Ernesto de León

Ernesto de León

Postdoctoral Researcher

University of Amsterdam

Biography

Hello! I am a political communication researcher focused on understanding how human and algorithmic information curation shape our shared political realities.

Currently, I am a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Amsterdam and part of the Public Values in the Algorithmic Society consortium. I hold a PhD in communication science from the Institute of Communication and Media Studies at the University of Bern, in Switzerland. Originally from the Dominican Republic, I did my BA in International Relations at the ITESM in Mexico, and obtained my MSc in Political Science at the University of Amsterdam.

Research

My research focuses on political information flows in a digital age and its effects on political attitudes. In these projects, I make use of computational methodologies to explore web behaviour, use of algorithmic intermediaries to news (such as social media and search engines), and to conduct large-scale automated content analyses through text-as-data approaches.

I classify my research into three main branches:

  • 1. Aggregate information flows: Here I focus on aggregate-level sharing of news on social media. I research what influences the difusion of political news across social network sites, addresing the role played by emotions, as well as the impact elections have on changing patterns of news engagement.
  • 2. Individual access to political information: Using a combination of survey and digital trace data, I aim to understand how people use algorithmic intermediaries to access political information. This work speaks to the areas of algorithmic curation, media exposure measurement, and accurate classification of political and hyperpartisan content.
  • 3. Effects of political news consumption: Here I research how consumption of political news impacts individuals’ trust in politics, and likelihood to participate in political processes.

Download my resumé.

Interests
  • Algorithmic Curation
  • Natural language processing
  • Computational social science
  • Social media engagement
  • Media effects
  • R and Python programing
Education
  • PhD in Communication Science, 2023

    University of Bern

  • MSc in Political Science (research), 2020

    University of Amsterdam

  • BA in International Relations, 2018

    Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey

Teaching

Publications and Working Papers

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(2025). Populist Radical-Right Attitudes, Political Involvement and Selective Information Consumption: Who Tunes Out and Who Prefers Attitude-Consonant Information. Mass Communication and Society.

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(2024). Improving the quality of individual-level web tracking: Challenges of existing approaches and introduction of a new content and long-tail sensitive academic solution. Social Science Computer Review.

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(2024). Personality and political news consumption online: A comparison between self-reports and webtracking data. Personality and Individual Differences.

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(2024). Hyperpartisan News. **.

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(2024). Hyperpartisan, Alternative, and Conspiracy Media Users: An Anti-Establishment Portrait. Political Communication.

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