Media, Democracy, & Public Discourse

Social-media giants can’t decide how far is too far, but a panel of regular people can.

BKC fellow Apryl Williams sheds light on online dating and context collapse

Joan Donovan and Elizabeth Dubois weigh in

Research discusses the relevance of alternative media for the US (far-)right

Danielle Citron reflects on her career, current events, and the future

Jonathan Zittrain and evelyn douek weigh in on the power of platforms like Facebook

Yochai Benkler moderated a discussion on measures the Israeli Supreme Court took to shut down deceptive election posts

BKC affiliate discusses free speech, platform regulation, political advertising, and Facebook’s oversight board.

Jonathon Penney proposes a new comprehensive regulatory framework to hold social media platforms accountable

Joan Donovan describes content moderation in the context of a tech stack

Memes come off as a joke, but some people are starting to see them as the serious threat they are.

BKC paper cited in reflection on media coverage of the Clinton email "scandal."

We need to look at long-term patterns of loss of trust in institutions, Yochai Benkler says.

If Facebook decides incorrectly that local laws in India require it to silence Kashmiri calls for self-determination, the Board will not be able to review this.

“How should we interpret gun images on social media?” Desmond Patton asks

Desmond Patton talks to PBS about violence Facebook Live

Susan Benesch discusses our complicated legal right to speak.

CJEU’s Ruling in Glawischnig-Piesczek v. Facebook and the Conflicting Regulation of Prior Restraint in Regional Human Rights Systems

Breaking up Facebook isn’t enough, says evelyn douek

During election season, journalists should be ready for even more sophisticated attempts to plant false narratives and to spin disinformation via legitimate news stories

Susan Benesch says it isn’t normal for American presidents to suggest that their political opponents be arrested for treason

If this is our moment of something like national jury duty, what are we called to judge?

A Quantitative Analysis of Media Attention to Deaths of Black Americans in Police Confrontations

What a democratic policy agenda would look like, how to talk to strangers, and why we need to reform civic education.

Far from deplatforming racists, Facebook is moving toward private groups that will be harder to monitor.

Joan Donovan explains how digital information is weaponized

evelyn douek shares her perspective with The New York Times

Deciding which postings to take down is a difficult and unpopular job. So Mark Zuckerberg is outsourcing it, says evelyn douek

Data & Society report aims to create a taxonomy of trolling tactics.

Australia has held itself up as a model for cracking down on violent extremist material online since the Christchurch massacre in New Zealand. But the limits to its approach have…

Policy experts debate what legal responsibility social media companies should have under the 1996 Communications Decency Act

Data & Society report uses case studies to illustrate four main techniques of source hacking

People posting a pseudo-legal declaration may believe they're in a two-way dialogue with the company. The opposite is true.

Research from faculty associate paints a comprehensive picture of user radicalization on YouTube

Susan Benesch provides an external review of the study

WhatsApp and YouTube formed a powerful feedback loop of extremism and misinformation

New program explores disinformation in the digital public sphere from a cybersecurity perspective

Network Propaganda research on media ecosystems informs recent events

With election meddling inevitable in 2020, the United States needs a powerful kill chain

Research informs New York Times investigation into YouTube’s recommendations

Research shows that YouTube’s recommendation system pushes users toward extremist content.

What we can learn from cataloging extremely toxic speech on social media platforms and engaging with practitioners of “counterspeech”

Ethan Zuckerman discusses the opportunities and consequences of participatory media.

An exploration of what happens when politically motivated humans impersonate vulnerable people or populations online to exploit their voices, positionality and power.

Trump is a politician perfectly fitted for a media ecosystem that amplifies extreme emotion and allows the loud to drown out the calm

The decision to disable an infamous message board fell to Matthew Prince, an internet executive who is deeply uncomfortable with his own power.

BKC affiliate responds to El Paso shooting, use of manifestos as a tactic, and explains how extremists manipulate the media to control public conversation

While we often think about those who commit mass violence as acting individually, we must reckon with the fact that these extremists are never alone online.

Incoming BKC fellow Mutale Nkonde says we need a legal definition for harmful speech that could be regulated

Google and Facebook aren’t infringing on the right’s freedom of expression, but insisting otherwise is politically convenient.

BKC affiliate Simin Kargar says Iran for years has harassed journalists, political dissidents and artists in its internal disinformation campaigns

A report that the Epstein was injured in jail dredged up a conspiracy theory about the Clintons — and thanks to a hashtag, the baseless rumor likely has a whole lot of new…

Q&A with Journalist’s Resource offers advice for journalists

Twitter has ceded responsibility for governing its own platform to its most prolific and controversial user, says BKC affiliate Joan Donovan.

Ethan Zuckerman delves into how the conspiracist community surrounding QAnon represents a hazardous new form of participatory civics and digital storytelling

What happens when white supremacists on the hate site Stormfront learn that they’re not as white as they thought? Two researchers investigated.

Telling the president to unblock critics was easy, but interpreting the rule for other government accounts could be hard

Investigating the Role of User Interfaces in Fighting Misinformation

BKC affiliate Camille Francois uses data science to detect disinformation and organized harassment campaigns

78% of Americans say aggressive language from elected officials makes violence against targeted groups more likely. Susan Benesch shares insight for decreasing dangerous speech

A report from the European Commission said that Russian accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube aimed to influence voter preference by challenging the Union's democratic…

We’ll have to battle both the disease and the fake news, writes BKC’s Bruce Schneier

A Kansas case shows how misinformation can sway authorities

A Q&A with Jonas Kaiser about his YouTube research, which uncovered harmful content

Jonas Kaiser talks about his YouTube research and calls for transparency

There are thousands of different tongues spoken around the world, but most of the content on the web is only available in a select few, primarily English.

Pew survey finds that half of U.S. adults consider fake news a major problem, and they mostly blame politicians and activists for it

Facebook is just one part of a broader media ecosystem, and not necessarily the most important one

A new paper used YouTubers’ voices to guess what they looked like. Was it ethical? Casey Fiesler weighs in.

How online misinformation can fuel epidemics such as Ebola virus disease and measles

Desmond Patton says law enforcement officials should analyze social media posts about grief and stress to prevent violent crime among young people.

Our next challenge is to find the mix of tools and approaches that strengthen public discourse that work in the digital age, Rob Faris argues

It's not just bad storytelling—it’s because the storytelling style changed from sociological to psychological

Does social media affect democracy the same way across the world, or do social platforms have different effects in different nations?

Democracies rely on the free exchange of ideas and information, but that freedom can also be weaponized to erode democratic debate. How can democratic societies protect—and…

The ability to mimic the sound of someone else's voice is becoming easier and easier thanks to AI. It sounds like fun, but it can be a problem.

Research suggests posts published by Fox News’ page draw far more reactions, comments, or shares than any mainstream news outlet

On the heels of a Brazilian electoral process that was marked by outrageous disinformation campaigns, India may be witnessing the world’s next “WhatsApp election.”

What should you watch? What should you read? What's news? What's trending? Wherever you go online, companies have come up with very particular, imperfect ways of answering these…

Site co-founded by Fox News host Tucker Carlson has promoted misinformation and is known for pro-Trump content

Until AI catches up, tens of thousands of human content moderators all around the world will continue to ingest thousands of posts of potentially toxic posts on social media,…

Scandals. Backstabbing. Resignations. Record profits. Time Bombs. In early 2018, Mark Zuckerberg set out to fix Facebook. Here's how that turned out.

Fox News in the Trump Era has been labeled “state TV.” Conservatives have complained about liberal media bias for decades. Separate media spheres have created separate realities –…

How can governments effectively harness the potential of digital identities? Will they be used in delivering better public services?

How the internet can contribute to individual and group radicalization.

Outsiders have always had a weakness for paranoid fantasies. Now our leaders are conspiracists, too.

Academics and campaigners condemned large chunks of the indictment that they said went head-to-head with basic activities of journalism protected by the first amendment of the US…

Charges against Assange and implications for journalism

How African media cover atrocities on their own continent

Identity and the dichotomy between real and fake on Instagram

Australia asks social media platforms to take responsibility

Leveraging expertise to understand social media's role in gang activity

Ethan Zuckerman discusses the opportunities and consequences of participatory media.

On the intersection of social media, ethics, and human rights

Leveraging social media platforms to combat coordinated inauthentic behavior online

The Internet's role in forming and radicalizing non-mainstream discourse arenas

Following shooter’s live stream of mosque massacres, New Zealand, Australia join other jurisdictions seeking stricter regulations

An analysis of over 6,000 articles about the recent tragedy reveals useful guidelines for journalists on reporting extreme content

A Twitter lawsuit and protected forms of speech

"Network Propaganda" shines a light on the dark side of democracy.

The promise of Smart Cities often fails to acknowledge the complex political and social factors of cities, which may cause short and long term harms to residents and democracy

Anything “public” on social media may be fair game, but researchers should be more ethical about using that data

AI and the News Announces winners

White supremacists exploit the weaknesses in the social-media ecosystem as Facebook and Google struggle to keep up.

What does the data show? Looking at the relationship between Fox News and the Trump Administration.

"Sealioning" and good versus bad faith demands for evidence on social media.

A critical perspective on this emerging notion of the data commons

Facebook's stance on anti-vaccine misinformation, and what public health experts have to say about it.

 

Berkman Kleins' Digital Literacy Resource Platform was recently rolled out in the UK to help teachers fight back against cyberbullying

Jonny Sun joins the TED2019 "Bigger than Us" speaker lineup

Assessing the integrity, safety, and security of the vote -- the most important element of a truly democratic government

Fakery is gushing in from everywhere and we’re drowning in it.

Jonas Kaiser on Youtube, platforms, and speech

The past two years have seen an upswing in the number of entities trying to prevent disinformation online

Should Congress and federal agencies be sharing and receiving more with platforms like Facebook to aid them in enforcing better moderation policies?

Doc Searls on getting the supply and demand sides of creative markets together to better support journalism

"Facebook needs to change how it handles user data and personal information."

Berkman Klein research cited in a writeup of how political figures are contributing to the spread of misinformation through fringe news sites and into the mainstream media

In the last decade, India has seen multiple rounds of communal violence in which rumour and information technology played a role

Democracy and the news media are inextricably intertwined, and it is clear that both are in crisis.

BKC Affiliate Valentin Weber proposes a bold censorship workaround for activists living under repressive regimes.

Facebook’s plans to stitch together its three main messaging services have put the social network back in the glare of regulators around the world

What makes people susceptible to fake news and other forms of strategic misinformation?

In her new book "Memes to Movements," An Xiao Mina explores how people from a historically overlooked nation such as Uganda are able to drive the conversation on issues in…

During confirmation hearings AG nominee William Barr is asked how private social media platform's could explicitly attempt to sway an election, and whether there are any remedies…

This app uses US Census Data and a linguistic algorithm to "Americanize" submitted names, and provoke thought about how names and identities are considered in society

Questions are emerging regarding the adequacy of our current economic policies and practices, the social contract between citizens, businesses and governments and the metrics used…

A global exploration of internet memes as agents of pop culture, politics, protest, and propaganda on- and offline

An excerpt from Memes to Movements: How the World’s Most Viral Media Is Changing Social Protest and Power

Data protection standards alone aren’t enough to make social media companies accountable

Under fire for stirring up distrust and violence, the social network has vowed to police its users. But leaked documents raise serious questions about its approach.

Ruth Okediji, Smith professor of law, traces her enthusiasm for intellectual-property law to a childhood love of literature and storytelling.

Woke Gaming seeks to push readers to recognize persistent inequalities, as well as those who struggle for change within both our virtual worlds and in our everyday communities.

"Digitalpolitik," is an emerging tactical playbook for how governments use their political, regulatory, military, and commercial powers to project influence in global, digital…

Shenzhen flooded the world with cheap gadgets. Can it now become what Silicon Valley never did — a global hub of innovation, entrepreneurship, and manufacturing?

The few companies that control our digital public sphere—Facebook, Google, and Twitter—are all driven by the same fundamental business model, and it has only grown more pernicious…

Renee DiResta discusses the results of a new report commissioned by the Senate Intelligence Committee about Russian interference in U.S. elections.

Three approaches from the field of health communication people can use for combatting misinformation in other contexts.

Unless journalists decide to take a stand and rethink the current status quo, 2019 will be darker and gloomier.

There are good reasons to believe that deepfakes will not be a threat in the near future, and that they, in fact, may never pose a significant threat.

Professor Jonathan Zittrain discusses the social media giant’s ‘long year’ with Facebook's head of global policy management Monika Bickert.

After Tumblr’s recent announcement that it will no longer allow “adult content” many have been asking where fan creators, LGBTQ people, and support communities will go.

Brittan Heller joins the Atlantic to explore the debate about free speech — on campuses, on tech platforms, and in our political life.

Should there be a public archive or public record of a politician's social media as soon as they become a public official?

The Cyberlaw Clinic shares a new memorandum on content regulation policy for the podcasting community

Watch these experts help explain “Misinformation” in 2018

The inadvertent disclosure of the likely existence of a sealed indictment against Julian Assange raises the question of what the constitutional implications of such an indictment…

Andres Lombana-Bermudez contributes to a new book about how black and Latino youth learn, create, and collaborate online.

The same fake news techniques that benefit autocracies by making everyone unsure about political alternatives undermine democracies by making people question the common political…

We used to worry about filter bubbles, which accidentally trap users in a certain sphere of information. In the era of social networks, the bubble has expanded.

Yochai Benkler argues that the mainstream media is our best hope for tempering the radical right.

How the anonymous messaging platform Kik should approach safety for its young audience

Jonathan Zittrain says the chances that the Internet will be a engine for positivity are lower than they were ten years ago

Why is there so often no overlap, no resemblance whatsoever between the news events reported in mainstream print and broadcast coverage?

“What’s striking about Ocasio-Cortez’s style is just how digitally native it seems."

"The highly asymmetric pattern of media ecosystems we observe on the right and the left, despite the fact that Facebook and Twitter usage is roughly similar on both sides,…

A ‘Magna Carta for the web’ will protect people’s rights online from threats such as fake news, prejudice and hate, says founder of the world wide web

On the surge in misinformation since the 2016 elections

Our Youth & Media team looked at how teens are using social media to figure out who they are.

Papers related to communication and design of communication systems

Does the web produce particular outcomes because of how it is built, or does it merely reflect society?

On “dangerous speech” in the context of Donald Trump’s rhetoric

Scaling up computer security arguments to the level of the state, so that the entire polity is treated as an information system with associated attack surfaces and threat models,…

How can platforms help to combat the targeting and harassment of journalists?

An American internet rife with hyperpartisanship and stratified along race, gender, and class lines, versus a Chinese internet tranquil and free of abuse

The fundamental driver of disinformation in American politics of the past three years has not been Russia, but Fox News and the insular right-wing media ecosystem it anchors.

"Professional mainstream media — both in its professional centrist model, and in its highly commercially successful right-wing model — is the scaffolding on which everything else…

An Xiao Mina talks reality television and geopolitics at Newsgeist US 2018.

We are now digital as well as physical beings, and this is new to a human

Where is the line between authentic free speech and the manipulation of speech?

On the state of information controls in Azerbaijan

Foreign meddling is to our politics what a fever is to tuberculosis: a mere symptom of a deeper problem.

A theoretical model of platform moderation, and how sites like Twitter and Facebook should think about when and why to suppress certain objectionable content

Yochai Benkler at the Cato Institute in Washington, DC.

Our Cyberlaw Clinic has urged the Ninth Circuit court not to touch a lower court decision ending a corporate landlord's lawsuit accusing Airbnb of helping tenants break building…

A discussion on how to think about technology, politics, and media in the post-truth moment

"Facebook’s responsibilities go beyond those of any other digital platform, and yet people seem to believe it fails to cope with these responsibilities"

To understand how digital technologies went from instruments for spreading democracy to weapons for attacking it, you have to look beyond the technologies themselves.

Most reporters covering the Cambridge Analytica story are missing out on the big picture. The scale of the operation was only possible because Facebook has too much data about too…

Understanding the risks future technology and intermediaries might pose to the internet as a tool for social change.

Seeking to unravel what is behind a change in public sentiment towards the internet, this series begins with intersecting dimensions in what is lazily often presented as ‘The…

Chinmayi Arun discusses the challenges unchecked AI development could pose to civil liberties in Asia.