Understanding American politics in the digital age through neutral historical analysis.
Patterns and processes that describe how political conflict, communication, and behavior intensify or change in the digital era
Process by which recommendation systems and engagement-driven algorithms shape content visibility, virality, and user behavior
Algorithms prioritize engaging content, systematically amplifying emotionally provocative political material and creating feedback loops that intensify polarization
The competition for engagement that rewards sensationalism, outrage, and divisive content over substantive political discourse.
Social media algorithms prioritize engagement metrics, incentivizing political actors to create increasingly provocative content to capture audience attention.
Social and platform-driven practices of exclusion, punishment, or silencing for perceived violations of norms.
Coordinated campaigns using social media to remove individuals from platforms, employment, or public participation through mass reporting, viral shaming, and sustained pressure campaigns.
The transformation of political financing through crowdfunding, small-dollar donations, and subscription platforms that enable independent media and grassroots movements to bypass traditional funding gatekeepers.
Direct-to-supporter funding through platforms like Patreon, Substack, ActBlue, and crowdfunding sites, creating new pathways for political organizing and media independence
The deliberate creation and spread of false or misleading information to deceive audiences and achieve political objectives
Coordinated networks use social media algorithms, bots, and human amplifiers to rapidly spread false narratives across platforms
Self-reinforcing online communities that limit exposure to diverse perspectives through algorithmic curation and selective association.
Platform algorithms and user behavior patterns that create information environments where users primarily encounter content confirming their existing beliefs
The breakdown of shared information spaces into separate, often incompatible information ecosystems that different groups inhabit
Algorithm-driven personalization creates separate information bubbles where different audiences receive fundamentally different versions of reality
The use of memes, irony, and humor as central tools of persuasion and identity-building in digital politics.
Political messaging through viral content, coded language, and humor-based identity formation across social platforms
The movement of communities between platforms when facing bans, content moderation, or declining platform relevance.
Communities coordinate mass exodus from mainstream platforms to alternative platforms with different moderation policies or ideological alignment
Growing ideological distance and hostility between political groups, with fewer people holding moderate positions
Algorithmic amplification of partisan content, filter bubbles, and echo chambers accelerate the separation of opposing political groups online
The process by which political conflicts intensify toward the use of physical violence, threats, or intimidation as political tools
Online platforms facilitate the coordination of violence, normalization of extreme rhetoric, and rapid escalation of conflicts through viral amplification
Processes by which individuals adopt extreme ideological views, often accelerated in online spaces.
Digital platforms create echo chambers, algorithmic amplification, and network effects that can rapidly intensify ideological beliefs and social connections around extreme viewpoints.
The expansion of corporate and government monitoring, data collection, and loss of anonymity online that transforms political behavior and expression
Digital platforms enable unprecedented tracking of political activity, communications, and associations through data collection, facial recognition, and behavioral analysis