# The Ebb and Flow of Controversial Debates on Social Media

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.05994 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.05994/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 17 Mar 2017.

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Linguistic Characterization of Divisive Topics Online: Case Studies on Contentiousness in Abortion, Climate Change, and Gun Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.13556/) (2021)
- [ControversialQA: Exploring Controversy in Question Answering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.05061/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We explore how the polarization around controversial topics evolves on Twitter - over a long period of time (2011 to 2016), and also as a response to major external events that lead to increased related activity. We find that increased activity is typically associated with increased polarization; however, we find no consistent long-term trend in polarization over time among the topics we study.