Industry Influence in High-Profile Social Media Research
2026/01/16 by Joseph Bak-Coleman, Jevin West, Cailin O'Connor +1 · 12 voices
#cs.SI
paper · pdf
Abstract
To what extent is social media research independent from industry influence? Leveraging openly available data, we show that half of the research published in top journals has disclosable ties to industry in the form of prior funding, collaboration, or employment. However, the majority of these ties go undisclosed in the published research. These trends do not arise from broad scientific engagement with industry, but rather from a select group of scientists who maintain long-lasting relationships with industry. Undisclosed ties to industry are common not just among authors, but among reviewers and academic editors during manuscript evaluation. Further, industry-tied research garners more attention within the academy, among policymakers, on social media, and in the news. Finally, we find evidence that industry ties are associated with a topical focus away from impacts of platform-scale features. Together, these findings suggest industry influence in social media research is extensive, impactful, and often opaque. Going forward there is a need to strengthen disclosure norms and implement policies to ensure the visibility of independent research, and the integrity of industry supported research.
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Discussions
- Ever wonder what proportion of high profile social media research is tied to the tech industry? New from me, @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @jevinwest.bsky.social and @carlbergstrom.com. Thread tomorrow. [bsky, 102 points, 4 comments]
- Who is the Big Tobacco of today? In new work, we find 50% of high profile social media papers are connected to big tech through funding, collaboration and employment. Most connections aren't disclosed [bsky, 83 points, 2 comments]
- Social media research has a conflict of interest problem: “these findings suggest industry influence in social media research is extensive, impactful, and often opaque” A real concern is that this may [bsky, 21 points, 1 comments]
- Here's the preprint itself. [bsky, 18 points, 0 comments]
- There's a lot more to say especially about how the influence might skew research, but this has gotten too long already so will be a separate thread. The preprint by @jbakcoleman.bsky.social, @cailinme [bsky, 12 points, 1 comments]
- “Our findings suggest industry influence in social media research is extensive, impactful, and often opaque.” @jbakcoleman.bsky.social @carlbergstrom.com et al. arxiv.org/abs/2601.115... [bsky, 12 points, 1 comments]
- "Undisclosed ties to industry are common ... among authors, ... reviewers and academic editors ... industry ties are associated with a topical focus away from impacts of platform-scale features." @jba [bsky, 7 points, 0 comments]
- Qu'en pensez-vous ? Ces enjeux vous semblent-ils suffisamment discutés dans le débat public sur la régulation des réseaux sociaux ? Sources ⬇️ [1] Industry Influence in High-Profile Social Media Resea [bsky, 1 points, 1 comments]
- The pernicious intrusion into & effects on research of big tech is compromising our ability to understand what is really happening to all of us. See: Industry Influence in High-Profile Social Media Re [bsky, 1 points, 0 comments]
- Are we being so for real? "...half of the research published in top journals has disclosable ties to industry in the form of prior funding, collaboration, or employment." I'm sure it's not all malicio [bsky, 1 points, 0 comments]
- #toread #paper Industry influence in high-profile social media research by Joseph Bak-Coleman et al. http://arxiv.org/abs/2601.11507v1 [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]
- Industry Influence in High-Profile Social Media Research arxiv.org/abs/2601.11507 [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]
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