📢 EVENT How is news being used to dictate reality? Join Dr @ThomasColley and Dr @martinjemoore at the launch of 'Dictating Reality' - their new book examining how states are battling to control and shape the news. 📅 20 Nov 🕧 18.15 BOOKINGS 🔗 https://t.co/NVSxqC5nBc

Dictating Reality: The Global Battle to Control the News, by me & @martinjemoore is out! See Martin's brilliant unboxing video: https://t.co/LQHFsZCQwS. Use code CUP20 for 20% off - https://t.co/0WYofmekRi. @ColumbiaUP @warstudies #disinformation #news #journalism @LSW_RMAS

Jean Seaton and I edited a special issue of ⁦@po_qu⁩ on the future of PSB with introductory essay by Mark Thompson. Thanks to so many thoughtful, distinguished contributors. ⁦@DianeCoyle1859⁩ ⁦@sambrook⁩ ⁦@martinjemoore⁩ et al

🆕Fake and bot accounts on social media have the potential to cause significant political, economic, and social harms and should be subject to rigorous and independent audits 📱🤖 Read new research from @martinjemoore here ⤵️ https://t.co/9xJyrN0ab6

As @georgeprof writes, if you’re a small news publisher and are interested in charity registration, please get in touch with the CJP

There should be an International Observatory on Information and Democracy. Along with 100 researchers, I support the call from the Forum on Information & Democracy. Call and signatories at: https://t.co/pjdu32TQFI #InformationDemocracy

10/10 Why is there such uncertainty and how should we respond? See my article for @PolicyR (open access):

9/10 If number of inauthentic accounts found to be much higher than reported it could precipitate a ‘subprime attention crisis’ (Hwang, 2020)

8/10 Inauthentic accounts found to be the source of co-ordinated abuse, amplification and influence operations (or ‘co-ordinated inauthentic behaviour’ as Meta calls them)

7/10 Inauthentic social media accounts found to have been used for financial fraud (e.g. generating revenue from manufactured attention)

6/10 Even by estimates of social media services, number of inauthentic accounts is high (nb in absolute terms) – 448m on Facebook 2020

5/10 Number & nature of social media accounts is – as Musk’s lawyers wrote, fundamental to the ‘business and financial performance’ of each service

4/10 Why is epistemic uncertainty about number and nature of social media accounts a problem? Because…

3/10 External researchers are in an even more challenging position to assess the number of inauthentic users – even at services like Twitter (relatively open & accessible up to now) – due in part to data access and ‘ground truth’ dilemma

2/10 Major social media services acknowledge they lack confidence about their estimates of inauthentic users on their platforms (‘there are inherent challenges in measuring usage of our products across large online and mobile populations around the world’ FB 2012-20)

1/10 There’s lots of epistemic uncertainty about the number & nature of social media accounts on major platforms (as Elon Musk noted when he was buying Twitter)… [thread]

*New* article by me just published @PolicyR: 'Fake accounts on social media, epistemic uncertainty and the need for an independent auditing of accounts'

Willing suspensions of disbelief

New open access article by me and @martinjemoore on how Chinese media covered the 2020 US #election & #Capitol riots. CGTN coverage very critical of the US, but we found little effort to influence the election. https://t.co/DLqMZrvhQv @warstudies @LSW_RMAS @Kingspol_econ

*New* journal article just published [open access] - by @ThomasColley and me - which looks at whether China used its state-sponsored media to influence the process or outcome of the 2020 US election