We introduce a special issue that collects eight articles, comprising research from twenty-
three countries and four continents on the sources, impact on citizens, and possible …

Research on incivility in political communication usually defines uncivil communication as a
violation of established norms. Few studies, however, have specified these norms and …

Political polarization remains perhaps the “greatest barrier” to effective COVID-19 pandemic
mitigation measures in the United States. Social media has been implicated in fueling this …

Online media offer unprecedented access to digital public spheres, largely enhancing users'
opportunities for participation and providing new means for strengthening democratic …

This study content analyzed 3,300 user comments from the 11 most-viewed YouTube videos
about climate activist Greta Thunberg. The analysis reveals that about 4 in 10 comments …

Though prior studies have analyzed the textual characteristics of online comments about
politics, less is known about how selection into commenting behavior and exposure to other …

This study tested whether different negatively valenced emotional reactions—feeling angry
or depressed—to incivility produce varying intentions to speak out. A related goal was to …

Two large surveys with adult samples of Americans (N= 1,105; N= 1,035) investigated
differences in perceived incivility between seven social media platforms. Perceptions of …

Cross-cutting discussion is the foundation of deliberative democracy. However, previous
research has reported inconsistent results regarding the effects of exposure to dissimilar …

Professional content moderators are responsible for limiting the negative effects of online
discussions on news platforms and social media. However, little is known about how they …