Fabulous online seminar organized by @algosoc.org Algorithmic Effects on #Elections: Using Social Media Data Donations to Study Elections 🗓️ Fri 12 Dec, 14:00–15:30 CET @ernesto-deleon.com @favstats.eu @antmandan.bsky.social @simonchauchard.bsky.social Registration ⬇️ algosoc.org/events/algos...

What would have been actually awesome would have been if a bunch of Queensland Year 12 students had spent a year learning about the Cohen Brothers film “Hail Caesar!”.

A very comprehensive critique of the AI moment by @couldrynick.bsky.social to start off Day Two of the #ZeMKI2025 20th anniversary conference. Liveblog here:

Just love busting your arse to get to the airport in Australia only to have your flight delayed by over two hours. And given how much Labor and the Libs are in bed with the airlines and won’t budge on consumer compensation guarantees we aren’t even entitled to something as simple as a meal voucher.

Congratulations to ADM+S researchers awarded grants under the 2025 Queensland–Bavaria Collaborative Research Program, supporting projects that advance research in the responsible use of AI in news personalisation and online search. Read more bit.ly/4ngSRcc

"I want to see kids off their devices and onto the footy fields" says a Prime Minister who can't get his party off the fence. No homes to grow up in, no shade to play under, no planet left to plan for but sure, all these fade like dew on a Sherrin the real problem is screen time.

And we all leave richer for the experience 🇧🇷❤️

For all of you with #AoIR2025 FOMO, or who are missing the great company in Rio already: consider joining us in Brisbane for the 2026 @qutdmrc.bsky.social Summer School on 2-6 Feb. 2026 – registration is now open ! More details are here:

On last day of #aoir2025 @lionw.bsky.social presents our @weizenbauminstitut.bsky.social work on TikTok data donation from the 2025 German Federal Election - only 5% of content was political and the Left party could capitalize most in reaching voters of other parties with their content on TT.

My @qutdmrc.bsky.social colleague @snurb.info now up in our #aoir2025 elections panel, talking about our work studying the 2025 Australian Federal election. Key highlights of this work is the splintering of discourse across multiple platforms combined with challenges in observing those platforms.

This is really excellent work, just released by #AoIR2025 keynote speaker Marie Santini's Netlab Brazil, on #greenwashing in LinkedIn ads ahead of #COP30. Can't think of too many people who've even paid attention to advertising practices on LinkedIn ! (ping @ketanjoshi.co)

And my colleague @antmandan.bsky.social did a great job presenting our @qutdmrc.bsky.social work on auditing what if any guardrails are in place to prevent chatbots from spouting conspiracist ideas (spoiler: not many). Summary and slides here. #AoIR2025

We had a fabulous roundtable discussion with @anjabechmann.bsky.social @dscheykopp.bsky.social @tgrootkormelink.bsky.social @jiarut.bsky.social here at #aoir2025 that concluded with a thought exercise: "It's 2030 & data donation is the dominant data gathering paradigm, what must we get right today?"

Hey #AoIR2025 participants, the upcoming @qutdmrc.bsky.social Summer School will be highly relevant to many of you:

Hey #aoir2025, kick start your conference with our @qutdmrc.bsky.social @internetobservatory.org.au experimental session on data donation where you can develop your own unique digital persona and learn about the creative potential of this emerging method. In room 10b @ 9-10:30am (Thursday).

🆕 Right, so just ahead of the start of #AoIR2025 (and AoIR liveblogging) tomorrow, I've posted up a quick round-up of my trip so far, with various presentations and a couple of bonus journal articles that came out recently. See you all tomorrow, @aoir.bsky.social family...

For those at #aoir2025 the Museu do Amanhã (Museum of the future) is worth a visit. It beautifully blends science, art and culture. I found several of the exhibits deeply moving, and I think many of you will as well. Easy to walk to from the ferry, budget 1 - 1.5 hour inside the museum.

As I wrote before the legislation even hit parliament www.theguardian.com/media/articl...

German supermarkets are elite. The freshest produce, incredible vegan selections, great prices, and the added thrill and adrenaline hit of watching your groceries get absolutely obliterated at the register by a cashier moving at Mach 3. #LidlLeague #ALDIAthletics #ReweRage

I know the stories, and have had prior experiences, but my god @deutschebahn.com are truly hopeless. For the entire month I've not ridden a train that has gone on time, and multiple have just never shown up or just randomly cancelled stations mid-route. I love you Germany, please sort this out.

The UCI’s decision to allow an Israeli team ride the Vuelta was beyond inconsistent. They’ve banned other teams and athletes over political issues before, but suddenly it was "sport is neutral"?! That’s not neutrality, that's hypocrisy. www.cyclingnews.com/news/i-dont-...

Congratulations to PhD student Caroline Gardam (@cazuarina.bsky.social), Dr Michelle Riedlinger (@riedlinm.bsky.social), Dr Daniel Angus (@antmandan.bsky.social), and DMRC alum Jane Tan for their new paper on the multimodal narratives of climate denial.

The ANU Bell affair shows how a “born-to-rule” mindset warps university governance. This ABC opinion piece asks the bigger questions we all should be asking inside and outside the sector. abc.net.au/religion/anu...

I'm in Cologne for work. We had Warntag today, which is an annual test of the alert systems. For me, a non-German speaker who had no pre-warning of this, it was extremely normal to have my phone just start blaring an alert tone and show up an alert message while air raid sirens started going off.

New ADM+S submission: Research ahead of the 2025 Federal Election reveals astroturfing is mainstream in climate & energy debates. Calls for stronger laws, transparency & platform accountability to protect democracy. Read more bit.ly/41MbRYn #PoliticalAdvertising #Astroturfing #DigitalTransparency

I saw this great interview about Bluesky by my good colleague @dhutchman.bsky.social here on Bluesky, so I'm boosting it on Bluesky.

Great to be here at @gesis.org at the same time as my wonderful Canadian colleagues @philipmai.com & @gruzd.ca. The @qutdmrc.bsky.social is the Australian partner of the polidashboard.org an initiative of their @socialmedialab.ca. A wonderful tool for enhancing transparency of political advertising.

Our partner lead @antmandan.bsky.social is a currently in Germany as a visiting fellow at @gesis.org. His talk is on Sep 10 to the institute is on Tracking online ads through citizen-engaged, privacy-preserving methods. Check out more info here: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

Voice technologies are being rapidly integrated into AI systems, raising new questions & intensifying old ones, across everyday life. This paper surveys the history & current developments, highlighting emerging responses in real-world settings. apo.org.au/node/331920 #AI #VoiceTech #Authenticity

Bob Katter may enjoy cult-like meme status as a quirky political oddity, but it's clear that beneath the cowboy hat is a mean bully whose behaviour should never be excused as harmless eccentricity. His violent outburst today was an utter disgrace and he should be censured for it in parliament.

Look what they did to Notepad. Shut the fuck up. This is Notepad. You are not welcome here. Oh yeah "Let me use Copilot for Notepad". "I'm going to sign into my account for Notepad". What the fuck are you talking about. It's Notepad.

So @albomp.bsky.social reckons we can't "do policy on the run" when it comes to gambling ads, after years of reviews, inquiries, and expert consensus begging for action. But somehow it's fine to rush through contested laws that reshape the entire internet in under 6 months. The hypocrisy is wild.

From Darkness to Hypervisibility! A one day symposium on the promotional and creator cultures of social media at UQ in November. CFP and details here: hass.uq.edu.au/event/sessio... @bradyjay.bsky.social @antmandan.bsky.social

Ah yes, Europe, the land of stringent regulation… except when it comes to every other idiot ruining the vibe by chain-smoking through every meal or nice moment. To the hipsters who think it's an aesthetic: you don't look chic, you just smell like regret and tar.

Absolutely lucked out on my academic visit to Amsterdam this week by timing it with a once every 5 year mass sailing event. These tall ships are absolutely gorgeous, and there are about 60 of them that all sailed in together today.

An important opinion piece from PhD candidate, Daniel Whelan-Shamy, on the policy submission to the New Zealand Education and Workforce Committee that the DMRC recently contributed to. Well done, Dan!

Being in the UK this week means I've seen several variations of Lower Wafflington AFC vs Bishop's Piddle United on the pub TVs. It's baffling, because apparently there are 147 other cups, shields, plates, and vases happening at the same time, all in overlapping leagues that somehow share teams.

Age verification? I tore the edges off printer paper.

“The more governments try to restrict social media use, the more young people will find ways to get around it” by @leopuglisi6.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Say carbon credits again. I dare you. I double dare you.

In all the fluster over YouTube now being included in the social media age ban, we seem to have forgotten the main proponents of this whole crusade: the traditional broadcast media, loudly cheering as kids are nudged back to their ads, outdated formats and questionable content.

"Senator WONG: As part of the global F-35 supply chain, we contribute components and parts that are non-lethal in nature. (Time expired)" Not sure how you get to such a place in life.

The Australian Government has now backflipped on its own plan and will include YouTube in its proposed social media age restrictions. Honestly, I'm just exhausted.

I enjoyed teaming up w @antmandan.bsky.social on Radio National's Life Matters today to discuss the increase in age-gating in Australia with both the social media ban for under16s & phase 2 industry codes beginning in December. www.abc.net.au/listen/progr... #socialmedia #ageverification #auspol

The introduction of age-verification in the UK this weekend appears to be an unmitigated disaster. Anyone accessing socials now has to upload ID, scan their face or otherwise verify. The outrage is widespread and everyone is just finding workarounds. The government has gone into defense.

new writing from me about age verification and content moderation beyond social media. with endless thanks to @kgt.bsky.social @drwaus.bsky.social @katha.bsky.social @antmandan.bsky.social Zahra Stardust @lucinda-nelson.bsky.social whose research and advocacy continue to inform my thinking

On hold to my IT helpdesk as my Microsoft authenticator app is asking me to open my Microsoft authenticator app to authenticate my Microsoft authenticator app. Most excellent use of my limited time.

Do you know someone looking for a great PhD opportunity with a great academic supervisor? PhD scholarship to “reimagine AI answer systems for critical AI literacy in Australia” hblog.org/2025/06/18/p...

The Albanese govt is seemingly backing a plan that could withhold uni and arts funding if they're seen to not tackle antisemitism. But what counts as "failure"? This sets a dangerous precedent, threatening academic independence, and informed and open debate. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07...

A new piece in The Conversation from DMRC director @antmandan.bsky.social, DMRC alum, T.J. Thomson and UNSW colleague Samuel Cornell. In this piece, they discuss the legislative change requiring certain visitors to the United States to provide their social media accounts. theconversation.com/...