Dr Keighley Perkins
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perkinskeighley.bsky.social
Dr Keighley Perkins
@perkinskeighley.bsky.social
Research Associate in the School of Journalism, Media & Culture at Cardiff University / Researcher for DRAGON at Swansea University.

Research interests: #radicalright, #politicaldiscourse & #onlineharms.

https://allmylinks.com/keighleyperkins
Reposted by Dr Keighley Perkins
Important thread about how the BBC mitigates political polarisation in the 🇬🇧 because it’s so widely consumed compared to the 🇺🇸 where people rely on a wide range of information sources 👇
Quick thread on the BBC and the political and societal significance of recent developments:

One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.
November 10, 2025 at 8:22 PM
As a conlang fan & language nerd, I couldn’t resist seeing Predator: Badlands this weekend.

This instalment takes the Predator universe in an exciting linguistic direction. For the first time, the Yautja have been given a fully constructed language.

🔗 tinyurl.com/k5n6k5kp

🧵👇

#langsky
Predator: Badlands Borrows Secret Avatar Weapon To Expand Yautja Lore, Reveals Producer
Badlands introduces a Yautja language.
tinyurl.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Over the past few weeks, #Roblox has been making headlines following reports of children being groomed for both child abuse & extremism through the platform.

🔗 tinyurl.com/yu3dytn8

🧵👇

#DRAGON #Roblox #onlinesafety #onlineharms #childsafeguarding #onlinegroomingawareness
What is Roblox and should parents be worried about whether it’s safe for children?
The ability for kids and adults to chat and interact has led to reports of minors being groomed for abuse while playing online
tinyurl.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:55 AM
It’s been one of the most turbulent weeks in British broadcasting.

This article from @theguardian.com provides a detailed timeline of what happened over the past week: tinyurl.com/3xu8tmaf

🧵👇

#impartiality #impartialityproject #BBC #bias #journalism #journalismstudies #media #mediastudies
BBC bias row: how a week of hostile headlines from rightwing media led to resignations
Rightwing media have published a series of attacks on the corporation after a memo from a former BBC adviser critical of its output
tinyurl.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:43 AM
A U.S. federal judge ordered the Trump administration to reinstate American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters at White House press briefings — after the president’s legal team argued he shouldn’t have to “share a platform.”

🔗 tinyurl.com/4rbk8ay6

🧵👇

#langsky #signlanguage #politicaldiscourse
Trump must use ASL interpreters again, even though he dislikes ‘sharing a platform’
The president ‘inexplicably’ stopped providing sign language interpreters at official briefings, the National Association of the Deaf argued
tinyurl.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Reposted by Dr Keighley Perkins
Our new @cujournmedcul.bsky.social study of how the #Caerphilly by-election was reported featured in @nation.cymru - the distinction between how Wales and UK-wide media cover the Senedd elections next year could be significant given more people rely on news produced in England than in Wales 👇
UK-wide broadcasters framed the coverage of the Caerphilly by-election result not around Plaid Cymru’s victory but the implications for the Labour Party and Reform UK, according to research carried out at Cardiff University ✍️Martin Shipton nation.cymru/news/plaid-c...
Plaid Cymru's Caerphilly victory overshadowed by UK broadcasters' obsession with Reform UK and Labour
Martin Shipton UK-wide broadcasters framed the coverage of the Caerphilly by-election result not around Plaid Cymru’s victory but the implications for the Labour Party and Reform UK, according to rese...
nation.cymru
November 7, 2025 at 8:50 AM
A new research article from the #DRAGON team offers new insights into how children use language to push back against groomers during online interactions.

🔗 tinyurl.com/23yc7s5r

🧵👇

#DRAGON #onlinesafety #onlineharms #research #langsky #linguistics #discourseanalysis #forensiclinguistics
“Not right now”: Children's resistance during online grooming interactions
In this paper, we examine children's resistance strategies during online grooming interactions, specifically the different ways they use facework to c…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 7, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Reposted by Dr Keighley Perkins
764 is a sextortion network which coerces minors into producing Child Sexual Abuse Material and then uses the content to force them into acts of violence, including self-harm. Some cases tragically end in suicide. 🔽
November 6, 2025 at 2:09 PM
✨ It’s the most wonderful time of the year — Word of the Year season! ✨

Collins Dictionary has just crowned its 2025 winner, and this one perfectly captures our AI-infused era: “vibe coding.”

🔗 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

🧵👇

#langsky #linguistics #language #wordoftheyear #woty
'Vibe coding' named word of the year by Collins Dictionary
The art of making an app by describing it to artificial intelligence (AI) tops 10 new terms on the shortlist.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 6, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Australia’s new under-16 social media ban marks a major shift in how governments are tackling online harms — but as eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman - Grant has warned, even exempted platforms like Roblox are not automatically safe.

🔗 tinyurl.com/4kw5zcjh

TLDR 👇

#DRAGON #onlinesafety
tinyurl.com
November 6, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Reposted by Dr Keighley Perkins
Its *Bonfire/Firework Night* in the UK tonight...https://language-and-innovation.com/2018/11/05/poor-guy-a-fawkesian-miscellany/
POOR GUY – a Fawkesian miscellany
Tonight is Bonfire Night, Firework Night, nowadays usurped by Hallowe’en as the most popular celebration of autumn-to-winter transition, but still a folk festival of note. Many people are awa…
language-and-innovation.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:56 AM
This lunchtime, I attended a fascinating research seminar by Pilar Garces Blitvich exploring the mediality of forgiveness — how digital spaces shape who gets forgiven & how apologies are received.

🧵👇

#langsky #politenessstudies #digitaldiscourse
November 5, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Once upon a time, political debates were about policy and persuasion.

Now? They’re about performance — and what can be clipped, captioned, and remixed into a meme.

What does this mean for political discourse as a whole?

🔗 tinyurl.com/yv98ssf7

TLDR 👇

#langsky #polsky #politicaldiscourse
How social media is shaping political discourse - The Tufts Daily
In the 2024 presidential debate between former President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump, it became clear that political discourse in America had fully merged with internet culture. Wit...
tinyurl.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:16 PM
This week, the UK Government announced major new measures to strengthen protections against online sexual harm — extending justice for victims & tackling the most violent & degrading forms of content online.

🔗 tinyurl.com/bdfk8yhj

TLDR 👇

#DRAGON #onlineharms #onlinesafety #onlineabuse
New laws to target online abuse and pornography
Protection for women and girls boosted with new amendments on online abuse and pornography tabled to the Crime & Policing Bill
tinyurl.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:38 AM
It’s easy to dismiss the humble exclamation mark as harmless enthusiasm — but new research suggests it says a lot about gender, communication, & power.

🔗 tinyurl.com/bdd994dy

TLDR 👇

#langsky #linguistics #appliedlinguistics #language #languageandgender #languageandpower #punctuation
Exclamation marks! Why do women use them three times as much as men?
It’s the punctuation that can make you seem warmer and more agreeable – but also much more compliant and lacking in analytical thinking
tinyurl.com
November 4, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Ofcom has ruled TalkTV breached its impartiality rules after host Kevin O’Sullivan claimed the UK Government had “cancelled” local elections out of fear of Reform UK’s rise in the polls.

🔗 tinyurl.com/u55jmwbp

TLDR 👇

#impartialityproject #politicalnews #politicaldiscourse #Ofcom #impartality
TalkTV breached impartiality rules with allegations about cancelled local elections, Ofcom finds
Claim that elections were cancelled because ministers were ‘terrified of Reform’ given rare rebuke by regulator
tinyurl.com
November 4, 2025 at 12:14 PM
A new article for @lseblogs.bsky.social reveals that while most countries now mention children in their digital policies, very few actually consult them — even on issues that directly shape their online lives.

🔗 tinyurl.com/n4x7hcex

TLDR 👇

#DRAGON #onlinesafety #onlineharms #youthengagement
Left out and misrepresented: where are the children in digital policies? - Media@LSE
Are children's rights sufficiently taken into account in digital policies? LSE's Professor Ellen Helsper, Marisa Lyons Longworth and Shivani Rao explain.
tinyurl.com
November 4, 2025 at 10:00 AM
The Caerphilly Senedd by-election delivered a surprise result. Polling had suggested Reform UK would take the seat, with Plaid Cymru trailing. Instead, Plaid won comfortably & Reform finished second by a wide margin.

So what went wrong?

🔗 tinyurl.com/ahdzcs6h

TLDR 👇

#Caerphilly #byelection
Why did the polls get the Caerphilly byelection wrong? They ignored the fact Reform is an English nationalist party
Welsh identity is strong in Caerphilly, even by Welsh standards. This should have been factored into polling.
tinyurl.com
November 3, 2025 at 4:15 PM
In 1990, Stephen “Shorty” Jamieson was convicted of murder based on a typed confession police claimed captured his words “exactly as he said them.”

New linguistic research suggests that may not be possible.

🔗 tinyurl.com/3sm3jabp

TLDR 👇

#langsky #linguistics #forensiclinguistics
New linguistics research casts doubt on decades-old murder conviction
Stephen ‘Shorty’ Jamieson has been behind bars since 1988. Fresh research critically examines the confession that put him there.
tinyurl.com
November 3, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Reposted by Dr Keighley Perkins
In honour of #IslamophobiaAwarenessMonth, #Identities is sharing our Special Collection, 'Global Perspectives and Local Encounters on #Islamophobia', with #FreeAccess throughout November:

www.tandfonline.com/...

@nasarmeer.bsky.social @aaronwinter.bsky.social @tandfresearch.bsky.social
November 3, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Reposted by Dr Keighley Perkins
Ofcom just ruled that Talk breached due impartiality rules in Jan 2025 because a presenter said the Government was “scared of Reform UK” after cancelling some council elections. But offered no alternative perspectives. A sign of Ofcom becoming a more robust regulator? ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/res…
https://ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/res…
November 3, 2025 at 10:53 AM
In a move for online safety, Character.AI has announced that from 25 November, users under 18 will no longer be able to chat with its virtual characters.

🔗 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

TLDR 👇

#DRAGON #onlinesafety #onlineharms #onlinegroomingprevention #childsafety #childsafeguarding
Character.ai to ban teens from talking to its AI chatbots
The AI chatbot app, which has millions of users, said it was responding to parents and regulators.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 3, 2025 at 10:07 AM
🎉 Today’s the day!

We’re so excited to welcome everyone to our Digital Guardians: Co-Creation in Action event — part of the ESRC's Festival of Social Sciences 2025!

#DRAGON #onlinesafety #onlineharms #onlinegrooming #parents #caregivers #childsafety #childsafeguarding #childprotection
Team #DRAGON is counting down the days to our Digital Guardians workshop — part of the ESRC's Festival of Social Science 2025! 🎉

📅 When: Thursday 30 October | 2–4pm

📍 Where: Volcano Theatre, Swansea

🎟️ Free to attend — registration required!

👉 tinyurl.com/3avpdvm3

Please share!

More info 👇
October 30, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Since the Online Safety Act came into force last year, the UK has taken major steps to make the digital world safer for children — but campaigners say the work is far from finished.

🔗 tinyurl.com/yetrjkzy

#DRAGON #onlinesafety #onlineharms #childprotection #Ofcom #onlinesafetyact
tinyurl.com
October 29, 2025 at 1:12 PM