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David Nemer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Media Studies, an Affiliated Faculty in the Department of Anthropology, and the Director of the Latin American Studies program at the University of Virginia. He is also a Faculty Associate at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society (BKC). Nemer is the author of Technology of the Oppressed (MIT Press, 2022), winner of the 2024 Sally Hacker Prize and 2022 Marcel Roche Book, and Favela Digital: The other side of technology (Editora GSA, 2013). He holds an MA in Anthropology from the University of Virginia, an MS in Computer Science from Saarland University, and a Ph.D. in Computing, Culture, and Society from Indiana University. Nemer has written for The Guardian, El País, The Huffington Post (HuffPost), Salon, The Intercept_, UOL, and CartaCapital.


Community

The New York Times

Why Brazil Banned X

Have the country's efforts to combat fake news gone too far?

Aug 31, 2024
Financial Times

Google draws backlash from Brazil with lobbying against ‘fake news’ bill

Rebooting Social Media Visiting Scholar and BKC Faculty Associate David Nemer discusses Google's lobbying against a Brazilian bill aimed at curbing the spread of “fake news.”

May 2, 2023
Mother Jones

Two Years Ago This Brazilian Expert on the Far Right Predicted Their Insurrection

BKC Faculty Associate David Nemer was interviewed about his accurate prediction of a "January 6-like event" following Brazil's elections. "I wasn’t totally surprised. I’ve been…

Jan 18, 2023
The Brazilian Report

Explaining Brazil #218: Demons, Freemasons, and cannibalism

Rebooting Social Media Visiting Scholar and BKC Faculty Associate David Nemer discusses social media strategies and their implications in the Brazilian presidential election…

Oct 12, 2022
NACLA

Brazil on Fire: Nazis on Your Street

David Nemer speaks about Brazil and the history of fascism, and the role cyberactivism plays in emboldening it. “Misinformation without hate, fortunately, doesn’t go very far…

Sep 13, 2022
Worldcrunch

Jair Bolsonaro, A Perfect Example Of Why Autocrats Hate Women

David Nemer analyzes the antipathy towards women that world leaders like Jair Bolsonaro have. 

Sep 8, 2022
Lawfare

Telegram’s Embrace of Contradiction

Will Marks and David Nemer assess Telegram's content moderation.

Apr 6, 2022
Financial Times

Brazil’s battle against Covid quack remedies

David Nemer describes the repercussions of the Bolsonaro administration's efforts to delegitimize mainstream media.

Jan 31, 2022
Financial Times

Bolsonaro crafts new social media strategy ahead of Brazil election

David Nemer discusses Bolsonaro supporters’ migration from WhatsApp to Telegram.

Jan 12, 2022

Events

Oct 25, 2023 @ 12:00 PM

Disinformation Pulse

Lessons Learned from Brazil’s 2022 Elections (RSM Speaker Series)

  Disinformation was widespread during Brazil’s 2022 elections, but it’s hardly a new or location-specific phenomenon. This panel discussion examines the recent history of…

Feb 28, 2023 @ 4:00 PM

The Propagandists’ Playbook

Dr. Francesca Tripodi discusses her book "The Propagandists' Playbook: How Conservative Elites Manipulate Search...