Yesterday I delivered a seminar at the University of Copenhagen. Entitled ‘Digital contention in divided societies: how online platforms hinder peacebuilding’, I gave an overview of the type of intergroup contact facilitated by social media to date. Drawing on key findings from my book Digital Contention in a Divided Society, I argued that online platforms are not shared spaces in which positive peace is likely to emerge. Despite the cyberoptimism of projects like Peace on Facebook, they are neither benign nor a force for world peace. Indeed, the hate speech, mis-and disinformation amplified by their sites reinforces negative stereotypes of outgroups which make reconciliation between former antagonists much harder.

The second speaker of the day was Dechun Zhang, who gave an overview of his forthcoming book Digital Nationalism and Affective Governance: Propaganda, Public Sentiment, and Soft Authoritarianism in China. This was a fascinating presentation introducing some of the key theoretical and empirical findings.

Big thanks to Jun Liu for the invite, Dechun for his talk, and to the audience for their contributions. The slides from my presentation can be viewed below.