This article examines what drives audiences’ trust levels across different configurations of artificial intelligence (AI) use within the information ecosystem. We rely on a representative survey of Italian adults, performed in September 2025, to analyse trust patterns when (a) AI acts as an intermediary through automated search results and (b) when it is embedded in news organisations. Our findings show that AI-generated search results are more trusted than news, highlighting the growing role of platforms as primary information providers. Moreover, trust in news is positively associated with trust in news produced with AI, regardless of the source, challenging prevailing assumptions of ‘algorithmic aversion’ even in a traditional setting like Italy. These results suggest a shift in the foundations of media trust, with important implications for the role of journalism in an increasingly platform-driven information ecosystem.
This study examines the role of ‘whiteness’ in shaping the experiences of Ukrainian refugees in the UK, focusing on their self-representation on social media. The Ukrainian refugee crisis is portrayed in the media in ways that position Ukrainians as ‘like’ Europeans and as deserving of better treatment from host societies. Cultural proximity influences perceptions of refugees, who are often represented as the Other to Western modernity. Drawing on 50 Facebook posts and images, as well as interviews with 25 refugees living in temporary accommodation in the UK, the study finds that their online self-portrayals and reflections avoid the refugee label and show that they do not perceive themselves as refugees. The research demonstrates how Ukrainian refugees negotiate identity online in ways shaped by the media's power to frame whiteness and cultural proximity, rather than by conventional constructions of refugeehood, while still often aligning with distinctions and hierarchies evident in media portrayals of refugees.
In today's fragmented, visual public sphere, persuasive messages increasingly blur the line between private expression and public debate. This paper introduces Ordinary Person Testimony (OPT), a social media genre in which individuals share personal experiences, and examines its value for fostering critical thinking and media literacy. We report two studies with young Polish adults: a pilot study on recognition of OPT as a rhetorical genre, and a survey (N = 69) of interpretations of and responses to authentic OPT posts. Results show that students view OPTs as credible and socially meaningful, yet hesitate to share them due to privacy and identity concerns. Participants identified key persuasive aims-informing others, offering support, and influencing attitudes-and noted the genre's potential to polarize public debate. The contemporary (social) media landscape is characterized by growing (inter)subjectivity and by the increasing importance of individualized stances in information selection, sharing, and commenting. This study contributes to a better understanding of social media users' preferences regarding communication, information selection, and knowledge-construction habits.
