Politicized Attention Shifts Amplify Polarization in the Information Ecosystem during California Wildfires

Collection of recent research (Mar 2026) on information dynamics, platform interventions, and AI-mediated harms with direct implications for information security and social stability. Key items: (1) Analysis of California wildfire discourse shows attention shifts toward political figures and engagement-weighted negativity that amplifies polarization during crises — a vector for targeted reputation attacks and disaster misinformation. (2) Prosocial Ranking experimental study demonstrates that ranking algorithms can measurably reduce affective polarization without large engagement losses — a def