• Parler Is Bringing Together Mainstream Conservatives, Anti-Semites and White Supremacists as the Social Media Platform Attracts Millions of Trump Supporters

    Since the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Parler has caught on among right-wing politicians and “influencers” – people with large online followings – as a social media platform where they can share and promote ideas without worrying about the company blocking or flagging their posts for being dangerous or misleading. However, the website has become a haven for far-right extremists and conspiracy theorists who are now interacting with the mainstream conservatives flocking to the platform.

  • Why Social Media Has Changed the World — and How to Fix It

    As social media platforms have grown, though, the once-prevalent, gauzy utopian vision of online community has disappeared. Along with the benefits of easy connectivity and increased information, social media has also become a vehicle for disinformation and political attacks from beyond sovereign borders. MIT Professor Sinan Aral’s new book, The Hype Machine, explores the perils and promise of social media in a time of discord.

  • New Research Projects to Shed New Light on the Intentions of Violent Extremists

    New research project aims to shed new light on the intentions of violent extremists. The “Disguised Compliance in Terrorist Offending” project will provide frontline staff across U.K. security agencies with the best tools and approaches to assess the true intention of people motivated to acts of violence by ideologies.

  • An AI Tool Can Distinguish Between a Conspiracy Theory and a True Conspiracy – It Comes Down to How Easily the Story Falls Apart

    Conspiracy theories, which have the potential to cause significant harm, have found a welcome home on social media, where forums free from moderation allow like-minded individuals to converse. There they can develop their theories and propose actions to counteract the threats they “uncover.” But how can you tell if an emerging narrative on social media is an unfounded conspiracy theory? It turns out that it’s possible to distinguish between conspiracy theories and true conspiracies by using machine learning tools to graph the elements and connections of a narrative.

  • Election Security 2020: Why Did Things Go Right This Time?

    In the weeks leading up to the 2020 presidential election, the U.S. government and technology companies took several steps to safeguard election security in cyberspace, focusing their efforts on disinformation and cyberattacks. Although there were a handful of incidents, none compromised the integrity of the election, and Election Day passed without any major disruption. Why did things go right this time? A combination of government and private sector action motivated by the lessons of the 2016 and 2018 elections. Still, as the vote count continues, disinformation remains a real threat.

  • Extremism Gab Remains Extremists' Online Destination of Choice

    Two years ago, white supremacist Robert Bowers killed eleven people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh after posting antisemitic, anti-immigrant rants on Gab. Today, supported by a founder who encourages hate speech, the social media site appears to be gaining traction among far-right extremists, including white supremacists: Sixty percent of the 47 far-right extremist groups currently on Gab were created this year.

  • Tricking Fake News Detectors with Malicious User Comments

    Fake news detectors, which have been deployed by social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to add warnings to misleading posts, have traditionally flagged online articles as false based on the story’s headline or content. However, recent approaches have considered other signals, such as network features and user engagements, in addition to the story’s content to boost their accuracies.

  • Six Disinformation Threats in the Post-Election Period

    The problem of disinformation in the run-up to the 2020 election is well covered in the news media. Justin Hendrix writes that what hasn’t been as widely covered is the disinformation campaigns that will likely come right after Americans vote on 3 November.

  • Understanding, and Countering, Information Operations

    In recent years, a growing number of governments, non-state actors, and citizens have rapidly expanded their use of pernicious information operations against other countries and even their fellow citizens. Social media and the internet have become the main tool. The current technological revolution has lowered the cost of entry for those wishing to spread misinformation and disinformation.

  • Election 2020 Chatter on Twitter Busy with Bots and Conspiracy Theorists

    Bots and conspiracy theorists have infested the Twitter chatter around the upcoming U.S. presidential election, researchers have found. Looking at more than 240 million election-related tweets, the study found that thousands of automated accounts, known as bots, had posted tweets about President Donald Trump, his Democratic opponent former Vice President Joe Biden and both of their campaigns.

  • Think Tanks in the Era of Truth Decay

    We are living through a moment of crisis that will define who we are as a nation; yet we can’t even agree on what’s real and what’s rumor. Our political discourse too often amounts to opinions about opinions, shouted across a cable-television split screen. Asked to describe their feelings toward the federal government, a majority of Americans say either “frustrated” or “angry.” All of this points to a civic disease that I’ve been calling “Truth Decay,” and that has enfeebled our response to everything from climate change to domestic terrorism to a global pandemic.

  • Russian Propaganda Hits Its Mark

    Given the size and scope of the Russian propaganda campaign that targeted the U.S. electorate in 2016, it is critical to understand both the impact of that campaign and the mechanisms that can reduce the impact of future campaigns, says a new RAND report.

  • Seeing Is No Longer Believing: Manipulation of Online Images

    Image editing software is so ubiquitous and easy to use, and deadline-driven journalists lack the tools to tell the difference, especially when the images come through from social media.

  • Russia Launches Disinformation Campaign to Undermine Public Confidence in Oxford University’s COVID Vaccine

    The U.K. government said it condemned as “utterly deplorable” a Russia disinformation campaign to undermine public confidence in a coronavirus vaccine currently under development by Oxford University scientists. The Times reported on Friday that Russian government officials have been using social media and Russian state media to depict the vaccine as dangerous – going as far as claiming that the vaccine would turn people into monkeys or chimpanzees.

  • Facebook Ran Recruitment Ads for Militia Groups

    A new report shows that Facebook for years allowed militia groups to recruit new members via paid advertisements on the platform. The review — which followed news of the plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, which played out on Facebook and other social media — also found more than 50 militia pages and groups that are still active on Facebook.