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E.E. (Ernesto) de León Williams

Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences
CW : Political Communication & Journalism
Area of expertise: Hello! I’m a political communication researcher focused on understanding how human and algorithmic information curation shape our shared political realities. I am part of the Public Values in the Algorithmic Society Consortium (AlgoSoc).

Visiting address
  • Nieuwe Achtergracht 166
Postal address
  • Postbus 15791
    1001 NG Amsterdam
  • Research

    My research focuses on political information flows in a digital age and its effects on political attitudes. In these projects, I make use of computational methodologies to explore web behaviour, use of algorithmic intermediaries to news (such as social media and search engines), and to conduct large-scale automated content analyses through text-as-data approaches.

    I classify my research into three main branches:

    • Aggregate information flows: Here I focus on aggregate-level sharing of news on social media. I research what influences the difusion of political news across social network sites, addresing the role played by emotions, as well as the impact elections have on changing patterns of news engagement.
    • Individual access to political information: Using a combination of survey and digital trace data, I aim to understand how people use algorithmic intermediaries to access political information. This work speaks to the areas of algorithmic curation, media exposure measurement, and accurate classification of political and hyperpartisan content.
    • Effects of political news consumption: Here I research how consumption of political news impacts individuals’ trust in politics, and likelihood to participate in political processes.
  • Publications

    2024

    • Adam, S., Makhortykh, M., Maier, M., Aigenseer, V., Urman, A., Gil Lopez, T., Christner, C., de León, E., & Ulloa, R. (2024). Improving the quality of individual-level web tracking: Challenges of existing approaches and introduction of a new content and long-tail sensitive academic solution. Social Science Computer Review. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/08944393241287793
    • Maier, M., Adam, S., Gil Lopez, T., Makhortykh, M., Bromme, L., Christner, C., de León, E., & Urman, A. (2024). Populist Radical-Right Attitudes, Political Involvement and Selective Information Consumption: Who Tunes Out and Who Prefers Attitude-Consonant Information. Mass Communication and Society. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2024.2310156
    • Valli, C., de León, E., & Makhortykh, M. (2024). Personality and political news consumption online: A comparison between self-reports and webtracking data. Personality and Individual Differences, 228, Article 112735. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2024.112735 [details]
    • Vigneswaran, D., & de León Williams, E. (2024). The inconsistency of immigration policy: the limits of “Top-down” approaches. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 47(10), 2060-2084. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2023.2263076 [details]
    • de León, E., Makhortykh, M., & Adam, S. (2024). Hyperpartisan, Alternative, and Conspiracy Media Users: An Anti-Establishment Portrait. Political Communication. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2024.2325426

    2023

    2022

    • de León, E., Makhortykh, M., Gil-Lopez, T., Urman, A., & Adam, S. (2022). News, threats, and trust: How COVID-19 news shaped political trust, and how threat perceptions conditioned this relationship. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 28, 952 - 974. https://doi.org/10.1177/19401612221087179

    2021

    2020

    • de León, E., Vermeer, S. A. M., & Trilling, D. (2020). How context matters to news sharing: Comparing the predictors of Facebook interactions with news items in election and routine periods. Abstract from Etmaal van de Communicatiewetenschap, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

    2024

    • de León, E., Wan, J., Votta, F., van der Haak, D., Oberski, D., Taylor, L., Araujo, T., van Weert, J., Bex, F., van Dijck, J., Gürses, S., Buijzen, M., Prins, C., Helberger, N. & de Vreese, C. (21-5-2024). Public Values in the Algorithmic Society Longitudinal Panel Survey. Universiteit van Amsterdam. https://doi.org/10.21942/uva.25860655.v1

    2021

    • Trilling, D. & de León Williams, E. (2021). sj-tex-1-sms-10 – Supplemental material for A Sadness Bias in Political News Sharing? The Role of Discrete Emotions in the Engagement and Dissemination of Political News on Facebook. SAGE Journals. https://doi.org/10.25384/sage.17097021.v1
    • de León Williams, E. & Trilling, D. (2021). A Sadness Bias in Political News Sharing? The Role of Discrete Emotions in the Engagement and Dissemination of Political News on Facebook. SAGE Journals. https://doi.org/10.25384/sage.c.5728503.v1
    This list of publications is extracted from the UvA-Current Research Information System. Questions? Ask the library or the Pure staff of your faculty / institute. Log in to Pure to edit your publications. Log in to Personal Page Publication Selection tool to manage the visibility of your publications on this list.
  • Ancillary activities
    No ancillary activities