Shadow Banning, Astroturfing, Catfishing, and Other Online Conflicts Where Beliefs about Group Membership Diverge

Abstract

Drawing from conflicts observed in online communities (e.g., astroturfing and shadow banning), I extend Pietraszewski’s theory to accommodate phenomena dependent on the intersubjectivity of groups, where representations of group membership (or beliefs about group membership) diverge. Doing so requires enriching representations to include other agents and their beliefs in a process of recursive mentalizing.

Keywords: Shadowbanning, online communities, conflict, recursive mentalizing

JEL Classification: CSN