September 15, 2025
Are the digital traces we see on social media giving us a distorted view of political polarization?
A new paper by DNDS PhD graduate Yijing Chen, faculty member Elisa Omodei, and their co-authors explores this question. The study shows that measurements based only on engagement forms recorded by public APIs—such as commenting on YouTube—can portray a more segregated picture of political polarization than those based on less visible engagement, like viewing behavior.
Their findings highlight the importance of carefully considering the biases introduced by different digital trace data when studying polarization.
Read the article here.