The intersection of content management, misinformation, aggregated data about human behavior and crowdsourcing shows how fragile Twitter is and what would be lost with the platform’s demise.
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Articles on Social media and democracy
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Facebook users no longer see the site as a confidant. They’re struggling with how to deal with a messy codependence – and whether to just break up and move on with healthier friends.
The Hunger Games salute, teabags and Pepe the Frog are being adopted by young pro-democracy activists across south-east Asia.
Twitter bots amplify conspiracy theories, including the so-called ‘collective delusion’ that is QAnon, making them appear more popular and able to reach more real humans.
Facebook benefits financially from misinformation spreading on its platform. As long as it puts profits ahead of public good, the tilting of the political landscape will persist.
Flies have long held symbolic meaning in the history of art. In portraits made in Renaissance Europe, the presence of a fly symbolizes the transience of human life.
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social networks say they are targeting hate, but they’re overlooking a major source of hateful content: gun talk.
When other posts have presented misinformation, the company simply removed the tweets, but Trump is being treated differently.
For many years, political operatives have been perfecting their use of the internet’s vast array of social media platforms, websites and digital tools.
Here’s what to watch out for, so you can protect yourself – and your social circles – from lies, half-truths and misleading spins on current events.
A scholar who has reviewed the efforts of nations around the world to protect their citizens from foreign interference says there is no magic solution, but there’s plenty to learn and do.
As the 2020 elections near and disinformation campaigns ramp up, an expert on media literacy offers advice you can use to develop habits to exert more conscious control over your news intake.
New laws in Albania show one approach to dealing with disinformation – and highlight some pitfalls of selective regulation.
In 1999, ahead of World Trade Organisation protests, a group of Australian activists created the first open internet publishing platform. This technology is the basis of the internet we know today.
Members of the research team that wrote the software that unmasked thousands of Twitter bots explain the next phase of their work: getting the public involved in the fight against disinformation.
The Russians won’t be alone in spreading disinformation in 2020. Their most likely imitator will be Iran. Also, Instagram could get even more infected with intentional misinformation than it has been.
There’s no way an independent assessor will be able to actually monitor how Facebook might violate or abuse users’ privacy in key ways.
Facebook serves as a gatekeeper of the information diets of more than 200 million Americans and 2 billion users worldwide.
Advocates and opponents of breaking up Facebook, Google and other technology giants are falling prey to some serious misconceptions.
People know about Facebook’s problems, but assume they are largely immune – even while they imagine that everyone else is very susceptible to influence.
Top contributors
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Dean of Global Business, The Fletcher School, Tufts University
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Associate Professor of Communications (Social Media), Syracuse University
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Associate Professor of Communication, Wayne State University
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Professor of Business Law and Ethics, Indiana University
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Professor of Media Studies, Queensland University of Technology
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Associate Professor of Communication Studies, Pace University
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Professor of Informatics and Computer Science, Indiana University
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Professor of Information Systems, Michigan State University
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Associate Professor of Communication Studies, American University School of Communication
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Professor of Public Administration and Policy, American University School of Public Affairs
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Fellow, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University
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Senior Lecturer in Media Psychology, University of Salford
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Professor of Journalism, Goldsmiths, University of London
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University at Buffalo
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Principal Lecturer in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
