Pranav Malhotra

Biographic Data

ID292102
NAMEPranav Malhotra
GIVEN NAMESPranav
FAMILY NAMEMalhotra
SIGNATUREMALHOTRA P
AFFILIATIONSUniversity of Michigan
ORCID0000-0002-2144-8133
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS7
TOTAL CITATIONS15
AUTHOR COUNT7
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR2020
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX3

  • ‘They have my kundli ’: Understanding urban upper-middle-class Indians’ beliefs about social media algorithms

    Open AccessPranav MalhotraARTICLENew Media & Society2026

    This study examines urban upper-middle-class Indian social media users’ knowledge of, attitudes toward, and practices with social media algorithms. Interviews ( N = 30) reveal they primarily use Instagram and have a basic understanding of algorithms, with algorithmic awareness and knowledge functioning as forms of cultural capital. They also articulate folk theories about how algorithms operate, some of which reflect a relational rather than indi…

  • Unpacking credibility evaluation on digital media: A case for interpretive qualitative approaches

    Open AccessPranav Malhotra, Natalie-Anne Hall et al.ARTICLEAnnals of the International…2025References: 26

    We argue for more serious consideration of interpretive qualitative approaches in research on information credibility evaluation in digitally mediated contexts. Through reviewing existing literature on credibility and drawing on our own experiences of conducting research projects on credibility evaluation in diverse cultural contexts, we contend that interpretive qualitative approaches help researchers develop a much-needed communicative and rela…

  • Toward Conceptualizing Bounded Social Media Places

    Open AccessPranav MalhotraARTICLEPolitical Communication2025Cited by: 1References: 10

  • Understanding information credibility evaluation on bounded social media places: A mixed methods study

    Open AccessPranav Malhotra, Soo Yun ShinARTICLECommunication Monographs2025Cited by: 2References: 10

  • What You Post in the Group Stays in the Group: Examining the Affordances of Bounded Social Media Places

    Open AccessPranav MalhotraARTICLESocial Media + Society2024Cited by: 3References: 44

    This study focuses on the affordances of bounded social media places (BSMPs), low visibility places within social media platforms like private messaging and private groups. While researchers have focused on BSMPs within specific platforms, this study presents a systematic examination of BSMPs across multiple platforms to facilitate theoretical durability. Interviews with users of BSMPs across diverse platforms ( N = 35) reveal that BSMPs discoura…

  • The meaning of misinformation and those who correct it: An extension of relational dialectics theory

    Open AccessPranav Malhotra, Kristina M Scharp et al.ARTICLEJournal of Social and Personal…2022Cited by: 4References: 33

    What misinformation means and what it means to be someone who corrects it is socially contested, especially in interpersonal contexts where politeness expectations complicate correction. Given this flux in meaning, we analyze posts about misinformation correction in interpersonal contexts from the AmItheAsshole subreddit through a relational dialectics theory (RDT) lens. Findings revealed that discourses of misinformation as harmful and as innocu…

  • A Relationship-Centered and Culturally Informed Approach to Studying Misinformation on Covid-19

    Open AccessPranav MalhotraARTICLESocial Media + Society2020Cited by: 5References: 15

    The panic and anxiety that accompanies a global pandemic is only exacerbated by the spread of misinformation. For COVID-19, in many parts of the world, such misinformation is circulating through globally popular mobile instant messaging services (MIMS) like WhatsApp and Telegram. Compared to more public social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, these services offer private, intimate, and often encrypted spaces for users to chat with famil…