Cyber - Publications Page
Publications
The Virus and the Vote: Administering the 2020 Election in a Pandemic
The final report of the findings of the Healthy Elections Project, a joint effort between Stanford and MIT and led by Nathaniel Persily and Charles Stewart III.
Publications
Filter:
Filter results CloseStoking Conflicts by Keystroke: An Operation Run by IRA-Linked Individuals Targeting Libya, Sudan, and Syria (TAKEDOWN)
Preparing for the Age of Deepfakes and Disinformation
Democratic Source Code for a New U.S.-EU Tech Alliance
Appeared originally in Lawfare, November, 2020
How to Save Democracy From Technology
Full article appears in the January/February 2021 issue of Foreign Affairs
Report of the Working Group on Platform Scale
The internet economy has produced digital platforms of enormous economic and social significance. These platforms—specifically, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, and Apple—now play central roles in how millions of Americans obtain information, spend their money, communicate with fellow citizens, and earn their livelihoods. Their reach is also felt globally, extending to many countries around the world. They have amassed the economic, social, and political influence that very few private entities have ever obtained previously.
Slanted Narratives, Social Media, and Foreign Influence in Libya
Election 2020: Antitrust and Privacy in the Age of Big Tech
ANTITRUST AND PRIVACY CONCERNS are two of the most high-profile topics on the tech policy agenda. Checks and balances to counteract the power of companies such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook are under consideration in Congress, though a polarized political environment is a hindrance. But a domestic approach to tech policy will be insufficient, as the users of the large American tech companies are predominantly outside the United States.
Hello from the Other Side: An Investigation into a Musical Pro-Muslim Brotherhood Disinformation Operation (TAKEDOWN)
An Investigation into a Female-Focused Online Campaign in Iran and Afghanistan targeting Afghans (TAKEDOWN)
Preparing for the Age of Deepfakes and Disinformation
POPULAR CULTURE HAS ENVISIONED SOCIETIES of intelligent machines for generations, with Alan Turing notably foreseeing the need for a test to distinguish machines from humans in 1950. Now, advances in artificial intelligence that promise to make creating convincing fake multimedia content like video, images, or audio relatively easy for many. Unfortunately, this will include sophisticated bots with supercharged self-improvement abilities that are capable of generating more dynamic fakes than anything seen before.
Election 2020: Foreign Interference and Domestic Manipulations Aimed at Voters and Electoral Outcomes
IN 2016 WE LEARNED ABOUT EFFORTS BY FOREIGN ACTORS to interfere in the U.S. election by injecting misinformation and disinformation into public discourse on social media. False events and personas added to the polarization and manipulation of voters.
Election 2020: Political Advertising and Social Media
VOTERS ARE BEING INUNDATED WITH POLITICAL ADVERTISING on social media and online platforms during the 2020 election season. Campaigns, PACs and third parties have added new tools and tactics for gathering data on voters and targeting them with advertising, and now they can pinpoint niches of potential voters on social media in ways unknown in prior election cycles.
Election 2020: Content Moderation and Accountability
AS WE APPROACH THE 2020 ELECTION IN THE UNITED STATES, content moderation on social media platforms is taking center stage. From speech issues on Facebook and Twitter to YouTube videos and TikTok brigands, the current election season is being reshaped by curation concerns about what’s allowed online, what’s not, upranking and downranking, and who’s deciding.
Election 2020: Social Media and Political Polarization
THE EMERGENCE OF A DIGITAL SPHERE where public debate takes place raises profound questions about the connection between online information and polarization, echo chambers, and filter bubbles. Does the information ecosystem created by social media companies support the conditions necessary for a healthy democracy? Is it different from other media? These are particularly urgent questions as the United States approaches a contentious 2020 election during the COVID-19 pandemic.
#ZakzakyLifeMatters: An Investigation into a Facebook Operation Linked to the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (TAKEDOWN)
Reply-Guys Go Hunting: An Investigation into a U.S. Astroturfing Operation on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (TAKEDOWN)
Cheerleading Without Fans: A Low-Impact Domestic Information Operation by the Royal Thai Army (TAKEDOWN)
Election 2020: Technology’s Role in Administering Democratic Elections
THE 2020 ELECTION IN THE UNITED STATES will take place on November 3 in the midst of a global pandemic, economic downturn, social unrest, political polarization, and a sudden shift in the balance of power in the U.S Supreme Court. On top of these issues, the technological layer impacting the public debate, as well as the electoral process itself, may well determine the election outcome.
DeZurdaTeam: A Twitter network promotes pro-Cuba hashtags (TAKEDOWN)
Royal Sockpuppets and Handle Switching: How a Saudi Arabia-Linked Twitter Network Stoked Rumors of a Coup in Qatar (TAKEDOWN)
Political partisanship influences behavioral responses to governors’ recommendations for COVID-19 prevention in the United States
Voluntary physical distancing is essential for preventing the spread of COVID-19. We assessed the role of political partisanship in individuals’ compliance with physical distancing recommendations of political leaders using data on mobility from a sample of mobile phones in 3,100 counties in the United States during March 2020, county-level partisan preferences, information about the political affiliation of state governors, and the timing of their communications about COVID-19 prevention.
If Lawmakers Don’t Like Platforms’ Speech Rules, Here’s What They Can Do About It. Spoiler: The Options Aren’t Great
Bolivarian Factions: Facebook takes down inauthentic assets (TAKEDOWN)
Reporting for Duty: How A Network of Pakistan-Based Accounts Leveraged Mass Reporting to Silence Critics (TAKEDOWN)
Mapping U.S.–China Technology Decoupling
Over the past two decades, U.S. and Chinese technological trajectories have been closely linked. Internet protocols, hardware design and manufacturing, software development and deployment, and services and standards have to varying degrees been crossborder phenomena, with China and the United States two of the world’s most consequential and integrated countries. The last few years, however, have seen a rise in mutual suspicion and moves—both direct and indirect—to unwind this extraordinary level of technological interdependence.