April 13, 2022

Minerva-funded Research Reveals How Misinformation can be Re-invigorated in Discourse Through the Novelty of a Major Event

Analysts of social media differ in their emphasis on the effects of message content versus social network structure. The balance of these factors may change substantially across time. When a major event occurs, initial independent reactions may give way to more social diffusion of interpretations of the event among different communities, including those committed to disinformation.

Jan. 11, 2022

Parents at Risk: Minerva-funded researchers reveal hidden social media machinery that has allowed misinformation to thrive among mainstream users such as parents

In the recent study, “How Social Media Machinery Pulled Mainstream Parenting Communities Closer to Extremes and their Misinformation during COVID-19”, Minerva-funded researchers show how mainstream parenting communities on Facebook have been subject to a powerful, two-pronged misinformation machinery during the pandemic, that has pulled them closer to extreme communities and their misinformation.

Aug. 14, 2020

Coronavirus Misinformation is a Global Issue, But There Are Regional Differences

Minerva-funded researcher, Jacob Shapiro in collaboration with the Empirical Studies of Conflict Project and Microsoft Research began cataloguing COVID-19 misinformation to explore the evolution of specific COVID-19 narratives. Shapiro and colleagues identified a unique feature of COVID-19.