Polarization of public opinions on feminism in China

Jinghua Piao, Fang Zhang (), Tianpei Ren, Fengli Xu, Jinglei Zhou, Jun Su, Peng Ru and Yong Li ()
Additional contact information
Jinghua Piao: Tsinghua University
Fang Zhang: Tsinghua University
Tianpei Ren: Tsinghua University
Fengli Xu: Tsinghua University
Jinglei Zhou: Tsinghua University
Jun Su: Tsinghua University
Peng Ru: Tsinghua University
Yong Li: Tsinghua University

Palgrave Communications, 2025, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Global efforts on feminism and women’s equality are undergoing intense challenges under the transformative impact of social media and artificial intelligence (AI). This study explores the polarization of public opinions on feminism—a prevalent yet underexplored phenomenon—by analyzing large-scale empirical data from one of China’s most prominent short video platforms. Facilitated by a fine-tuned large language model, we assess 62K users’ opinions on feminism based on their 67M fine-grained behavioral records over two years. We observe a severe polarization of opinions on feminism, where users are asymmetrically polarized into two opposing camps—54.3% in the conservative camp and 34.4% in the liberal camp. We further reveal that the AI-driven recommendation algorithm contributes to two primary drivers of this polarization: (i) echo chambers, where the algorithmic gathering of like-minded users reinforces their shared similar opinions and (ii) battlefields, where opposing users conflict, strengthening pre-existing opinions. We point out that these two drivers are asymmetrically applied to the polarized camps, with conservatives more prone to echo chambers while liberals are more inclined to battlefields. Our study not only uncovers the polarization of public opinions on feminism and its drivers but also offers implications for reducing polarization on increasingly AI-dependent social media.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-025-04635-z Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-04635-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/palcomms/about

DOI: 10.1057/s41599-025-04635-z

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Palgrave Communications from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().