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State-sponsored trolls, malicious actors who deploy sophisticated linguistic manipulation in coordinated information campaigns, posing threats to online discourse integrity. While Large Language Models (LLMs) achieve strong performance on…
There are different definitions of what a troll is. Certainly, a troll can be somebody who teases people to make them angry, or somebody who offends people, or somebody who wants to dominate any single discussion, or somebody who tries to…
A vishing attack is a form of social engineering where attackers use phone calls to deceive individuals into disclosing sensitive information, such as personal data, financial information, or security credentials. Attackers exploit the…
The ability to accurately detect and filter offensive content automatically is important to ensure a rich and diverse digital discourse. Trolling is a type of hurtful or offensive content that is prevalent in social media, but is…
Recent advances in text-to-image diffusion models have enabled the creation of a new form of digital art: optical illusions--visual tricks that create different perceptions of reality. However, adversaries may misuse such techniques to…
Political astroturfing and organised trolling are online malicious behaviours with significant real-world effects. Common approaches examining these phenomena focus on broad campaigns rather than the small groups responsible. To reveal…
Large Language Models (LLMs) offer new avenues to simulate online communities and social media. Potential applications range from testing the design of content recommendation algorithms to estimating the effects of content policies and…
Bayesian Persuasion is proposed as a tool for social media platforms to combat the spread of misinformation. Since platforms can use machine learning to predict the popularity and misinformation features of to-be-shared posts, and users are…
Propaganda can be defined as a form of communication that aims to influence the opinions or the actions of people towards a specific goal; this is achieved by means of well-defined rhetorical and psychological devices. Propaganda, in the…
Amidst widespread reports of digital influence operations during major elections, policymakers, scholars, and journalists have become increasingly interested in the political impact of social media 'bots.' Most recently, platform companies…
In micro-blogging platforms, people connect and interact with others. However, due to cognitive biases, they tend to interact with like-minded people and read agreeable information only. Many efforts to make people connect with those who…
A number of organizations ranging from terrorist groups such as ISIS to politicians and nation states reportedly conduct explicit campaigns to influence opinion on social media, posing a risk to democratic processes. There is thus a growing…
Social media platforms offer flagging, a technical feature that empowers users to report inappropriate posts or bad actors to reduce online harm. The deceptively simple flagging interfaces on nearly all major social media platforms disguise…
Recent years have witnessed the rise of misinformation campaigns that spread specific narratives on social media to manipulate public opinions on different areas, such as politics and healthcare. Consequently, an effective and efficient…
The issue of quantifying and characterizing various forms of social media manipulation and abuse has been at the forefront of the computational social science research community for over a decade. In this paper, I provide a…
The rise of echo chambers on social media platforms has heightened concerns about polarization and the reinforcement of existing beliefs. Traditional approaches for simulating echo chamber formation have often relied on predefined rules and…
Online platforms have completely transformed American social life. They have democratized publication, overthrown old gatekeepers, and given ordinary Americans a fresh voice in politics. But the system is beginning to falter. Control over…
Social media users who report content are key allies in the management of online misinformation, however, no research has been conducted yet to understand their role and the different trends underlying their reporting activity. We suggest…
In today's digital age, social media platforms play a crucial role in shaping public opinion. This study explores how discussions led by influencers on Twitter, now known as 'X', affect public sentiment and contribute to online…
In recent years, the proliferation of so-called "fake news" has caused much disruptions in society and weakened the news ecosystem. Therefore, to mitigate such problems, researchers have developed state-of-the-art models to auto-detect fake…