Learn: Media, Algorithms and Public Sphere

What was Meta's (2025) feed-personalisation complaint?

Digital-rights groups challenged Meta's alleged lack of meaningful choice over non-profiled feeds.

How does TikTok's For You algorithm rank videos?

It uses signals like likes, shares, follows and watch behaviour to personalise recommendations.

What did Frances Haugen's (2021) disclosures highlight?

Facebook's engagement-based systems could amplify divisive or harmful content.

What did Cinelli et al.'s (2021) echo-chamber study find?

Like-minded clustering across social platforms, with news-consumption segregation varying by platform.

What did Platformer report about Musk and Twitter (2023)?

Musk reportedly asked engineers to adjust recommendations to increase his tweets' visibility.

What went wrong with Twitter's paid verification (2022)?

Paid blue checkmarks led to impersonation accounts posting misleading claims, like a fake Eli Lilly account.

What is Habermas's definition of the public sphere?

A space for public discussion where people can exchange ideas and debate issues affecting society.

What does Herman and Chomsky's ownership filter explain?

Media ownership can shape content and priorities, giving owners or commercial interests influence.

What does the political economy of media examine?

How ownership, profit and commercial incentives shape media production, distribution and content.

McLuhan (1964): What does "the medium is the message" mean?

The medium's form and structure shape how people experience information and interact with society, not just the content it carries.

Celuch et al. (2023): What did their self-censorship study find?

Among Finnish professionals who experienced work-related online harassment, 17.62% of university staff, 18.04% of local politicians and 17.28% of media professionals reported at least one self-censoring action or thought in response.