Restrictive and Corrective Responses to Uncivil User Comments on News Websites: The Influence of Presumed Influence

ABSTRACT

An online experiment was conducted to examine how the presumed effects of uncivil news comments on other users would influence perceivers’ intention to engage in restrictive or corrective counteractive measures. The results showed that exposure to uncivil comments reduced social desirability and heightened the presumed impact of the comments on others, which, in turn, promoted individuals’ willingness to support comment censorship (restrictive actions) and engage in comment moderation (corrective actions). The study findings provided empirical evidence for an explanation of the relationship between the presumed media influence on others and behavioral responses.

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Notes on contributors

Sai Wang

Sai Wang (M.A., The University of Texas at Austin) is a PhD candidate in the Department of Media and Communication at City University of Hong Kong. Her research examines how social interactions via various communication technologies and services influence user psychology and behavior.

Ki Joon Kim

Ki Joon Kim (Ph.D., Sungkyunkwan University) is an assistant professor of new media and human-technology interaction in the Department of Media and Communication at City University of Hong Kong, where he investigates how technological affordances of digital media influence the psychological and behavioral outcomes of technology-mediated communication.