Featured News and Publications
Journal of Online Trust and Safety
The Journal of Online Trust and Safety is a no fee, fast peer review, and open access journal. Authors may submit letters of inquiry to assess whether their manuscript is a good fit. The Journal of Online Trust and Safety is now accepting letters of inquiry for its third issue and special issues.
Newsletter
Subscribe for the latest news, events and reports from the Stanford Internet Observatory
Forecasting potential misuses of language models for disinformation campaigns—and how to reduce risk
Authors: Josh A. Goldstein, Girish Sastry, Micah Musser, Renée DiResta, Matthew Gentzel, Katerina Sedova
SIO releases its annual report summarizing its first three years of research, teaching and policy and laying the path for the years to come.
The Twitter Files Are a Missed Opportunity
No one really knows what Elon Musk’s company is doing to free speech. (From The Atlantic)
Moderated Content host Evelyn Douek discusses Twitter’s data security problems and what this says about privacy regulation more generally with Whitney Merrill, the Data Protection Officer and Privacy Counsel at Asana and long-time privacy lawyer including as an attorney at the FTC, and Riana Pfefferkorn, a Research Scholar at the Stanford Internet Observatory.
Moderated Content host Evelyn Douek discusses Twitter’s data security problems and what this says about privacy regulation more generally with Whitney Merrill, the Data Protection Officer and Privacy Counsel at Asana and long-time privacy lawyer including as an attorney at the FTC, and Riana Pfefferkorn, a Research Scholar at the Stanford Internet Observatory.
In political conspiracy theories, as in television shows, the plot elements are always the same. (From The Atlantic)
How Online Mobs Act Like Flocks Of Birds
Renee DiResta of the Stanford Internet Observatory writes about the growing body of research suggesting human behavior on social media is strikingly similar to collective behavior in nature. Published in Noema Magazine.
An Analysis of a Pro-Indian Army Covert Influence Operation on Twitter
Published in Harvard Kennedy School's Misinformation Review
Unheard Voice
Unheard Voice
Stanford Internet Observatory collaborated with Graphika to analyze a large network of accounts removed from Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter in our latest report. This information operation likely originated in the United States and targeted a range of countries in the Middle East and Central Asia.
Twitter suspended a network of accounts that coordinated to promote narratives around the coronavirus pandemic, and to amplify a pro-Russian news site ahead of the invasion of Ukraine.
In an essay for Lawfare Blog, Samantha Bradshaw, Renee DiResta and Christopher Giles look at how state war propaganda in Russia is increasingly prevalent on platforms that offer minimal-moderation virality as their value proposition.
In an essay for Lawfare Blog, Samantha Bradshaw, Renee DiResta and Christopher Giles look at how state war propaganda in Russia is increasingly prevalent on platforms that offer minimal-moderation virality as their value proposition.
Riana Pfefferkorn of SIO spoke with Wired on Meta's expansion of end-to-end encryption in Messenger.
In an essay for Lawfare Blog, Samantha Bradshaw of American University and Shelby Grossman of the Stanford Internet Observatory explore whether two key platforms, Facebook and Twitter, were internally consistent in how they applied their labels during the 2020 presidential election.
Mind Farce
An Investigation into an Inauthentic Facebook and Instagram Network Linked to an Israeli Public Relations Firm
During a hearing titled “A Growing Threat: Foreign And Domestic Sources Of Disinformation," DiResta offered expert testimony on influence operations and the spread of narratives across social and media networks.
A look at how user choice and transparency provide new ways of addressing content moderation and online safety policy.
Gab was founded in 2016 as an uncensored alternative to mainstream social media platforms. Stanford Internet Observatory’s latest report looks at behaviors and dynamics across the platform.
The Stanford Internet Observatory and the Trust and Safety Foundation will host a two-day conference focusing on cutting-edge research in trust and safety for those in academia, industry, civil society, and government.
Shelby Grossman shares what she and her team watch for when analyzing social media posts and other online reports related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Appeared first in Stanford News)
The Journal of Online Trust and Safety published its second issue on Tuesday, March 1.
The Virality Project final report finds recycled anti-vaccine narratives and viral content driven by recurring actors.
Narratives from overt propaganda, unattributed Telegram channels, and inauthentic social media accounts
