Communications

PIK Professor Desmond Upton Patton calls the Kia Boyz Challenge on TikTok a “perfect storm” for young people in cities where vehicle theft is common, since they know it could be a shortcut to notoriety.

A Penn survey conducted last year found that only a quarter of Americans had “a lot” of trust in the FDA’s handling of COVID-19, while less than half said they had “some trust.”

Dan Romer of the Annenberg Public Policy Center says that belief in vaccine misinformation has declined but that its continued propagation in a public venue like city council is unfortunate.

Postdoctoral fellow Frances Corry of the Annenberg School for Communication says that TikTok isn’t going anywhere and that the U.S. needs to include Silicon Valley’s major social media platforms in a conversation about data collection and consumer protection.

Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center says that President Biden hasn’t been as adept at credit-taking as Donald Trump.

A new study from the Annenberg School for Communication finds that most Americans don’t understand the basics of online data and what companies are doing with it.

Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 is possible for Pennsylvania but will require Gov. Josh Shapiro to convince voters that legislative Republicans are blocking efforts to create a livable future.

Matthew Levendusky of the School of Arts & Sciences and the Annenberg Public Policy Center says that heightening a sense of American national identity can reduce polarization and partisanship between opposing political parties.

The Annenberg Public Policy Center’s FactCheck.org finds that at least five Republican lawmakers, including Speaker Kevin McCarthy, have already voiced opposition to a proposal that would dismantle the IRS and replace current forms of federal taxation with a 30 percent sales tax.