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Research papers on Disinformation and elections

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  2. Political communication in a high-choice media environment: a challenge for democracy?

    Peter Van Aelst, Jesper Strömbäck, Toril Aalberg, et al. · 2017 · Annals of the International Communication Association · 945 citations

    During the last decennia media environments and political communication systems have changed fundamentally. These changes have major ramifications for the political information environments and the extent to which they aid people in becoming informed citizens. Against this background, the purpose of this article is to review research on key changes and trends in political information environments and assess their democratic implications. We will focus on advanced postindustrial democracies and six concerns that are all closely linked to the dissemination and acquisition of political knowledge: (1) declining supply of political information, (2) declining quality of news, (3) increasing media

  3. Deep Fakes: A Looming Challenge for Privacy, Democracy, and National Security

    Robert Chesney, Danielle Keats Citron · 2018 · SSRN Electronic Journal · 793 citations

    Harmful lies are nothing new. But the ability to distort reality has taken an exponential leap forward with “deep fake” technology. This capability makes it possible to create audio and video of real people saying and doing things they never said or did. Machine learning techniques are escalating the technology’s sophistication, making deep fakes ever more realistic and increasingly resistant to detection. Deep-fake technology has characteristics that enable rapid and widespread diffusion, putting it into the hands of both sophisticated and unsophisticated actors. While deep-fake technology will bring with it certain benefits, it also will introduce many harms. The marketplace of ideas alrea

  5. Disinformation and social bot operations in the run up to the 2017 French presidential election

    Emilio Ferrara · 2017 · First Monday · 487 citations

    Recent accounts from researchers, journalists, as well as federal investigators, reached a unanimous conclusion: social media are systematically exploited to manipulate and alter public opinion. Some disinformation campaigns have been coordinated by means of bots, social media accounts controlled by computer scripts that try to disguise themselves as legitimate human users. In this study, we describe one such operation that occurred in the run up to the 2017 French presidential election. We collected a massive Twitter dataset of nearly 17 million posts, posted between 27 April and 7 May 2017 (Election Day). We then set to study the MacronLeaks disinformation campaign: By leveraging a mix of

  6. Why Hasn't Democracy Slowed Rising Inequality?

    Adam Bonica, Nolan McCarty, Keith T. Poole, et al. · 2013 · The Journal of Economic Perspectives · 479 citations

    During the past two generations, democratic forms have coexisted with massive increases in economic inequality in the United States and many other advanced democracies. Moreover, these new inequalities have primarily benefited the top 1 percent and even the top .01 percent. These groups seem sufficiently small that economic inequality could be held in check by political equality in the form of “one person, one vote.” In this paper, we explore five possible reasons why the US political system has failed to counterbalance rising inequality. First, both Republicans and many Democrats have experienced an ideological shift toward acceptance of a form of free market capitalism that offers less sup

  7. Disinformation as Collaborative Work

    Kate Starbird, Ahmer Arif, Tom Wilson · 2019 · Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction · 355 citations

    In this paper, we argue that strategic information operations (e.g. disinformation, political propaganda, and other forms of online manipulation) are a critical concern for CSCW researchers, and that the CSCW community can provide vital insight into understanding how these operations function-by examining them as collaborative "work" within online crowds. First, we provide needed definitions and a framework for conceptualizing strategic information operations, highlighting related literatures and noting historical context. Next, we examine three case studies of online information operations using a sociotechnical lens that draws on CSCW theories and methods to account for the mutual shaping

  8. The Global Disinformation Order: 2019 Global Inventory of Organised Social Media Manipulation

    Samantha Bradshaw, Philip N. Howard · 2019 · Lincoln (University of Nebraska) · 303 citations

    Executive Summary Over the past three years, we have monitored the global organization of social media manipulation by governments and political parties. Our 2019 report analyses the trends of computational propaganda and the evolving tools, capacities, strategies, and resources. 1. Evidence of organized social media manipulation campaigns which have taken place in 70 countries, up from 48 countries in 2018 and 28 countries in 2017. In each country, there is at least one political party or government agency using social media to shape public attitudes domestically. 2.Social media has become co-opted by many authoritarian regimes. In 26 countries, computational propaganda is being used as a t

  9. A multi-dimensional approach to disinformation: Report of the independent High level Group on fake news and online disinformation

    Marius Buning · 2018 · Cadmus - EUI Research Repository (European University Institute) · 303 citations

    In January 2018, the European Commission set up a highlevel group of experts («the HLEG») to advise on policy initiatives to counter fake news and disinformation spread online. The HLEG consisted of 39 members and was chaired by Prof. Dr. Madeleine de Cock Buning. Its members had different backgrounds, including academia and journalism, written press and broadcasting organizations, online platforms as well as civil society and fact-checking organizations. The HLEG’s tasks were to advise the Commission on all issues arising in the context of false information spread across traditional and social media and on possible ways to cope with its social and political consequences. The main deliverabl

  11. Artificial Intelligence and Disinformation

    Katarina Kertysova · 2018 · Security and Human Rights · 129 citations

    This article explores the challenges and opportunities presented by advances in artificial intelligence (AI) in the context of information operations. The article first examines the ways in which AI can be used to counter disinformation online. It then dives into some of the limitations of AI solutions and threats associated with AI techniques, namely user profiling, micro-targeting, and deep fakes. Finally, the paper reviews a number of solutions that could help address the spread of AI-powered disinformation and improve the online environment. The article recognises that in the fight against disinformation, there is no single fix. The next wave of disinformation calls first and foremost fo

  12. Exposure to the Russian Internet Research Agency foreign influence campaign on Twitter in the 2016 US election and its relationship to attitudes and voting behavior

    Gregory Eady, Tom Paskhalis, Jan Zilinsky, et al. · 2023 · Nature Communications · 120 citations

    There is widespread concern that foreign actors are using social media to interfere in elections worldwide. Yet data have been unavailable to investigate links between exposure to foreign influence campaigns and political behavior. Using longitudinal survey data from US respondents linked to their Twitter feeds, we quantify the relationship between exposure to the Russian foreign influence campaign and attitudes and voting behavior in the 2016 US election. We demonstrate, first, that exposure to Russian disinformation accounts was heavily concentrated: only 1% of users accounted for 70% of exposures. Second, exposure was concentrated among users who strongly identified as Republicans. Third,

  13. The European Union’s governance approach to tackling disinformation – protection of democracy, foreign influence, and the quest for digital sovereignty

    Matthias Kachelmann, Wulf Reiners · 2023 · L'Europe en Formation · 7 citations

    Cet article présente une vue d’ensemble des caractéristiques de la désinformation à l’ère numérique, décrit l’évolution des efforts déployés par l’UE pour lutter contre la désinformation et fournit une analyse globale de l’approche de sa gouvernance en termes de politiques, d’acteurs et d’instruments politiques. Sur cette base, nous analysons sa compatibilité avec la quête de souveraineté numérique de l’UE. Les principales conclusions sont que l’UE a maintenu une approche particulièrement stable en combinant des instruments souples et fermes dans un cadre de corégulation qui implique des acteurs privés et publics. Nous concluons que l’interaction entre la nature de la désinformation, la conf

  16. Digital Democracy and Disinformation: The European Approach to Disinformation on Social Media in the Case of 2019 European Parliament Elections

    Dawid Aristotelis Fusiek, Angeliki Elli Stougiannou, Theoharris William Efthymiou-Egleton · 2022 · Journal of Politics and Ethics in New Technologies and AI · 1 citations

    This policy paper offers a brief overview of the hazards for digital democracy stemming from AI and digital tools and how the EU tackled online disinformation social media ahead of the 2019 European Parliament elections. The advent and introduction of social media into the political sphere has had a profound and substantial effect on Europe’s electoral processes affecting both voting behavior and the underlying factors that influence it. Whereas malicious actors often participating in disinformation have led to growing calls for reforms, this phenomenon has been most pronounced in the 2019 European parliament elections which saw an unprecedented reliance on digital media within the political

  17. MEDIA, DISINFORMATION AND DEMOCRACY: how the media influence presidential elections in Brazil

    Fabíola Mendonça · 2020 · Revista Observatório

    This article aims to analyze the coverage of Brazilian media in the presidential elections held in the country after democratization, starting with 1989 and ending with 2018. The study was based on reflections on disinformation, manipulation, fake news and democracy, from the perspective of authors such as Serrano (2008; 2010), Abramo (2003), Ramonet (2007), Luhmann (2005), Mello (2020), Bucci (2019), Bobbio (2006) and Casara (2018). The research shows that historically the media tries to interfere in the election results, using strategies of manipulation and misrepresentation of the facts, which weakens the democratic system.

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