Soham De, Agrima Seth, Joyojeet Pal The military is one of the institutions that is held in extremely high esteem in modern nation-states around the world. While democratic states emphasize the separation of military and civilian leadership, the military is…
Midpoint Melodrama: UP Political Twitter Halfway through Polling Phases
Asmit Singh, Lalitha Kameswari, Jivitesh Jain, Tushar Mohan, Aravind Narayanan, Dipanwita Guhathakurta, Ponnurangam Kumaraguru, Joyojeet Pal We examined the use of Twitter by 10426 politicians from Uttar Pradesh, across all levels of seniority, midway into the phases of polling in…
Drawing Lines: The #HijabBan discourse on Twitter
Soham De, Anmol Panda, Joyojeet Pal We examined the social media messaging related to the Hijab Ban, starting Jan 31, 2021, and ending on Feb 20, 2022. The goal of this work was to examine both the frequency and importance…
What #hashtag wars tell us about the organization of Uttar Pradesh IT cells, and how parties mark their allies and enemies
Asmit Singh*, Jivitesh Jain*, Lalitha Kameswari*, Ponnurangam Kumaraguru, Joyojeet Pal Pitched battles on Twitter are increasingly common among the key players in the Uttar Pradesh elections, since the praises, innuendo, and insults that take shape and virality on Twitter often…
Indian Journalists’ Twitter Report Card: Language, Polarization, and Provocative Speech in the Popularity of Journalists’ Feed
Soham De, Joyojeet Pal Following Rahul Gandhi’s claim that Twitter had been artificially suppressing his following online, journalist Barkha Dutt also suggested that her own following had plateaued, and that Twitter may have artificially frozen her online following, we examined…
Social Media Influencers and the New Political Economy in South Asia and Africa
Social Media Influencers and the New Political Economy in South Asia and Africa April 7-8, 2022, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor In Person at Room 2435, North Quad, 105 State Street, Ann Arbor, and available Online through Registration Sponsored…
Did Twitter Consciously Undermine an Opposition Leader in India? An Analysis of the Rahul Gandhi Following Affair
Anmol Panda, Joyojeet Pal A complaint from Rahul Gandhi to Twitter about the stagnation in his Twitter following triggered a conversation about the social media giant’s possible role in undermining political speech. Gandhi’s team alleged that the stagnation, and occasional…
Uttar Pradesh Elections and Twitter: The Cast of Characters
Uttar Pradesh Elections and Twitter: An Introduction to the Cast of Characters Jivitesh Jain*, Asmit Singh*, Lalitha Kameswari, Ponnurangam Kumaraguru, Joyojeet Pal The Uttar Pradesh elections are being fought on social media just as much as they are in the…
Viva Hate: Aryan Khan Case on Twitter
Lalitha Kameswari, Joyojeet Pal Abstract: We examined the activity on Twitter around the Aryan Khan case in October 2021, and found that the most retweeted messages were negative, often hateful messages aimed at the actor Shah Rukh Khan or…
The Mohammed Shami Trolling Incident as a Warning of things to Come
Saloni Dash, Joyojeet Pal Fast bowler Mohammed Shami was in the news for being trolled online in the hours and days following India’s unqualified trouncing from Pakistan in the t20 world cup game between the two teams. While…