I spoke with Aurélia Abdelbost at France 24 about the economic dimension of disinformation: incendiary content is the predictable outcome of a market system that optimizes for engagement. www.france24.com/fr/%C3%A9co-...

💡Everything you wanted to know about social media echo chambers, but were afraid to ask. Echo chambers are socio-technical engagement machines: provocative content ignites reactions, platforms/bots amplify them, and institutions stabilize the narrative for offline publics. doi.org/10.1177/1461...

🧵🧵Thread ahead 🧵🧵 “We're waging a 21st-century information warfare campaign against the left (…) Someone says something on social media, Musk retweets it, Rogan podcasts it, Fox broadcasts it, and by the time it reaches everybody, millions of people have seen it.” www.foxnews.com/video/636897...

@theonion.com owns InfoWars, and I look forward to the perfect illustration of my work: disinformation meets online advertising and influencers. I love their quote (in the following post)

'A whole civilization will die tonight.' (Trump) Not even Hitler said that. I, for one, will never forget this one and will remember that Americans voted for this twice.

CNN: Meta & YouTube liable for social media addiction: Jury A new legal fact is that a jury found that these companies are responsible for making children addicted to their platforms. Yes, I know I am linking to the YouTube version. www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwPb...

Oh, @theonion.com . I am so glad you are back. www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1Pz...

Yep, this adds up.

Last week, I spoke at a webinar on "Market-Oriented Disinformation and the Threat of Agentic Disinformation." It is about the emerging threat of agentic disinformation, including the risk of embedding current digital advertising (mal)practices in AI environments. www.iseas.edu.sg/media/event-...

The business model of enshitiffication: Offer a good service, make people dependent on it, and then make it shitty. As told with fantastic Norwegian humour www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4Up...

Last week, I spoke at the event «Ignoring Antagonistic Information Threats: Cost and Evidence from Ukraine» at @sthlmschoolofecon.bsky.social. It focused on the Ukrainian experience in addressing disinformation and influence operations.

This song captures the soul of the version of America I have admired since I was a child. It is still out there, and this one touches its core. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-Av...

I will be speaking at a forum on disinformation and influence operations in the creator economy. The event will be hosted by the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics and the Center for Statecraft and Strategic Communication at the Stockholm School of Economics. www.hhs.se/en/about-us/...

Attacks by Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and Boogaloo Bois are down 100%. Meanwhile, attacks by ICE goons are up 100% Noone will ever know why.

I almost forgot what a good speech looks like. Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered an impactful speech at the WEF. "You cannot 'live within the lie' of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination." www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTvF...

This is not pathetic if you really think about it. Yes, the grovelling appears, at first, a cringe-worthy effort to become the president of a colonial vassal state, but in reality, she got a bag of MAGA memorabilia. I am sure the red hat is totally worth it. edition.cnn.com/2026/01/15/a...

And me, thinking all this time that conservatives loathe participation trophies. They used to say participation trophies were too woke because they undermine meritocracy and foster an Entitled Mindset. #participation_trophies

Less than 24 hours ago, the Trump administration framed a US citizen, a mother, as a terrorist who deserved to die in the hands of ICE. Today, he announced a land intervention in Mexico, and everyone who will die as a result will be presented as a narco-terrorist. time.com/7344918/trum...

Turns out De Gaulle was right.

So, how is the US act of aggression against Venezuela any different from what Russia did in 2022?

Mr Brooks, maybe next time, disclose your links to Epstein before calling it a hoax? Even if Brooks attended only a few events, his failure to disclose his ties to Epstein constitutes a massive conflict of interest. He should not be a columnist at @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/o...

There is a reason for Trump's & Co. disdain for Europe, and it is precisely the same that explains Putin and Xi's disdain for Ukraine and Taiwan, respectively. They hold a mirror that says: "We can be successful without you; democracy does not need autocrats." www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

I can’t wait for Trump to pardon him. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/n...

15 Billion. Meta made 15 billion dollars through fraudulent ads and scams, and this is just from "ads for scams and banned goods." To date, no one knows how much money they make from Ad Fraud, which includes bots clicking on ads that humans do not see. www.reuters.com/investigatio...

Thanks for preventing brain drain in the Global South, I guess. However, it is fascinating to see the US doing a speed-run to reduce its global dominance. If you were to dismantle the US soft power fast, you could do precisely this (plus ICE and tariffs). www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

I am delighted to find that my paper is the "most read" at the Journal of Marketing Management. "Disinformation and fake news as externalities of digital advertising: a close reading of sociotechnical imaginaries in programmatic advertising" by Carlos Diaz Ruiz. It is Open Access, so go ahead!

Did you know that Google removed its entire ad library of political advertising from 27 countries (7 years), just so that it would not need to comply with the European Union's regulation on transparency of political advertising? www.404media.co/google-ad-tr...

#CallsForPapers Special Issue on "The Disinformation Economy: Digital Markets of Influence, Conflict and Polarization." @jmmnews.bsky.social Guest Editors: Carlos Diaz Ruiz, Sofia Ulver, & James Pamment. #disinformation #fakenews #misinformation #adtech www.jmmnews.com/disinformati...

Nobel Peace Prize 2025: Maria Corina Machado "Democracy is a precondition for lasting peace. However, we live in a world where democracy is in retreat, where more and more authoritarian regimes are challenging norms and resorting to violence." www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace...

Your ads are funding this. Dear marketers and advertisers, every time you use your budgets to Google, Meta, TikTok, et al., you do not know and cannot know if your ads are funding this horrific content. It is not just TikTok. See below www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

When I was a child, I was torn between becoming a pirate or a protector of wildlife. Pirates had ships, but animal protectors had Jane Goodall. I learned about her work after watching "Gorillas in the Mist," which blew my mind. Today, I learned that the legend Jane Goodall passed away. RIP

Authoritarianism is boring. My American friends believe that dictatorships are dramatic with public executions and whatnot. Unlike the movies, dictatorships are unexciting. Life goes on: people get groceries and struggle with bills, as usual. Losing agency in your own society is mostly boring.

They claim that non-human objects have agency (when convenient). ✔️Vaccines cause autism ✔️Tylenol causes damage to pregnant women ✔️Video games radicalize children But do guns harm people and cause mass shootings? ❌ No, of course not, silly. People kill people; guns are objects and cannot act.

The weather may be grey and the food bland, but being an academic in the Nordic countries is an immense privilege. This is a statement of Nordic universities on academic freedom, to which I wholeheartedly subscribe. www.hanken.fi/en/news/nord...

A breath of fresh air. The Finnish President, Alexander Stubb, delivered a significant speech at the UN on how small countries can have agency and power in a multipolar world. Principles should come first; otherwise, pursuing interests without values will lead to war. youtu.be/NLzUhjf7XQU?...

Paying for posts on Facebook and TikTok, sharing disinformation, manufacturing polls, preparing for question election integrity. The Moldova elections on September 28 are targeted for interference. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Truth discernment may not help to overcome misinformation (climate change) …unfortunately just because people can tell truth from lies doesn’t mean they act on it www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I had the honor of speaking at a security conference about social resilience to disinformation. It explored the dynamics of social media echo chambers, their polarizing effects, and their monetization through digital advertising. The event was hosted by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

In Singapore, presenting at the CENS Workshop on “Addressing the Complexities of Hybrid Threats: Safeguarding Against Evolving Risks and Building Sustainable Resilience” organized by RSIS at Nanyang Technological University. The topic: social media echo chambers rsis.edu.sg/event/cens-w...

Do you want to strengthen social resilience against the spread of disinformation online? We have the most incredible gig: a 4-year postdoctoral research position focusing on topics like digital literacy, fact-checking, and hybrid threats. Apply! (also repost) hanken.rekrytointi.com/paikat/index...

I will be presenting my award-winning paper on "Disinformation and Echo Chambers," recipient of the 2025 Kinnear/JPPM award, during a virtual session at the American Marketing Academy (AMA). If you are attending, join me on August 18, 10 am US-CT, Virtual Room 5. whova.com/portal/webap...

Read my blog post on the disinformation economy. It argues that disinformation, fake news, and conspiracy theories are amplified due to market incentives and business practices, particularly within digital advertising ecosystems. It It is published by @edmo-eu.bsky.social. edmo.eu/blog/what-is...

One of the problems of using the term "conspiracy theory" to ridicule Internet nonsense is that conspiracies do exist. People in power can agree with each other to commit or cover up illegal acts to remain in power. Like, I do not know, the Epstein files.

We must be very careful when passing counter-disinformation legislation so that it protects democratic freedoms. The autocrats of the world have used anti-disinformation laws to steamroll opposition and dissent to preserve their power.

The discussions about big platforms are intense. The systemic risks are real. Now the #DSA Delegated Act is finally here to ensure data access for researchers. Time to put this system to work. W @lkseiling.bsky.social, we show how @techpolicypress.bsky.social www.techpolicy.press/time-to-deli...

Open Access Article: On mapping a marketing monstrosity: Barbie, Barbara and the reorientation of literary criticism, by Rachel Ashman, Stephen Brown & Anthony Patterson www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Back from all the conferences, now it is time to put the phone away and create beautiful memories the the people who matter the most.

Back from London! I had a blast attending the Consumer Culture Theory Conference where I presented my work on social media echo chambers, which argues for a conceptual framework that actually represents the phenomenon we experience online. #CCT2025 #consumerculture

As a researcher interested in the amplification of disinformation on social media, I experience a paradox: I am both excited about all the research possibilities and terrified that they are so clearly evident.

I am privileged to announce the publication of the Anti-Autocracy Handbook: sks.to/autocracy 1/12