Soham De

I’m actively seeking PhD positions (Fall 2023)!

My current research interests span the Computational Social Sciences and ICT4D. Specifically, I’m interested in misinformation, social media and information flow in online communities. I interned at Microsoft Research India under Anirban Sen and Joyojeet Pal (UMich Ann Arbor). Previously, I’ve been a part of the MPhasis Lab (under Mahavir Jhawar and Subhashis Banerjee) and BharatSim (under Debayan Gupta).

I graduated magna cum laude from Ashoka University with a Gold Medal in Computer Science. Beyond academics, I’m a competent artist, photographer, archer and an incompetent pianist.

personal updates

Dec 2022	Our work on jounalists, presented by the amazing Sukhnidh Kaur won Best Poster at ACM SIGCHI Symposium for HCI and Friends!
Nov 2022	Reviewed and volunteered for `CSCW 2022` - 10/10 recommended!
Jun 2022	Graduated from `Ashoka University` with the CS Gold Medal, Service Excellence, Undergraduate Research Excellence and a Special Recognition for Outstanding Contribution in Computer Science.
Jun 2022	Started internship at `Microsoft Research India` under Anirban Sen
Apr 2022	Started `CANDID` - a new research group at `Ashoka University` for studying social networks online

selected works

Closed Ranks: The Discursive Value of Military Support for Indian Politicians

Agrima Seth*, Soham De*, Arshia Arya, and 3 more authors

In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Information & Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD) 2022

Abstract Web PDF

Influencers play a crucial role in shaping public narratives through information creation and diffusion in the Global South. While public figures from various walks of life and their impact on public discourse have been studied, defence veterans as influencers of the political discourse have been largely overlooked. Veterans matter in the public spehere as a normatively important political lobby. They are also interesting because, unlike active-duty military officers, they are not restricted from taking public sides on politics, so their posts may provide a window into the views of those still in the service. In this work, we systematically analyze the engagement on Twitter of self-described defence-related accounts and politician accounts that post on defence-related issues. We find that self-described defence-related accounts disproportionately engage with the current ruling party in India. We find that politicians promote their closeness to the defence services and nationalist credentials through engagements with defence-related influencers. We briefly consider the institutional implications of these patterns and connections
Note: Picking Sides: The influencer-driven #HijabBan discourse on Twitter

Soham De, Anmol Panda, and Joyojeet Pal

In Proceedings of the 5th ACM SIGCAS/SIGCHI Conference on Computing and Sustainable Societies (COMPASS) 2022

Abstract Web PDF

Social Media is increasingly central to culture wars, and in recent years has been at the center of debates around the weaponization of peoples’ opinions in polarized situations. We examine one such issue, an attempt to allow schools and junior colleges to ban girls from wearing Hijab in India in the southern state of Karnataka, India, by studying Twitter messaging related to the issue in early 2022, when it was in the news. We find that the narrative supporting the ban of the Hijab on Twitter is primarily driven by a minority of highly-influential individuals who are predominantly male and polarised in favour of the ruling party, while the discourse against the ban relies largely on influencers from within the Muslim community. Our findings show that social media can be a useful tool to craft the contours of politically-motivated escalation in the Global South.
The Troll’s Toolkit: A mixed-methods study on how journalists are trolled on Indian Twitter

Soham De*, Sukhnidh Kaur*, and Joyojeet Pal

under submission 2022

Abstract

The rise of political polarization has led to an increase in targeted online trolling of public commentators such as journalists. In this paper, we adopt a mixed-methods approach to understand the mechanisms and consequences of online trolling of journalists on Indian Twitter. We conducted in-depth interviews with 20 high-profile journalists and a large-scale analysis of public engagement with Indian journalists’ Twitter activity. We find that (a) high-organized troll networks use a variety of tactics to target journalists’ identities and credibility using right-wing populist narratives, and in turn, (b) journalists are increasingly self-censoring using methods such as amplifying rather than authoring tweets. Our work highlights the challenges of professional journalism in polarized environments with organized trolling, underlining the risks to the social media driven news environment
DISMISS: Database of Indian Social Media Influencers on Twitter

Arshia Arya*, Soham De*, Dibyendu Mishra*, and 12 more authors

In Proceedings of the 16th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM) 2022

Abstract Web PDF Dataset

Databases of highly networked individuals have been indispensable in studying narratives and influence on social media. To support studies on Twitter in India, we present a systematically categorized database of accounts of influence on Twitter in India, identified and annotated through an iterative process of friends, networks, and self-described profile information, verified manually. We built an initial set of accounts based on the friend network of a seed set of accounts based on real-world renown in various fields, and then snowballed “friends of friends" multiple times, and rank ordered individuals based on the number of in-group connections, and overall followers. We then manually classified identified accounts under the categories of entertainment, sports, business, government, institutions, journalism, civil society accounts that have independent standing outside of social media, as well as a category of “digital first" referring to accounts that derive their primary influence from online activity. Overall, we annotated 11580 unique accounts across all categories. The database is useful studying various questions related to the role of influencers in polarization, misinformation, extreme speech, political discourse etc.