Since 2014 there have been at least 74 nation-state led online influence campaigns targeting other countries through deceptive social media, with 21 of those in 2019 alone. How are such foreign influence efforts organized, what sets their content apart from legitimate social media activity, and what have we learned about their potential impact? Much as […]
Event Listing Header Algorithms touch each and every aspect of modern democratic life. While technology has created some ease, there has also been friction and harms, often in discrete or invisible ways and most disproportionately impacted women and communities of color. Our hyper digital lives during this pandemic has only reinforced the urgency for algorithmic […]
Once relegated to the fringes of only the most paranoid online communities, today the QAnon conspiracy theory has followers and supporters on an international scale, going so far as to be endorsed by a number of political candidates and one elected member of Congress. The fanatical far-right theory combines allegations of child sex-trafficking by Satan-worshipping […]
Once relegated to the fringes of only the most paranoid online communities, today the QAnon conspiracy theory has followers and supporters on an international scale, going so far as to be endorsed by a number of political candidates and one elected member of Congress. The fanatical far-right theory combines allegations of child sex-trafficking by Satan-worshipping […]
2020 has been a year marked by worldwide crises and changes, including a global pandemic, efforts to increase social justice, nation-shaping elections, massive wildfires and other environmental events, to name just a few. These crises and changes—in particular, their social dimensions—have been directly impacted and shaped by disinformation, influence campaigns, and other efforts to undermine […]
CEREN BUDAK, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SCHOOL OF INFORMATION The spread of political misinformation threatens the health of our democracies and weakens the legitimacy and public trust in the established political and media institutions. In this talk I will examine the spread of this threat, focusing primarily on the 2016 U.S. Presidential elections […]
You might think that something like a search engine allows for equal access to information. Yet looking deeper into how we discover things, there’s a culture of racism and sexism impacting what we find. Based on over 6 years of academic research, Safiya Umoja Noble’s book looks into the internet’s biases and how it acts […]
Join us for a virtual discussion exploring how to talk to friends and family about politics, misinformation, and what can be those “tough conversations” around differences of opinion that emerge during elections. The discussion will bring together experts in human psychology, technology, and media to consider how media coverage framed issues for voters this election […]
This year, with the stakes higher than ever, the candidates squared off in one vice presidential and two presidential debates. The events generated fireworks and controversy, but also memorable exchanges and substantive discussion. Still, some argue these debates are built on a format whose time has passed. The Commission on Presidential Debates defends these showdowns […]
Event featured image, but exclude link Event content Please join us for “What do the data tell us about election 2020?” a panel that will feature: Erika Franklin Fowler (Wesleyan University), Jill Lepore (Harvard University), Solomon Messing (ACRONYM), and Kate Starbird (University of Washington). Each panelist will speak about their research into topics such as […]