Alternative-technology (alt-tech) platforms like Telegram, Truth Social, and Rumble have emerged as self-proclaimed free speech hubs, appealing to distrust in governments and tech companies. While alt-tech platforms remain niche, they play a growing role in political communication and have contributed to real-world events, such as the January 6 Capitol attack. Despite their influence, research on these platforms remains limited compared to mainstream social media studies. This study develops a typology of five right-wing alt-tech platforms—Rumble, Truth Social, Gab, Gettr, and Telegram—analyzing their ownership structures, monetization models, and content moderation policies. By examining how these platforms’ designs and financial incentives influence content production and user behavior, the study aims to provide insights into their role in shaping online information ecosystems. Prior research has examined individual alt-tech platforms, such as Bitchute, and broader comparisons between mainstream and alt-tech platforms. However, this study offers a comparative analysis focused exclusively on alt-tech platforms, identifying patterns in governance, incentive structures, and policy enforcement. Findings from this research could inform policymakers on potential regulatory approaches, including ownership transparency, antitrust interventions, and content accountability measures. Additionally, technologists and platform developers may leverage these insights to design more transparent governance frameworks for alternative digital spaces. By addressing gaps in current social media research, this study enhances public understanding of alt-tech platforms and their growing influence in digital discourse and political communication.

With the rising popularity of TikTok and its role in widespread information sharing, and concerns about political misinformation on the platform, studying political discourse through immersive ethnographic methods leading up to the 2024 US Presidential Election was imperative. This study, conducted over 12 weeks in the summer of 2024, aimed to uncover the rhetorical and ideological topics and trends salient to Black Republican and Democratic TikTok creators through content analysis. To capture the distinct feeds that a person interested in right-leaning or left-leaning content may see, two partisan personas were created on separate phones. The personas were developed from a seed list of known partisan creators and snowball sampling. A quantitative content analysis was conducted using LabelStudio software on a sample of 120 acquired videos from Black creators across the two research phones. The videos were coded for style, topic, and person of interest, alongside other inductive attributes that emerged during the coding process. Thematic analysis revealed key discursive themes around harm and blame, along with different tactics of evidence used by creators to further their points. We find a divide between left- and right-leaning creators with regard to the institutions and politicians they hold accountable for harms, and the ideologies they perceive being pushed by the oppositional party. This study shows how the affordances of the TikTok platform allowed for, and algorithmically rewarded, infighting within the Black community leading up to the election. Future studies may apply these methods of persona-enabled ethnographic data collection for conducting bipartisan investigation on other online communities, including but not limited to racial minority groups, in gaining a better understanding of prevalent issues within these communities, political or otherwise.

Play is a fundamental aspect of a child’s development. However, many toys on the market require fine motor skills for children to interact with them, creating barriers for those with varying physical abilities. This highlights the need for accessible play technology, such as adapted toys activated by an accessible switch. Unfortunately, these toys are often expensive and difficult to customize. To fill this gap, we developed the Switch Kit – a low-cost, customizable solution for accessible play. The Switch Kit includes: (1) interactive media created in Scratch; (2) an input device that connects to switches, functioning like a keyboard; and (3) various low-cost, easy-to-make accessible switches. To evaluate the usefulness of the Switch Kit, 10 early intervention providers were given a kit to use with their clients for 4-6 weeks. I hypothesized that a child’s clinical presentation would impact their game play, including the type of game providers selected for their client. To differentiate them, I used quantitative interaction metrics logged from the deployment through Scratch, which tracked measures such as duration of each switch press, the number of switch presses, and games played. Providers used the Switch Kit with 10 children with cerebral palsy, 3 children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and 7 children with global developmental delay. Children with cerebral palsy had the highest switch press rate, while children with Autism Spectrum Disorder had the lowest. This may indicate that children with ASD are less engaged with the Switch Kit in its current form. This research emphasizes the need for tailored game designs to boost engagement, and offers guidance for providers and families when shaping future game design strategies.