Surprise, anticipation, sadness, and fear: A sentiment analysis of social media’s portrayal of police use of facial recognition technology

Abstract

Policing agencies are adopting or trialling facial recognition technology (FRT). While the public tend to be sceptical of any new technology, public support is needed for both legitimacy and strong police–citizen relationships. The media can greatly influence not only the public agenda, but also the attitudes and sentiments towards the topic. This study takes an agenda-setting perspective to explore social media’s portrayal of police use of FRT. To do this, a sentiment analysis was conducted of 203 YouTube videos. Overall, the discourse was mostly positive for the use of FRT by police. An examination of the emotional language found high levels of surprise and anticipation along with sadness and fear. Notably, trust was expressed only in low levels. These findings inform the development of police practices and policies when adopting new technologies and the communication strategies of such policies and practices.