Mass shooting narratives on social media

Content moderation and participatory discourse

Bibliographic Data

ID19224367
AuthorsHuan Chen (0000-0002-5089-2719, University of Florida, corresponding author), Ye Wang (0000-0001-5127-4245, University of Missouri–Kansas City), Kanye Ye Wang (0000-0001-7908-5286, University of Missouri–Kansas City), Seth Wyatt Fallik (0000-0002-9040-4185, University of Missouri–Kansas City), Seth Fallik (University of Missouri–Kansas City), Jasmine Mcnealy (0000-0002-6384-8266, University of Florida), Yuan Nan (0009-0008-6924-7876, University of Florida), Qingyuan Yang (0009-0004-3139-3238, University of Florida), Emily Perpich (University of Florida)
Year2026
Publication date2026-06-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNew Media & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1461-4448 • E-ISSN: 1461-7315
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/14614448261449813
OpenAlexW7163347216
LanguageEN
References cited26

This study examines how mass shooting narratives emerge on social media through the interaction of platform governance and participatory discourse. Using a two-study design, we first compare moderation policies and enforcement approaches across major platforms, then analyze discourse surrounding five mass shooting events on X as visible outcomes of platform governance. For the two highest-volume events, 24,748 X posts from the Chiefs Parade shooting and 2043 X posts from the Hookah Bar shooting, we employ a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)-based thematic analysis combining human-guided theme development with embedding-based semantic retrieval. Three lower volume events are examined through human thematic analysis, and 267 Reddit posts from the Chiefs Parade case serve as a qualitative comparative reference. Findings show that users shared breaking news, expressed grief, debated gun violence and media coverage, and interpreted events publicly. Platform governance appears associated with differences in discourse visibility, tone, and persistence

Citizen journalism · Corporate governance · Foregrounding · Moderation · Narrative · Parade · Social media · Theme (computing) · Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression · Gun Ownership and Violence Research · Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection