Peer-Reviewed Publications

Matt DeButts*, Jennifer Pan*. Reporting After Removal: The Effects of Journalist Expulsion on Foreign News Coverage. Journal of Communication, 2024. [*co-first author] [link]

Alexander Spangher, James Youn, Matt DeButts, Nanyun Peng, Emilio Ferrara, Jonathan May. Explaining Mixtures of Sources in News Articles. EMNLP Proceedings, 2024.

Matt DeButts*, Jennifer Pan*. China’s Internet Controls: What if Citizens Disengage? Communication and the Public, 2024.

Kate Starbird, Renee DiResta, Matt DeButts. Influence and Improvisation: Participatory Disinformation during the 2020 U.S. Election. Social Media + Society, 2023. [link]

Under Review

Matt DeButts*, Tongtong Zhang*. Is Rights Consciousness Rising in China? Evidence from Thirteen Years of Citizen Complaints. Accepted at China Quarterly.

Matt DeButts*, Yingdan Lu*. ‘Intimate’ Propaganda: How Authoritarian Regimes Adapt Propaganda to Video-Sharing Platforms. R&R at Journal of Communication.

Working Papers

Matt DeButts*, Jennifer Pan*. Media Patronage: How Authoritarian Regimes Exploit Media Competition to Shape Global Information. Presented at APSA 2025.

Matt DeButts. Head for the Exits: Selective Self-Censorship in Global Chinese Podcasts. Dissertation chapter.

Book Chapter

Lu, Y. & DeButts, M. How to Use Computational Methods and Online Experiments to Study Chinese Digital Media. In Xu J., Guo S., and Zhang W. (Eds.), The Sage Handbook on Chinese Digital Media and Communication. In press.

Policy & Public Writing

Renee DiResta, Matt DeButts. Newsworthiness, Trump, and the Facebook Oversight Board. Columbia Journalism Review, April 2021. [link]

Matt DeButts. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Twitter Data Set. U.S. China Perception Monitor, Carter Center, April 2021. [link]

Jack Cable, Matt DeButts, Renee DiResta, Riana Pfefferkorn, Alex Stamos, David Thiel. Clubhouse in China: Is the Data Safe? Stanford Internet Observatory, February 2021.

Matt DeButts, Maya Guzdar, Vanessa Molter. Chinese Expat News Site Resists CCP Influence. Stanford Internet Observatory, September 2020.

Center for an Informed Public, Digital Forensic Research Lab, Graphika, & Stanford Internet Observatory. The Long Fuse: Misinformation and the 2020 Election. Stanford Digital Repository: Election Integrity Partnership, March 2021. [link]