Tom Divon | توم ديفون | תום דיבון
@tomdivon.bsky.social
Social Media Explorer 🦆 PhDing; Communication; HebrewU Founding Member @weareccsn.bsky.social 🤳🏽 Content Creators 🧲 Audiovisual Memes 🧨 Algos and Hate 📵 Tech Appropriation 👩🏽🎤 TikTok Cultures
Thrilled to share that our special issue on NMS (co-edited with @tomdivon.bsky.social & Martin Lundqvist) is officially out! 🎉🎉🎉 10 empirical pieces + an introductory article exploring the contextual nature of violence on digital platforms. journals.sagepub.com/toc/nmsa/28/4
New Media & Society - Volume 28, Number 4
Table of contents for New Media & Society, 28, 4
journals.sagepub.com
This sums a lot of what AI offers, some blurry vibes, and how its promise is part of a longer history of dealing with some pretty big dilemmas. By @tomdivon.bsky.social + Christian Pentzold: AI can make the dead talk – why this doesn’t comfort us: theconversation.com/ai-can-make-...
Live-Streaming: Mapping Networks of Influence and (Dis)information Flow (van Boheemen, @boesch.bsky.social, @tomdivon.bsky.social et al.) I was just made aware of this very insightful report on the usage of TikTok Live-Streaming by far-right extremists. www.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/SummerSc...
SummerSchool2025LiveStreaming < Dmi < Foswiki
digitalmethods.net
Wednesday: @tomdivon.bsky.social will explore questions of evidence, testimony, credibility and truth concerning the use of generative AI in Palestinian activism. With commentary from Lilly Boxman-Shabtai (Jerusalem) & Julian Kuttig (Leipzig), chaired by Christian Pentzold (Leipzig) #GlobeColloquium
New article written by @tomdivon.bsky.social and Tobias Ebbretch-Hartmann in New Media & Society. What happens when creators, with no historical ties, perform on TikTok as if they were Holocaust victims using trends, dance, and filters? journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com
If Karoline Leavitt is correct and TikTok’s algorithm is going to split so a new US entity has oversight of it, it could lobotmise the app in America. My latest for @fastcompany.com, featuring @jessmaddox.bsky.social, @boesch.bsky.social and @tomdivon.bsky.social www.fastcompany.com/91408598/tru...
How a new U.S.-flavored algorithm will alter the experience of TikTok
A rumored split between TikTok’s algorithm in the United States and the computer code running the app elsewhere could put off users—and destroy TikTok’s secret sauce.
fastcompany.com
How does the professionalization of Trust & Safety shape global content moderation practices? We compare Community Guidelines using the typology of harms from TSPA to identify policy priorities and exclusions, available #openaccess in New Media & Society: doi.org/10.1177/1461...
Priorities and exclusions within Trust and Safety industry standards - Blake Hallinan, CJ Reynolds, Rebecca Scharlach, Dana Theiler, Noa Niv, Omer Rothenstein, Isabell Knief, Yehonatan Kuperberg, 2025
Platform governance is simultaneously a matter of public concern and a professional calling for Trust and Safety, the nascent field tasked with setting and enfo...
doi.org
📢📢📢 PhD publication! after 1.5 years of ethnographic exploration of Ukrainian creators on TikTok, I'm thrilled to share our OA work with my brilliant friend @moaerikssonkrut.bsky.social on PLAYFUL TRAUMA in times of war and adversity 🇺🇦 💛 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Playful Trauma: TikTok Creators and the Use of the Platformed Body in Times of War - Tom Divon, Moa Eriksson Krutrök, 2024
Amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, TikTok has emerged as a pivotal platform, where creators utilize its compressed video formats to mediate the harsh realiti...
journals.sagepub.com
New publication! 🚨 Together with my brill team (@taylorannabell.bsky.social & @cgoanta.bsky.social), we explore how parents turn kids into commodities on TikTok, diving into the nuances of *kidfluencers* & raising legal questions about platform governance. See🧵 journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1...
📢📢📢 My brilliant friend @danijaradent.bsky.social and I have released a report (from our TCRN event) shedding light on the structural inequalities that shape the experiences of Latin American creators on TikTok. Their reality is one of constant struggle; see 🧵 tiktokcultures.com/latam-report/
Latin American Cultures on TikTok
Download the report (PDF). About ‘Latin American Cultures on TikTok’ collects and expands on some of the main takeaways from the Latin American Cultures on TikTok event, which took place on N…
tiktokcultures.com
Sadly, our iPhones have become sources of trauma. Perves can harass with their dick pic via AirDrop, and 'Memories' resurface painful moments we'd prefer to forget; @nicolettelittle.bsky.social & I delve into the unsolicited nature of algos with this OA piece (🧵) www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....
From Ukraine🇺🇦 to Gaza🇵🇸, Syria🇸🇾, Lebanon🇱🇧, and now India🇮🇳 & Pakistan🇵🇰, creators use SM platforms to make their conflicts more visible. They're curators, eyewitnesses, and living archives of atrocity. @moaerikssonkrut.bsky.social & I call them *War Influencers*; OA in @platformsnsociety.bsky.social 🧵
New annotated resource on #SocialMediaViolence: The rise of war influencers: Creators, platforms, and the visibility of conflict zones, by @tomdivon.bsky.social and @moaerikssonkrut.bsky.social Read my notes here: esteban-morales.com/lit-review-v...
The rise of war influencers: Creators, platforms, and the visibility of conflict zones – Esteban Morales
esteban-morales.com
New publication alert: The algorithm loves the war”: ambivalent visibility in content creator practices during war" www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... with the amazing duo @tomdivon.bsky.social and @moaerikssonkrut.bsky.social !! findings below >>>
“The algorithm loves the war”: ambivalent visibility in content creator practices during war
Content creators in war zones are critical in shaping global perceptions of conflict. Through social media, they document real-time events and reach audiences beyond the traditional news frameworks...
tandfonline.com
Dream team incoming - @taylorannabell.bsky.social @gorwa.ca @rscarlets.bsky.social Jacob van de Kerkhof @thelesbertaglia.bsky.social with a powerful reminder of how search recommendations shape what is visible, trusted and treated as credible knowledge & we better keep our eyes on it as researchers👇
Rebecca Scharlach@rscarlets.bsky.social · last yr.What if platforms decided what you should search for, without telling you how or why? In this position paper co-authored with @taylorannabell.bsky.social, @gorwa.ca, Jacob van de Kerkhof & @thalesbertaglia.bsky.social, we explore the TikTok Search feature and the governance challenges it creates.
a true challenge by the brill @bloggeronpole.bsky.social & @pamogranite.bsky.social to the corporate discourse of *community* on platforms. They capture how creators at risk are forced to navigate corpo-civic spaces where care, visibility & belonging are destabilized by commercial governance; GOLD👇
Dr Carolina Are / Blogger On Pole@bloggeronpole.bsky.social · last yr.In a new paper for Convergence, @pamogranite.bsky.social & I examine the challenges Instagram & TikTok creators at risk of de-platforming face when holding onto communities, arguing that these spaces' turn towards entertainment & selling is producing fatigue: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
From Ukraine🇺🇦 to Gaza🇵🇸, Syria🇸🇾, Lebanon🇱🇧, and now India🇮🇳 & Pakistan🇵🇰, creators use SM platforms to make their conflicts more visible. They're curators, eyewitnesses, and living archives of atrocity. @moaerikssonkrut.bsky.social & I call them *War Influencers*; OA in @platformsnsociety.bsky.social 🧵
@alicetiara.bsky.social: "It's very important that we, as a community, counter those [false accusations of censorship] narratives head on and not cede ground. …When you let another party frame the debate, you lose the debate before it's even started." m.youtube.com/watch?v=p8ST...
UNC Professor Alice Marwick on the need to counter false narratives
YouTube video by Cambridge Disinformation Summit
m.youtube.com
I am officially part of @aoir.bsky.social exec!! Thank you to all who voted and @tomdivon.bsky.social for the encouragement ✨
Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR)@aoir.bsky.social · last yr.Your 2025-2027 AoIR Executive Committee! President: Sarah Roberts Vice President: Andra Siibak Immediate Past President: Nicholas John Secretary: Nathalie Schäfer Treasurer: Robert W. Gehl Graduate Student Rep: Lynrose Jane Genon Open Seats: Admire Mare, Rebecca Scharlach, & Meg Jing Zeng.
Your 2025-2027 AoIR Executive Committee! President: Sarah Roberts Vice President: Andra Siibak Immediate Past President: Nicholas John Secretary: Nathalie Schäfer Treasurer: Robert W. Gehl Graduate Student Rep: Lynrose Jane Genon Open Seats: Admire Mare, Rebecca Scharlach, & Meg Jing Zeng.
Israel, 2025. This is where the media and everyday civilians now stand morally. The front page of a major newspaper calling for the flattening of Gaza and the Hague, featuring a piece on one of the country's leading singers, with the headline. “I would vote for Kahane.” Yes, that Meir Kahane ⬇️
The brill @thechristinet.bsky.social reminds us that whether we "like it or not, we associate height with power”; great piece about how in politics, stature is not just symbolic for us but can shape credibility, leadership perception, and even electability!👇
Dr. Christine H. Tran@thechristinet.bsky.social · last yr.I’m quoted in the Toronto Star today to explain how digital platforms make us “height police” our 🇨🇦 politicians as if they were online celebrities or Hinge matches 🫢 How does your pick measure up? 📐
Pre-Trump 2.0, Big Tech seemed to at least pretend to care about user rights, & used PR & comms as a way to engage in damage control (as @tomdivon.bsky.social, @pamogranite.bsky.social & I have argued in our paper on gaslighting as a platform comms strategy): journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Platform gaslighting: A user-centric insight into social media corporate communications of content moderation - Tom Divon, Carolina Are, Pam Briggs, 2025
This paper delves into communications dynamics between social media platforms and their users as they navigate the opacity of governance policies. Using Meta an...
journals.sagepub.com
I've just finished my talk for the BSWC "Villainous" conference, where I shared strategies for communicating with social media platforms to push for change & make an impact with NGO &/or academic / union work. Yet, comms with platforms are getting more frustrating⤵️
Brill team (👇) frames creator engagement with moderation as an *aspirational* form of participatory governance; creators express desires to influence moderation but lack structural guarantees, often ending up "legitimating the platform as arbiter of public discourse and cultural production.” READ! 🔍
Blake Hallinan@blakeplease.bsky.social · last yr.What do creators do when they feel that social media platforms aren’t treating them fairly? Our study of a controversy about racism and bias on YouTube, out now #openaccess in @policyr.bsky.social, offers a new answer: they participate in aspirational platform governance doi.org/10.14763/202...
In the past 2y, I’ve served on the AoIR exec as the grad rep and advocated for the younger members of our community. We’ve made meaningful changes, and more to come! With elections open (nominations due April 2 🗳️) now is your chance to join! Don’t hesitate to reach out; happy to share experiences <3
This is our plan for today: Attending "Platform Gaslighting" by @tomdivon.bsky.social @bloggeronpole.bsky.social (3pm CET) as part of our online talk series on platform governance @pgmt.bsky.social. 👇Find last minute registration and info below.
Lab Platform Governance, Media, and Technology (PGMT)@pgmt.bsky.social · last yr.⏰ Don't forget to join us tomorrow at 3pm for our Online Talk Series "Behind the Scenes" with @tomdivon.bsky.social & @bloggeronpole.bsky.social ! Registration: platform-governance.org/online-talk-...
How algorithmic ableism reproduces bias for disabled and marginalized creators through content suppression and surveillance —> the brill @jessrauchberg.bsky.social! 👇🫶🙌
jess rauchberg@jessrauchberg.bsky.social · last yr.Really excited to share my latest article, "Articulating algorithmic ableism: The suppression and surveillance of disabled TikTok creators," is now published in Journal of Gender Studies! A beautiful conversation between disability + creator studies. Read here ↪️ shorturl.at/ft5
