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This article was funded by the projects "Media representation of minors' self-harm in the media and networks" (PID2021-124550OB-I00) by the National Plan of the Ministry of Science and Innovation and SIC-SPAIN 4.0 (UE) .

Analysis of institutional authors

Nogales-Gonzalez, CeliaAuthorMartinez-Pastor, EstherCorresponding Author
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Exploring self-harm on Twitter (X): Content moderation and its psychological effects on adolescents

Publicated to:Online Journal Of Communication And Media Technologies. 15 (1): e202503- - 2025-01-01 15(1), DOI: 10.30935/ojcmt/15867

Authors: Atauri-Mezquida, David; Nogales-Gonzalez, Celia; Martinez-Pastor, Esther

Affiliations

Univ Rey Juan Carlos, Alcorcon, Spain - Author
Univ Rey Juan Carlos, Fuenlabrada, Spain - Author
Univ Rey Juan Carlos, Mostoles, Spain - Author

Abstract

The number of non-suicidal self-injuries (NSSI) has grown exponentially in the last two decades, especially in the young population. Likewise, the number of textual tweets and images in photography and video has increased, to share the experience of self-harm. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the posts on self-harm on Twitter is presented. The objective is to make visible the importance of this growing phenomenon among young people and to discuss its psychological and behavioral impact on the individual, as well as to analyze whether Twitter has adequate content controls in accordance with its conduct policies. 32,231 tweets were collected between 24 November 2022, and 29 January 2023, containing four keywords: "selfharm", "shtwt", "goretwt", and "ouchietwt". An average of 725 daily tweets were found. These tweets were posted by a total of 11,749 different users. Of those published, only 3,859 tweets (8.3%) were blocked by Twitter's content moderation procedures, and they did so only after having produced a high number of impressions and reactions in the community. No coherence was found between the tweets blocked due to their sensitive or non-sensitive load, or between Twitter's criteria for blocking tweets and those that are finally deleted. By number of posts, the violence of the messages, photographs, videos, and the interactions produced because of these, the importance of the procedures of moderation and supervision of content by Twitter are discussed, in terms of the danger and the psychological impact on the users.

Keywords
BehaviorContent moderationInjuryPrevalencePsychological impactSelf-harm (nssi)ShtwShtwtTwitterXYoun

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Online Journal Of Communication And Media Technologies due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2025, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q2 (Segundo Cuartil), in the category Media Technology. Notably, the journal is positioned en el Cuartil Q3 for the agency WoS (JCR) in the category Communication.

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-05-19:

  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 2 (PlumX).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author () and Last Author (Martínez Pastor, Esther).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been Martínez Pastor, Esther.