"New KM Compass App From the Social Media Lab Helps Researchers Translate Knowledge Into Real-World Impact" socialmedialab.ca/2025/10/02/n...

The real problem isn’t rage itself, but the systems we’ve built around it: systems designed to provoke, manipulate, and monetize our anger. Instead of empowering us to right a wrong, they exploit our most powerful instincts for profit.

Rage farming has turned into an industry, and the irony is that many of its operators don’t even live in the West; it’s just a paycheck to them. thetyee.ca/News/2025/12... The absolute failure is ours: we allowed surveillance capitalism to entrench itself.

"Do you find yourself getting increasingly irate while scrolling through your social media feed? If so, you may be falling victim to rage bait, which Oxford University Press has named its word or phrase of the year." www.bbc.com/news/article...

The conflict of interest here is off the chart: "Steve Witkoff’s real-estate empire is bankrolled by a former adviser to Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and a key architect of Moscow’s Ukraine negotiations" bylinetimes.com/2025/12/01/t...

There was a time when professors warned students never to cite Wikipedia. Now it has become foundational knowledge for AI systems and a trusted resource for community fact-checkers who use it to make sense of information & settle debates. notetracker.socialmedialab.ca #FactChecking #DigitalLiteracy

Calling all journalists, here's a handy new tool to help you scan not-yet-visible X's Community Notes to uncover early corrections or emerging debates around a post on X on a topic you might be covering. notetracker.socialmedialab.ca#reporter-guide

"How a Flawed X Feature Sparked False Political Accusations. Charges of foreign influence flew based on X’s location feature. The truth is more complicated." thetyee.ca/News/2025/12...

We are not opposed to AI. In fact, we've integrated it into many of the data tools we develop. However, precisely b/c we use & work w/ AI every day, we, like many other experts, also understand its limitations. AI’s Impact on Canadians: A Briefing for the Senate socialmedialab.ca/2025/11/25/a...

"Fact File: How Canadian accounts got swept up in X's location feature accuracy issues" www.msn.com/en-ca/news/c...

"Elon Musk Drove ~1/3 of Women Off Twitter... Topline data shows that use of the big three platforms has pretty much plateaued, and that TikTok continues to grow at roughly the same rate as Instagram did during its expansion." kevinmunger.substack.com/p/elon-musk-...

The power of near-realtime data: Our NoteTracker Dashboard currently shows that only a small fraction [10.9%] of Community Notes are visible on X. In comparison, an overwhelming majority [89.1%] of proposed Community Notes are not yet visible (based on 1741011 notes). notetracker.socialmedialab.ca

"This suggests a growing gap between how widely these tools are used and how prepared people are to use them safely." socialmedialab.ca/2025/11/25/a...

"In our new study, The State of Generative AI Use in Canada, about two-thirds of Canadians said they had tried generative AI. But, only 38% felt confident using it effectively, and only 36% understood the rules and ethics behind responsible use." socialmedialab.ca/2025/11/25/a...

This is huge: under new EU law, "social media companies will have to compensate banks if it’s clear that they failed to remove an online scam that had been reported." www.politico.eu/article/soci...

This is not a peace plan. It is a proposal that weakens Ukraine and divides America from Europe, preparing the way for a larger war in the future. In the meantime, it benefits unnamed Russian and American investors, at the expense of everyone else. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

Allowing this so-called "peace" plan to move forward would simply postpone the danger. It would be the children growing up right now, eight-year-olds who will be eighteen by then, who would be exposed to the next wave of Russian violence, suffering the consequences of choices made today.

Most middle managers aren’t yet equipped to recognize the hidden or long-term costs of relying on AI, including integration overhead, quality-control gaps, and the erosion of early-career talent pipelines.

AI is taking entry-level jobs. "Managers at Shopify must now justify hiring a human by first explaining why AI can’t do the job." Companies that adopt this mindset are ultimately undermining themselves. nymag.com/intelligence...

As part of our research on competing narratives about international migration on social media, we reviewed existing scholarship to develop a typology of 11 frames that capture the dominant ways these debates are structured. These 11 frames underpin the Migration Ads Observatory.

If you are conducting research on migration and the politics of migration, here's a sneak peek at a new dashboard we're developing as part of the @bridgdivides.bsky.social initiative at @torontomet.bsky.social. The dashboard will track/analyze migration-related ads in near real time. (ETA Feb. 2026)

Gander Social, a Canadian atproto-based social media platform currently in private beta, raised $1.3M. #DigitalSovereignty connectedplaces.leaflet.pub/3m5gygipuxc2...

As a researcher, your insights shape public understanding, so protect the person behind the expertise. These resources offer guidance on safeguarding your privacy, managing your online presence, and navigating potential risks. km.socialmedialab.ca/resources #academicsky #sciencesky #PhDsky

This is why Content moderation is difficult. When do you take a post at face value, & when do you consider its cultural context? Should mods be blamed for not knowing re: reference to an obscure line from Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues? "But I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die."

Unfortunately, the social media industry is increasingly moving away from using human fact-checkers. Many are rolling out AI and Community Notes-type programs, which come with their own set of challenges. For example, 89% of Community Notes on X never see daylight. notetracker.socialmediadata.org

Soft moderation (e.g., fact-checking labels) significantly reduced the frequency of interactions w/false claims. Control group averaged 0.9 interactions, about 1.5 more than either intervention group (0.62 for the footnote warning label, 0.60 for the blur filter). socialmedialab.ca/2024/09/11/n...

Algorithmic audits have become a fashionable remedy in academic and policy debates, but this overlooks a fundamental point: like domestic pets 🐕, every algorithm has an owner. Accountability lies not with the code, but with those who design, deploy, and profit from it.

Like the gun debate in America, where money and identity override reason, the tech industry’s fixation on profit and polarization will make their stated goal of fostering healthy online conversation the Silicon Valley version of “thoughts and prayers.” #emptymantra

"Why American-style polarisation is spreading across the West" Two words: algorithms and incentives. Mostly incentives. Until we modify or eliminate incentives, all we can do is watch as the fabric of society is pulled apart, strand by strand. www.ft.com/content/5060...

In that paper, we showed how an online community legitimizes itself and minimizes allegations of anti-social, bullying behaviour by weaponizing and deploying a feminine gender identity in three overlapping and internally contradictory ways to: socialmedialab.ca/2024/03/12/c...

This new study is a follow-up to a study we released last year, "Just being a bit bitchy: The gendered valences of online anti-social behaviour on Tattle Life". socialmedialab.ca/2024/03/12/c...

PS... To be clear, we are not advocating for toxic speech online, what we are trying to do with this study to understand how toxic speech is used by people to construct and maintain in- and out-group boundaries in online communities.

[New Paper Alert] Online toxic speech as positioning acts: Hate as discursive mechanisms for othering and belonging socialmedialab.ca/2025/11/03/n...

“In today’s complex communication landscape, expertise alone is no longer enough,” said @Gruzd.ca, Co-Director of @SocialMediaLab.ca “To make a real difference, rsrchrs must communicate in ways that build trust, foster engagement with a wide range of stakeholders." socialmedialab.ca/2025/10/02/n...

“KM Compass is more than a tool,” said @PhilipMai.com, Co-Director of the Social Media Lab. “It’s a recognition that we need new approaches to mobilizing knowledge and building trust with the public, and ensuring that research continues to play a meaningful role in shaping society.”

Welcome to KM (Knowledge Mobilization) Compass: Helping You Share What You Know, Where It Matters Most. km.socialmedialab.ca Our new app is designed to help researchers like you turn ideas into impact.socialmedialab.ca/2025/10/02/n...

"In the face of anti-science politics, silence is not without cost. More scientific leaders need to speak out about anti-science agendas and threats to academic freedom across the world." #ICYMI www.nature.com/articles/d41...

[New Paper Alert] Online toxic speech as positioning acts: Hate as discursive mechanisms for othering and belonging socialmedialab.ca/2025/11/03/n...

[New Paper Alert] Who’s Telling the Story of the Russia-Ukraine War on Telegram? “Shaping Western Perceptions: The Role of English-language Verified Telegram Channels in Framing the Narratives Around the Russia-Ukraine War” by @gruzd.ca, Yisheng Li & @philipmai.com socialmedialab.ca/2025/10/27/n...

The Civility Analyzer calculates toxicity scores (such as Toxicity, Insult, & Threat) & prosocial scores (like Compassion, Curiosity, and Respect) for each post.

Advancing Social Media Rsrch & the Study of Online Civility: Our new Civility Analyzer helps researchers/journalists identify posts containing threats, insults, harassment, or profanity. It also detects prosocial communication, incl. support, cooperation & kindness. socialmedialab.ca/2025/06/17/c...

[New Paper Alert] Who’s Telling the Story of the Russia-Ukraine War on Telegram? “Shaping Western Perceptions: The Role of English-language Verified Telegram Channels in Framing the Narratives Around the Russia-Ukraine War” by @gruzd.ca, Yisheng Li & @philipmai.com socialmedialab.ca/2025/10/27/n...

Are you doing research at the intersection of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and analytics? Be our colleague, apply for Loretta Rogers Research Chair in Cybersecurity Analytics: hr.cf.torontomu.ca/ams/faculty/... #AcademicSky #PhDCareer

If you're a scientist or researcher sharing your work online, here are some resources to help you manage the risks of being public. socialmedialab.ca/km-compass/ Pro Tip: Share them with your communications office and encourage them to form a rapid response team, with a plan of action in place.

"New KM Compass App From the Social Media Lab Helps Researchers Translate Knowledge Into Real-World Impact" socialmedialab.ca/2025/10/02/n...

Q: Can soft moderation techniques (such as footnotes and blur screens) decrease engagement with misinformation on social media? A: Yes, yes, they can. socialmedialab.ca/2024/09/11/n...

To put it another way, social media is good at showing what people are talking about (the trending direction of public attention or sentiment), but it doesn’t reliably convey how many people feel that way (intensity) or how strongly they feel it (speed/force of change).

In some way, social media is like a weather vane in a storm: it spins quickly to show where the wind’s blowing, but you can’t tell how fierce the storm really is.

"Cracker Barrel Outrage Was Almost Certainly Driven by Bots, Researchers Say" gizmodo.com/cracker-barr...

The Cracker Barrel story should serve as a reminder that "What a journalist can discern from publicly available social media data is not exactly what is typically thought of as 'public opinion.'” We & our colleagues outlined this problem back in 2018. policyoptions.irpp.org/2018/09/when...