News & Commentary

New research sheds light on Latino online political engagement and susceptibility to false claims

From Kamala Harris memes to the nationalization of elections to election denialism, part three of our new series highlights several areas we’re looking at this year.

From foreign influence campaigns to the role of WhatsApp to social media data access, part two of our new series highlights several areas we’re looking at this year.

From generative AI and misinformation, to young voters and TikTok, part one of our new series highlights several areas we’re looking at this year.

How do search engines influence the information landscape — and what role could AI play going forward? We convened experts from academia, journalism, and industry to discuss these questions and more.

At CSMaP, Allen and Barrie will serve as core faculty members leading research projects on urgent topics related to digital media and democracy.

New research finds that Americans’ skepticism about news, which often drives people to use search engines to “do their own research,” could actually make them more misinformed.

Two cases before the Supreme Court will address Texas & Florida laws aiming to restrict content moderation on social media. The Court's rulings could also have widespread implications for the government's ability to mandate transparency and data access from platforms.

The widespread reach and accessibility of AI will undoubtedly change the information landscape ahead of global elections in 2024. But rather than letting overblown fears dominate public discourse, we can draw on previous research to better understand and mitigate risks.

A look at our top articles, events, and more from the past year.

When the Supreme Court considers the Florida and Texas laws, it should craft rulings that leave ample room for legislative and regulatory efforts to mandate transparency and access to data.

Just like social media, a key challenge to studying the public's use of generative AI is the lack of data. AI companies could solve this by making it easier for users to donate their data to research.

Unprecedented research in the context of the 2020 presidential election reveals algorithms are extremely influential in people’s on-platform experiences and there is significant ideological segregation in political news exposure but, among consenting study participants, changes to critical aspects of the algorithms that determine what they saw did not sway political attitudes.

In response to the Biden-Harris Administration's public request for information on mitigating the risks of AI, we submitted comments highlighting the importance of transparent standards for identifying and labeling AI generated content online.

Since taking over at Twitter, Elon Musk's personal beliefs have had an outsized influence on the platform. As its content and user base evolve, it's unclear whether a Musk owned Twitter can maintain the platform's central role in the American political media landscape.

In response to the European Commission's Digital Services Act, we submitted comments highlighting the importance of data access for independent research and suggested standards for data access mechanisms.

BlueSky is a half-decentralized social network designed to replace Twitter. Will it keep its luster as it scales up?

As a leader in applied data science with high-level experience across Twitter, Meta, and Pew, Messing will leverage his strong technical background and deep knowledge of the platforms to expand CSMaP’s research capacity.

A look at our top articles, events, and more from the past year.

New study shows how site’s algorithms perpetuate existing misperceptions.

On average, source credibility labels don’t change whether someone reads low-quality news sources — but it does appear to improve the news diet quality of the heaviest consumers of misinformation.

A look at our top articles, events, and more from the past year.

Congress should mandate an unprecedented corporate data-sharing program to enable outside, independent researchers to conduct the kinds of analysis on social media platforms that firm insiders routinely perform.

With access to these documents, scholars could support the media, public, and policymakers in identifying where Facebook’s internal research is conclusive, what inferences can be drawn, which topics require more evidence and future research, and what that research should be.

As the Facebook Papers revelations continue, it’s critical for the government, through legislation or regulation, to require social media platforms to be more transparent and open up more data to outside researchers.