The Effect of Twitter on Violent Political Election: Evidence from January 6th by Carlo Schwarz, Assistant Professor, Bocconi. This event is part of the Political Economy Lunch Seminar (PELS).
Abstract: We study Twitter roles in the incidents at the US capital on January 6th, 2021. We provide four key findings. First, using quasi-experimental variation in Twitter usage, we show that higher Twitter usage at the county level is significantly associated with higher participation in the January 6th insurrection. Second, we study the role of network ties to other insurrectionist and find that stronger more network connections to other counties with insurrectionist has explanatory power over and above a counties Twitter penetration. Third, we study the role of Trump’s Twitter account in the January 6th insurrection. Lastly, we investigate if the deletion of Trump’s Twitter account on January 8th reduced the spread of claims of voter fraud.
No prior registration necessary. If you have any questions, please reach out to Amanda Slater at slater[at]hertie-school[dot]org