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Bin Chen

Assistant Professor

Director, BJ/BJMAI Program

School of Future Media
University of Hong Kong
chenb (at) hku.hk

Hi! I am an Assistant Professor at the School of Future Media, the University of Hong Kong, where I also serve as Director of the BJ/BJMAI Program. My research explores digital platforms and politics, AI and media studies, computational social science, and comparative communication studies. Before joining HKU, I received my Ph.D. in Journalism and Media and M.S. in Statistics and Data Science from the University of Texas at Austin.

I am recruiting research assistants and PhD students; see Prospective Students & RAs.

Publications

NMSCross-Platformization: How U.S. Right-Leaning Media Curate Their Posts on Twitter and Truth Social
Josephine Lukito, Yini Zhang, Bin Chen, Stephen Prochaska, Meredith L. Pruden, Yunkang Yang, Wei Zhong, Megan A. Brown, Ross Dahlke, Jason Greenfield, Jiyoun Suk, Porismita Borah. New Media & Society. Online first, 2026. PDF DOI
ICSStyle and Substance on The Alex Jones Show Predict InfoWars Sales: A Multi-Modal Analysis of a Media Empire
Ross Dahlke, Yunkang Yang, Josephine Lukito, Jason Greenfield, Bin Chen, Megan A. Brown, Rebecca Lewis. Information, Communication & Society, 29(4), 1386–1405, 2026. PDF DOI
JSDifferent Country, Different Truth? A Cross-Country Comparison of Fact-Checking Journalism During Public Health Crises
Bin Chen, Gyo Hyun Koo. Journalism Studies, 27(1), 23–44, 2026. PDF DOI
AJCVaccine Communication Strategies and Audience Engagement: Analyzing CDC’s Vaccine Communication on Twitter
Bin Chen, Xiaohui Cao, Porismita Borah. Atlantic Journal of Communication, 34(2), 215–234, 2026. DOI
DJBuzz Across Borders: Analyzing the Global and Local Dynamics Shaping the ChatGPT Media Hype in China
Bin Chen, Anfan Chen, Shuning Lu. Digital Journalism, 14(2), 284–303, 2026. PDF DOI
IJPPIn Punishment We Trust: Analyzing Characteristics and Credibility of Rumor-Debunking Messages on Chinese Social Media
Bin Chen, Shuning Lu. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 31(1), 161–183, 2026. PDF DOI
DJPicturing Protest: Visual Framing in Authoritarian Media on Twitter
Wei Zhong, Bin Chen, Fan Liang, Maggie Mengqing Zhang. Digital Journalism. Online first, 2025. PDF DOI
SMSCandidates Be Posting: Multi-Platform Strategies and Partisan Preferences in the 2022 U.S. Midterm Elections
Josephine Lukito, Maggie Macdonald, Bin Chen, Megan A. Brown, Stephen Prochaska, Yunkang Yang, Jason Greenfield, Jiyoun Suk, Wei Zhong, Ross Dahlke, Porismita Borah. Social Media + Society, 11(2), 2025. PDF DOI
JITPFar-Right Conspiracies and Online Engagement: How #StopTheSteal Leveraged Moral Appeals, Group Identity, and #BlackLivesMatter to Capture Audience Attention on Parler
Gyo Hyun Koo, Bin Chen. Journal of Information Technology & Politics. Online first, 2025. PDF DOI
EMNLPComparing a BERT Classifier and a GPT Classifier for Detecting Connective Language Across Multiple Social Media
Josephine Lukito, Bin Chen, Gina Masullo, Natalie Stroud. Proceedings of EMNLP, 19140–19153, 2024. PDF Code Data
SMSIt’s Not Just “8 Dead”: Examining News and Twitter’s Social Construction of the Atlanta Spa Shootings Through the Lens of Networked Gatekeeping and Affective Publics
Gyo Hyun Koo, Bin Chen. Social Media + Society, 10(3), 2024. PDF DOI
JQDBattle for Inbox and Bucks: Comparing Email Fundraising Strategies of Donald Trump and Joe Biden in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election
Bin Chen, Porismita Borah, Ross Dahlke, Josephine Lukito. Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media, 4, 2024. PDF DOI
MaCAudio-as-Data Tools: Replicating Computational Data Processing
Josephine Lukito, Jason Greenfield, Yunkang Yang, Ross Dahlke, Megan A. Brown, Rebecca Lewis, Bin Chen. Media and Communication, 12, 2024. PDF DOI
SMSComparing the #StopTheSteal Movement Across Multiple Platforms: Differentiating Discourse on Facebook, Twitter, and Parler
Bin Chen, Josephine Lukito, Gyo Hyun Koo. Social Media + Society, 9(3), 2023. PDF DOI Code
JOCEmerging Hybrid Networks of Verification, Accountability, and Institutional Resilience: The U.S. Capitol Riot and the Work of Open-Source Investigation
Stephen D. Reese, Bin Chen. Journal of Communication, 72(6), 633–646, 2022. PDF DOI Code
IJOCJournalistic Roles and News Framing: A Comparative Framing Analysis of COVID-19 Pandemic Across China, South Korea, and the United States
Bin Chen, Gyo Hyun Koo. International Journal of Communication, 16, 4254–4274, 2022. PDF Code

Public Writings

ReportThe State of Digital Media Data Research 2024
Brown, M. A., Lukito, J., Greenfield, J., Chen, B., Graham, S., Shugars, S., Pruden, M. MDDC, 2024.
ReportThe State of Digital Media Data Research 2023
Lukito, J., Brown, M., Dahlke, R., Suk, J., Yang, Y., Zhang, Y., Chen, B., Kim, S. J., Soorholtz, K. MDDC, 2023.
Op-EdSocial Media Platforms’ Struggles with Misinformation and Racism: Challenges and Paths Forward
Lukito, J., Murthy, D., Chen, B., Kazanas, K., Kolluri, A., Venkatesh, P. Bridging Barriers, November 11, 2022.
BriefDesigning Responsible AI Technologies to Curb Disinformation Project
Lukito, J., Kazanas, K., Chen, B. Policy brief, October 26, 2022.

Teaching

My open-source textbook, Data Journalism with R, is available online. It’s a work in progress and constantly evolving — if you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to drop me an email.

Grants

Advising

Fankai Dai, PhD student, co-advised with Prof. King-wa Fu
B.A., Zhejiang University; M.A., Tsinghua University
Mengmeng Wu, HKU Summer Research Programme student, now PhD student in Organizational Behavior at Northwestern University
B.A., Fudan University; M.A., University of Chicago
Jingtian Hu, HKU Summer Research Programme student, co-advised with Prof. Haohan Chen, now PhD student in Political Science at Columbia University
B.A. and M.A., Tsinghua University

Prospective Students & RAs

Research Assistants — I’m looking for RAs in Computational Social Science. Strong skills in statistics and programming (Python or R) are required. If you’re interested, please email me your CV.

PhD Applicants — I am currently considering inquiries from applicants with a strong academic record (a bachelor’s degree from a leading university and an MPhil in a related field), strong statistics, quantitative or computational skills, and research interests aligned with computational social science. Please review SFM’s guidelines and apply through HKU’s application portal.

Contact

Last update: October 22, 2026