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Category Archives: Social Media

China harvests masses of data on Western targets, documents show

Washington Post: “China is turning a major part of its internal Internet-data surveillance network outward, mining Western social media, including Facebook and Twitter, to equip its government agencies, military and police with information on foreign targets, according to a Washington Post review of hundreds of Chinese bidding documents, contracts and company filings. China maintains a… Continue Reading

Pete Recommends Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, January 2, 2022

Via LLRX – Pete Recommends Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, January 2, 2022 – Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly… Continue Reading

Misinformation is a pandemic that doesn’t have a vaccine

CNET – “Conspiracy theories and misinformation about QAnon, COVID-19 and 2020 election fraud took a deadly turn in 2021. As bad as things were last year, experts worry it’ll get worse in 2022. “I think we’re going to see an acceleration and expansion of the conspiracy theories,” said Mike Caulfield, research scientist at the University of Washington… Continue Reading

White House AI Initiative Launches Public Research Support Tools

Route Fifty: “A new section of resources intended for artificial intelligence researchers was launched last Friday by the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office, with a goal of providing easy access to data sets and testbed environments for AI application training. The AI Researchers Portal—a program within the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy—is the… Continue Reading

Americans widely distrust Facebook, TikTok and Instagram with their data

Washington Post: “…It’s the rare thing that Americans of all ages and across the political spectrum largely seem to agree on: They don’t trust social media services with their information and they view targeted ads as annoying and invasive, according to a Washington Post-Schar School poll. Many Americans use social media — and most use… Continue Reading

Research note: Lies and presidential debates: How political misinformation spread across media streams during the 2020 election

HKS Misinformation Review: Election Interference – How Misinformation Spreads Targeted Disinformation By Jaren Haber, Lisa Singh, Ceren Budak, John Pasek, Meena Balan, Ryan Callahan, Rob Churchill, Brandon Herren, Kornraphop Kawintiranon. December 17, 2021. “When U.S. presidential candidates misrepresent the facts, their claims get discussed across media streams, creating a lasting public impression. We show this… Continue Reading

A behind-the-scenes look at PolitiFact’s ‘Lie of the Year’

Poynter: “We live in a time when misinformation is rampant. Politicians lie. Cable news pundits twist the truth to fit their agenda. And citizens use the wild west of social media to either consciously or inadvertently spread conspiracies that simply are not true. For the past 13 years, Poynter’s PolitiFact has sifted through all the… Continue Reading

Micropedia – sleek, intuitive resource on microaggressions

Fast Company: “…Now, there’s a new tool to help combat microaggressions. Micropedia is an encyclopedic website that features everyday microaggressions that those from marginalized groups face. At a time when many are worried about being “cancelled” for saying something offensive, the Micropedia aims to be a nonjudgmental way for people to learn about what might… Continue Reading

Computer-assisted classification of contrarian claims about climate change

Coan, T.G., Boussalis, C., Cook, J. et al. Computer-assisted classification of contrarian claims about climate change. Sci Rep 11, 22320 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-01714-4 “A growing body of scholarship investigates the role of misinformation in shaping the debate on climate change. Our research builds on and extends this literature by (1) developing and validating a comprehensive taxonomy… Continue Reading