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Abstract This article introduces the concept of “topic territoriality,” a mechanism that governs participation in conversational spaces. When a discussion becomes prone to territorialization, individuals are more likely to claim topics (participating in discussions about topics they own as “stakeholders”) and defer (reducing participation in topics owned by others). They are also more likely to patrol topic boundaries (monitoring who is participating and confronting topic “intruders”). We document the operation of topic territoriality by analyzing 112,278 conversational turns on Weibo before and after a policy that reveals users’ broad geographic locations. We find that revealing these locations increased territorial behaviors, leading to more homogenous participation in conversations. Although the display of locations has improved the overall civility in language, the confrontations between stakeholders and intruders became more toxic. Our research emphasizes the impact of topic territoriality in online conversations and sheds light on the unintended consequences of social media policies. 

Abstract Problematic content on social media can be countered through objections raised by other community members. While intended to deter offenses, objections can influence the surrounding audience observing the interaction, leading to their collective approval or disapproval. The results of an experiment manipulating seven types of objections against common types of offenses indicate audiences’ support for objections that implore via appeals and disapproval of objections that threaten the offender, as they view the former as more moral, appropriate, and effective compared to the latter. Furthermore, audiences tend to prefer more benign and less threatening objections regardless of the offense severity (following the principle of “taking the high road”) instead of objections proportionate to the offense (“an eye for an eye”). Taken together, these results show how objections to offensive behaviors may impact collective perceptions on social media, paving the way for interventions to foster effective objection strategies in social media discussions. 

Increasingly, political tensions are seeping into everyday topics. This imposition of politics can change the flow of and dynamics within conversation. In this mixed-methods study, we address the act of politicizing science on YouTube. Using comment data from educational science videos, we identify the moment of explicit politicization and how this changes the subsequent conversation. Results show that politicization becomes more likely as the thread goes on and once a thread has been politicized, it remains that way. Furthermore, after politicization the toxicity of the subsequent comments increases, “tipping” the conversation about science toward personal accusations and attacks about political identity and partisanship. Qualitative insights reveal common “pathways” to politicization, which can be used to design mitigation strategies.