Political Unfriending

When people encounter dissonant speech on social media, functions such as hiding comments, unfriending and unfollowing friends may reinforce the behaviour of selective avoidance in order to re-establish more homophilous environments online. Dr Marko SKORIC of CityU’s Department of Media and Communication conducted a comparative study with his team on the selective avoidance behaviour of social media users in France, the United Kingdom, and the United States.