Just realized that several great articles that shaped my thinking on digital media came out 10 years ago this year! Here is a short thread for those interested: @jvdijck: 'Facebook and the engineering of connectivity: A multi-layered approach to social media platforms' journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.117…

It’s been 3 years since our book came out! To celebrate, I just wanted to highlight some of the great critical research on fake news discourses that has come out in 2021 and 2022. I’ll start with @MonseesLinda’s work on political and journalistic responses to fake news in Europe: tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.108…

I’ve been asked for some tips for publishing as a PhD student. So here are 7 things I've learnt. Take what you can use – feel free to add 😊 (thread) #phdchat #AcademicTwitter #AcademicChatter #phdlife (1) Seek out co-authors
You learn so much from working with others! Find people you like to work with, have time for the project and pull their weight. Job titles are secondary.

🎉1 year since our book came out!🎉 I would like to take this opportunity to highlight some of the great research that has come out since, extending our findings and critique of post-truth discourses (a thread, 1/11)

https://twitter.com/farkasjohan/status/1176106392274526208

2/11 In our book, we criticize the rise of censorship laws worldwide claiming to 'eradicate fake news.' Since then, @gabriellelim has published a brilliant study of Malaysia's now repealed 'Anti Fake News Law'. datasociety.net/library/securi…

Last year, a senior scholar reached out to me (a PhD student) to say he would unfollow me cause my tweets were too personal and boring. Based on this, I have a tip: Don't do that. To be clear, people are more than welcome to follow and unfollow whoever they like. But don't DM people about it. And please recognise your position of power.

Lol. It happened again. A journalist calls me about COVID misinformation, and because I'm not as fearmongering as they hoped, they omit me from the article without telling me🙃 This time, it was about growing concern among Danes regarding the COVID vaccine. I said it's perfectly understandable why people are concerned, as vaccines are being developed at record speeds. And just because there's concern doesn't mean they'll refuse a vaccine when it's here

Former Danish PM, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, called my arguments "completely crazy" on national radio, when I said Facebook hired her to try to avoid EU regulation. Now, she argues against regulation...
cnbc.com/amp/2020/09/04… My arguments and her reaction to it can be found here (In Danish): dr.dk/radio/p1/p1-mo…

4 years ago, in response to being doxed and smeared by far-right activists for my work on racism, I made myself a website. Wanted to influence what people found. Now, it has had more than 10 000 views. Proud of what came out of that distressful experience. johanfarkas.com Solidarity with everyone who experience doxing and attacks. We need to talk much more about this in academia - and build support networks!

I highly recommend this new report on Malaysia's (now repealed) fake news law. It extends two key conclusions from our book: (1) fake news has become a floating signifier used to delegitimise opponents, and (2) post-truth discourses have legitimised anti-democratic measures.

https://twitter.com/gabriellelim/status/1262403058203422725

From the report: "our content analysis
revealed that BN used the label “fake news” primarily as a rhetorical tool, importing the meaning of the phrase from foreign figures and sources." (p. 6)

I spoke critically about Facebook's new Oversigt Board on Danish radio (P1). They then played bits to Helle Thorning-Schmidt (co-chair). She called it "completely crazy" to think Facebook's incentive is to avoid regulation and that this also plays a role in the appointment of her Asked whether it was a problem that the board will have no influence on key parts of Facebook's operations (incl algorithms) she said this was not about "tax and all the other things that have been discussed about Facebook. This is about content"

(Thread) Yesterday, I took part in the press briefing for Facebook's new Oversigt Board. In many ways, this strengthened my concern about the board, specifically how Facebook will use it to deflect blame and avoid regulation (which is badly needed!) To me, the most notable appointment to the board is the former Danish PM, Helle Thorning-Schmidt. The reason for this is that she is the former boss of Margrethe Vestager, now the Executive Vice President of the European Commission responsible for tech regulation.

(thread) This NYT story from last week highlights a core weakness of state-run 'task forces' as a means of countering disinformation. nyti.ms/2ztUcKD NYT revealed that the EU postponed and altered a report on disinformation from the EastStratcom task force to avoid upsetting the Chinese regime - even though the regime clearly spreads conspiracy theories about #COVID19.

(Thread) #COVID2019 will highlight a driving paradox of contemporary (neo-)liberalism: this ideology is actually not against 'big government' and massive state spending, just against collectivist policies, such as healthcare for all. In the upcoming weeks, we will see massive 'stimulus packages' from liberal-conservative governments to protect 'the market' from #COVID2019. This has already begun. theguardian.com/business/2020/…

In ’17, I heard about a book in progress on fake news (via @AoIR_org's mail list). I wrote to co-editor @mishmz who kindly said I could join (was only about to begin my PhD). This month, it's out! With works from so many I admire @wphillips49, @MarkAndrejevic, @VWPickard.. and me @AoIR_org @mishmz @wphillips49 @MarkAndrejevic @VWPickard My contribution is called 'A Case against the Post-Truth Era: Revisiting Mouffe’s Critique of Consensus-Based Democracy'. It's possible to get a sneak peek on Google Books:
books.google.dk/books?hl=da&lr…

(Thread) I see many scholars arguing that while fake news may be contested in the public, it's clear in academia. First off, that's not true. But even if it were true, how does that justify staying in the ivory tower with the "proper" meaning, instead of studying it in the world? Let's just recap a few of the many opposing uses of 'fake news' among scholars (and then add dominant uses from outside academia):
(a) as equal to news parody
(b) as a fancy new word for lies
(c) as equal to doctored photos
(d) as a catch-all term for online manipulation

(Thread) This new study concludes that disguised Russian propaganda likely did not influence US attitudes via social media. There is a long history of such findings but also of profound critique. I will let a book from the 1960s by Jacques Ellul explain some key problems:

https://twitter.com/chris_bail/status/1199058772515262466

“One method has been used frequently by American researchers: its object being to determine whether some propaganda instrument could change the opinions or prejudices of a group.”

(Thread) Facebook took down 5.4 billion fake accounts in 2019. There are big problems with the company's
"transparency" around this. Here are some crucial questions Facebook does not answer. I'm raising these problems today in the German parliament before the Council of Europe. First off, right now we have no way of independently verifying Facebook's claim. We have no way of knowing which countries or languages were targeted by these accounts.

(Thread) Finally got round to reading 'Cyber-War: How Russian Hackers and Trolls Helped Elect a President' by Prof. Kathleen Hall Jamieson. A few thoughts. I’ve so far been a bit hesitant to read the book, as I’m wary of both broad causal claims about the 2016 elections and the idea that the Internet Research Agency (IRA) are "trolls" (more on this further down).

Our book is here! I’ve tried to summarise some key arguments (thread). In this book, we provide a comprehensive study of contemporary discourses around post-truth, fake news and democracy across academia, journalism and politics.

I've tried to summarise some key problems I see with Netflix's 'The Great Hack'(thread) #greathack First off, I want to say that I still encourage people to watch the documentary, especially if they are new to the issues. That said, I think it has some major flaws.