Related papers: Censorship is Futile
We outline a planned experiment to investigate if personal data (e.g., demographics and behavioral patterns) can be used to selectively expose individuals to disinformation such that an adversary can spread disinformation more efficiently…
Fake news on Social Media undermines democratic institutions and processes. Especially since 2016, researchers from many disciplines have focussed on ways to address the phenomenon. Much of the research focus to date has been on…
How do authoritarian regimes strengthen global support for nondemocratic political systems? Roughly half of the users of the social media platform TikTok report getting news from social media influencers. Against this backdrop,…
Public health interventions are a fundamental tool for mitigating the spread of an infectious disease. However, it is not always possible to obtain a conclusive estimate for the impact of an intervention, especially in situations where the…
In recent years, disinformation including fake news, has became a global phenomenon due to its explosive growth, particularly on social media. The wide spread of disinformation and fake news can cause detrimental societal effects. Despite…
The distinction between genuine grassroots activism and automated influence operations is collapsing. While contemporary policy debates prioritize fully autonomous generative agents and synthetic content, this paper offers a conceptual…
We develop a means to detect ongoing per-country anomalies in the daily usage metrics of the Tor anonymous communication network, and demonstrate the applicability of this technique to identifying likely periods of internet censorship and…
Modern online media, such as Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, enable anyone to become an information producer and to offer online content for potentially global consumption. By increasing the amount of globally accessible real-time…
Online platforms for social interactions are an essential part of modern society. With the advance of technology and the rise of algorithms and AI, content is now filtered systematically and facilitates the formation of filter bubbles. This…
This study examines the failures and possibilities of contemporary social media governance through the lived experiences of various content moderation professionals. Drawing on participatory design workshops with 33 practitioners in both…
Should social media platforms override a community's self-policing when it repeatedly break rules? What actions can they consider? In light of this debate, platforms have begun experimenting with softer alternatives to outright bans. We…
Social information is particularly prominent in digital settings where the design of platforms can more easily give real-time information about the behaviour of peers and reference groups and thereby stimulate political activity. Changes to…
We investigate the collective behavior of a system of social agents subject to the competition between two mass media influences considered as external fields. We study under what conditions either of two mass media with different…
People are influenced by the choices of others, a phenomenon observed across contexts in the social and behavioral sciences. Social influence can lock in an initial popularity advantage of an option over a higher quality alternative. Yet…
The rise of social media and the increase in the computational capabilities of computers have allowed tech companies such as Facebook and Google to gather incredibly large amounts of data and to be able to extract meaningful information to…
Although many fact-checking systems have been developed in academia and industry, fake news is still proliferating on social media. These systems mostly focus on fact-checking but usually neglect online users who are the main drivers of the…
YouTube has rapidly emerged as a predominant platform for content consumption, effectively displacing conventional media such as television and news outlets. A part of the enormous video stream uploaded to this platform includes…
Online media platforms have enabled users to connect with individuals, organizations, and share their thoughts. Other than connectivity, these platforms also serve multiple purposes - education, promotion, updates, awareness, etc.…
The proliferation of fake news on social media has opened up new directions of research for timely identification and containment of fake news, and mitigation of its widespread impact on public opinion. While much of the earlier research…
Open communication over the Internet poses a serious threat to countries with repressive regimes, leading them to develop and deploy censorship mechanisms within their networks. Unfortunately, existing censorship circumvention systems do…