Professor Philip Howard
Professor of Internet Studies
Philip N. Howard is a professor of sociology, information, and international affairs. He is Director of the Programme on Democracy and Technology, and is a Professorial Fellow of Balliol College.
Published on
9 Apr 2020
9 Apr 2020
A new memo from the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, has lifted the lid on the actions of English language state-backed media in Russia, China, Iran and Turkey during the coronavirus pandemic.
A new memo from the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, has lifted the lid on the actions of English language state-backed media in Russia, China, Iran and Turkey during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Computational Propaganda team at the OII found outlets such as China Daily and RT (formerly Russia Today) are pushing messages to millions of potential followers that contain misleading content and conspiracy theories. These outlets also criticise the response of Western governments to COVID-19 while positioning their own states as world leaders in both scientific response and the distribution of aid to others.
This content has the potential to reach tens of millions of online users, and can be up to ten times more effective in generating engagement such as likes and shares than articles from UK broadcaster and news outlet, the BBC.
Professor Philip Howard, Director, Oxford Internet Institute, said:
“COVID-19 is the undisputed number one topic of conversation online right now. State-backed news outlets from Russia, China, Iran and Turkey are using their social media reach to push positive messages about their governments’ handling of the crisis, while being highly critical of countries in the West. These social media posts can sometimes be far more effective in engaging online users than more traditional news outlets.
“It is clear some states are using this crisis to suggest democratic states have been corrupt and incompetent in handling this global pandemic, while acting as cheerleaders for the efforts of their own authoritarian regimes.”
This memo is the first in a series that will examine misinformation and the debate around the COVID-19 pandemic. The full memo is available on the Computational Propaganda project website.
Notes for editors
For media enquiries please email press@oii.ox.ac.uk or contact Professor Philip Howard, Dr. Jonathan Bright in the UK or Hubert Au in Hong Kong (GMT +8).
Research and comment from OII researchers on COVID-19 will be published on the COVID-19 section of the OII website.
Related People
Dr Jonathan Bright
Research Associate
In 2022 Jonathan Bright became the Head of AI for Public Services at the Turing Institute, having previously been a faculty member of the OII. A political scientist, he specialises in computational and ‘big data’ approaches to the social sciences.
Dr Hubert Au
Former DPhil Student
Hubert is a DPhil student at the OII, interested in computational propaganda and social movements online.
Dr Nahema Marchal
Former Research Associate
Nahema was a doctoral candidate at the Oxford Internet Institute and a researcher at the Computational Propaganda Project.
Programme on Democracy & Technology
Since 2012, the Programme on Democracy & Technology has been investigating the use of algorithms, automation, and computational propaganda in public life. Our goal is to use rigorous social science and computational methods to increase civic engagement and promote democratic values.
Related Project
This project will focus on how bots, algorithms and other forms of automation are used by political actors in countries around the world.