Project description
Exploring the impact of online echo chambers
The rise of the internet and social media has transformed news consumption, leading to the rise of echo chambers (environments where individuals primarily consume like-minded news). This phenomenon threatens democracy by amplifying polarisation and distorting perceptions of reality. However, there is limited evidence on the extent of echo chambers, as most research focuses on news outlets, not individual articles. In this context, the ERC-funded ECHO project aims to bridge this gap by analysing news demand and supply at the article level. It will create a comprehensive dataset of article slants, study how outlets tailor content to consumers and investigate how article consumption influences attitudes, offering new insights into online segregation and its effects.
Objective
The internet and social media dramatically transformed the news landscape. The abundance of online news options, recommendations of social media algorithms, and changes in news production may have segregated individuals into echo chambers, environments where people mostly consume like-minded news. Such echo chambers could exacerbate polarization, distort perceptions of reality, and threaten democracy. However, a gap remains between these grave concerns and the limited evidence on echo chambers. A critical challenge is that research is typically conducted at the outlet level. Focusing on outlets rather than individual articles may underestimate segregation as individuals today consume specific articles from many outlets. This project will analyze the demand and supply of news at the article level to provide new insights regarding the origins, extent, and implications of online echo chambers. The project consists of three parts.
First, I will create a new dataset of the slant (political leaning) of millions of articles using high-resolution data, expert ratings, and advances in large language models. I will use this dataset to provide the first estimate of online segregation based on the slant of articles.
Second, instead of fixing the set of articles and analyzing consumer behavior, I will fix the audience and analyze how outlets tailor articles to their consumers, and whether this increases segregation. I will complement the descriptive estimates of how outlets distribute news with a casual analysis of whether the internet and social media affect the news that outlets produce.
Third, I will elicit individuals willingness to pay for various articles and causally estimate how the articles people typically avoid affect their attitudes when they are consumed. I will use these estimates to decompose the relative importance of two theories for how news polarizes attitudes: differences in preference for like-minded news and heterogeneity in the effects of news.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences computer and information sciences internet
- social sciences political sciences government systems democracy
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-STG
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69978 Tel Aviv
Israel
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