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Lecture 1: course introduction
05/09/2023
Dr. Incenti
This is an area of study that is developing rapidly and there are multiple research gaps (Barbera
et Al.)
– better estimates of the effects of exposure to information and disinformation online
– Cross-and multiplatform research
– Disinformation spread through image and video
– The generalization and compatibility of US findings
– The role of ideological asymmetries in mediating the effect of exposure to disinformation
and polarization
– The effect of new laws and regulations intended to limit the spread of misinformation
– Better understanding for the strength and weaknesses of different methods of bot
detection and anlysis
– The role of political elites in spreading disinformation
There are also multiple data limitations
Could be collected in the future with the current funding, data that can be accessed with new
finding or data that is not available due to it being property of social medial platforms or privacy
concerns
Social media as liberation technology
Coined by Larry diamond: any form of information and communication technology (ICT) that can
expand political, social, and economic freedom
ICT Meaning increased citizen engagement, easier learning for politicians to learn citizens
preferences, makes it easier for people in autocracies to learn about repression
Technology that makes it easier for people to engage in collective action and increase
accountability
Collective action problem = even if it is the self interest of the group to engage in an action, it is
not necessarily true that the group will engage in this action (free rider problem)
Unless there is coercion or a separate individual incentive to do so
Small groups are more likely to engage in collective action than large groups
Fewer and more concentrated interests
Collective action problem actually contradics is what we observe every day
People vote and protest, people share and protect natural recourses…
Due to this, we actually do not know why people would willingly vote
Ostrom: “number of collective action situations are resolved successfully because there is a
propensity to cooperate based on the development and growth of social norms”
Liberation technology has been instrumental virtually all of the instances where people have
turned our en masse for democracy or political reform (diamond)
, But is this tool necessary? Would a revolution still have occurred in the absence of social media
John Lockes theory of superiority is built on the notion of accountability
ICT increases access to information, so it must increase accountability?
“We find no evidence overall that typical nonpartisan voter information campaigns shape voter
behaviour” (Dunning et Al. 2019) -> so, information means nothing for accountability
Digital unfreedom (Robert Diebert), three painful truths
– social media business model is based on feel and relentless surveillance of consumers
personal data in order to target advertisers
– That we permit this staggering level of surveillance willingly, if not altogether wittingly
– Social media are far from incompatible with authoritarianism, and indeed are proving to be
among it's effective enablers
Like china reducing to publish it's youth employment data
It becomes harder and harder to actually see social media as liberation technology
Lecture 2: Filter bubbles and echo cambers
07/09/2023
Dr. Incenti
Algorithmic editing changes what kind of information you are exposed to, without your
knowledge
Your own personal unique universe that you live in
You don't see what gets in, you don't see what gets edited out
Human gatekeepers are different to a algorithmic gatekeeper
Cass Sunstein talks about freedom of choice producing selfsorting, but was there less freedom
of choice?
Partisan messages have become more common in the past quarter century
Asch experiment shows people want to conform their opinion to the ‘echo chamber’
Going along with the socially acceptable answer
Thinking about social media,
Sunstein’s Colorado experiment split people into two groups, take a survey, discuss politics with
likeminded people and took survey again = peoples political opinions got stronger
– level of humility diminishes as others agree
– Exposed to more arguments in favor
– Reputational concerns
But small N and how we're individuals selected?
Bruns (2019)
Echo chamber: when a group of participants choose to preferably connect with each other, to
the exclusion of outsiders
Filter Bubble: when a group of participants choose to preferably communicate with each other, to
the exclusion of outsiders
Online misinformation is amplified...
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