from one region to another. Our work highlights the empowering role of the Internet.Item Introduction to the Minitrack on ICT and Social Justice(2025-01-07) Kietzmann, Jan; Park, Andrew