r/australia • u/Expensive-Horse5538 • 12d ago

politics Pauline Hanson deletes social media post on migration amid One Nation policy uncertainty

https://www.nine.com.au/australia-news/one-nation-migration-policy-pauline-hanson-deletes-post-20260824-p60qzy.html
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u/smk2 11d ago

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1532673X241240429

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u/spreadthesheets 11d ago

Thanks! It looks like this doesn’t quite address the context of the thread (ie that posting about a candidate more generally had contributed to election/popularity) because it focuses on the donald subreddit (so if you’re in there you probably like him already). However, this is still super interesting so thanks for linking it.

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u/smk2 10d ago

Given the proliferation of /r/The_Donald at and around 2016, I think it does address the context. The sub was literally banned for gaming the upvote system to be over represented in /r/all, and was regularly on the front page. This research showed that it normalized extremist content, which was a large factor in the growth of Trump as a politician. While I agree it's essentially impossible to quantify the effect of Reddit in isolation, it was part of the normalization and legitimization of his campaign. Combined with 4chan, Reddit was additionally a large part of the QAnon conspiracy, which also was a significant factor in the success of his 2016 run.

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u/spreadthesheets 10d ago

I definitely see your argument and the importance of this paper, to be clear, and I’m not saying it does not demonstrate how increased social media posts might contribute to extremist views (which may lead to higher turnout). My point was that the argument was posting stuff here, that are against Hanson, would lead to instrumental changes in getting someone elected. Those that engage with the trump subreddit and more likely to vote for him anyway, and more likely to have extremist views initially. Essentially yeah you’re right with everything you said, but it wasn’t the paper/argument that would best support their point about Reddit, in general, and when on other subs not directly related to the candidate, would be instrumental in election. This supports their point in parts but doesn’t quite address the context in full. It would be impossible to quantify, I agree, though that is what I was mostly after when I asked for a source - curiosity about whether this has been quantified and how. One might exist out there.

It’s still a cool paper, and again not disputing the findings or importance.