
Philip N. Howard is the Director of the OII. He is a professor of sociology, information and international affairs. He is the author, most recently, of Pax Technica: How the Internet of Things May Set Us Free or Lock Us Up.
Email: philip.howard@oii.ox.ac.uk- Profile
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Philip N. Howard is a statutory Professor of Internet Studies at the Oxford Internet Institute and Balliol College at the University of Oxford. He has courtesy appointments as a professor at the University of Washington’s Department of Communication and as a fellow at Columbia University’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism.
Howard investigates the impact of digital media on political life around the world, and he is a frequent commentator on global media and political affairs. Howard’s research has demonstrated how new information technologies are used in both civic engagement and social control in countries around the world. His projects on digital activism, information access, and modern governance in both democracies and authoritarian regimes have been supported by the European Research Council, National Science Foundation, US Institutes of Peace, and Intel’s People and Practices Group.
He has published eight books and over 100 academic articles, book chapters, conference papers, and commentary essays on information technology, international affairs and public life. His articles examine the role of new information and communication technologies in politics and social development, and he has published in peer review journals such as the American Behavioral Scientist, the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and The Journal of Communication. His first book on information technology and elections in the United States is called New Media Campaigns and the Managed Citizen (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006). It is one of the few books to ever win simultaneous “best book” prizes from the professional associations of multiple disciplines, with awards from the American Political Science Association, the American Sociological Association, and the International Communication Association. His authored books include The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2010), Castells and the Media (London, UK: Polity, 2011), Democracy’s Fourth Wave? Digital Media and the Arab Spring (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2012, with Muzammil Hussain), and most recently Pax Technica: How the Internet of Things May Set Us Free or Lock Us Up (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2015). He has edited Society Online: The Internet in Context (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2004, with Steve Jones), the Handbook of Internet Politics (London, UK: Routledge, 2008, with Andrew Chadwick) and State Power 2.0: Authoritarian Entrenchment and Political Engagement Worldwide (Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2013, with Muzammil Hussain).
Howard has had senior teaching, research, and administrative appointments at universities around the world. He has been on the teaching faculty at the Central European University, Columbia University, Northwestern University, the University of Oslo, and the University of Washington. He has had fellowship appointments at the Pew Internet & American Life Project in Washington D.C., the Stanhope Centre for Communications Policy Research at the London School of Economics, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, and the Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton University. From 2013-15 he helped design and launch a new School of Public Policy at Central European University in Budapest, where he was the school’s first Founding Professor and Director of the Center for Media, Data and Society.
Howard’s research and commentary writing has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, and many international media outlets. His B.A. is in political science from Innis College at the University of Toronto, his M.Sc. is in economics from the London School of Economics, and his Ph.D. is in sociology from Northwestern University. His website is philhoward.org, and he tweets from @pnhoward.
Research interests
science and technology studies, internet, society, politics
Positions held at the OII
- Professor of Internet Studies, July 2016 –
- Senior Research Fellow, January 2016 – June 2016
Latest blog posts
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The Production and Detection of Bots
Date Published: 17 February 2018
Authors: Philip Howard
Abstract Political bots are manipulating public opinion over major social networking applications. This project enables a new team of social and information scientists to investigate ... Read More The Production and Detection of Bots
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The Production and Detection of Bots
Date Published: 17 February 2018
Authors: Philip Howard
Abstract Political bots are manipulating public opinion over major social networking applications. This project enables a new team of social and information scientists to investigate ... Read More The Production and Detection of Bots
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Computational Propaganda
Date Published: 17 February 2018
Authors: Philip Howard
Abstract Social media can have an impressive impact on civic engagement and political discourse. Yet increasingly we find political actors using digital media and ... Read More Computational Propaganda
Current projects
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Computational Propaganda
Participants: Professor Philip Howard, Dr Vidya Narayanan, Mimie Liotsiou, Lisa-Maria Neudert, Samantha Bradshaw
This project will focus on how bots, algorithms and other forms of automation are used by political actors in countries around the world.
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Oxford Martin Programme on Misinformation, Science and Media
Participants: Professor Phil Howard, Professor Rasmus Kleis Nielsen
In this three-year programme researchers will examine the interplay between systematic misinformation campaigns, news coverage, and increasingly important social media platforms for public understanding of science and technological innovation.
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Political Communication, AI and Data Diversity in the US
Participants: Dr Victoria Nash, Professor Philip N. Howard, Mimie Liotsiou, Lisa-Maria Neudert, Dr Vidya Narayanan
This project investigates contemporary trends in political communication, political polarization, artificial intelligence, and data diversity in the United States.
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Strengthening Digital Democracy
Participants: Dr Victoria Nash, Professor Philip N. Howard, Mimie Liotsiou, Lisa-Maria Neudert, Dr Vidya Narayanan
This programme supports research into the use of computational propaganda in developing democracies, our management of strategic relations with industry, government and civil society stakeholders, and capacity transfer to civil society groups.
Past projects
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Restoring Trust in Social Media Civic Engagement
Participants: Professor Philip Howard, Mimie Liotsiou
This Proof of Concept project will allow researchers to produce an online tool that allows the public to evaluate suspicious social media accounts.
Books
- (2015) Pax Technica How the Internet of Things May Set Us Free or Lock Us Up. Yale University Press.
- (2013) State Power 2.0: Digital Networks and Authoritarian Rule. London: Ashgate.
- (2013) Castells and the Media Theory and Media. John Wiley & Sons.
- (2013) Democracy's Fourth Wave? Digital Media and the Arab Spring. Oxford University Press on Demand.
- (2010) The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy Information Technology and Political Islam. Oxford University Press.
- (2008) Routledge Handbook of Internet Politics. Routledge.
- (2006) New Media Campaigns and the Managed Citizen. Cambridge University Press.
- (2003) Society Online The Internet in Context. SAGE Publications.
Chapters
- "Political parties online" In: The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Information Technology and Political Islam. OUP.
Journal articles
- (2018) "Algorithms, bots, and political communication in the US 2016 election: The challenge of automated political communication for election law and administration", Journal of Information Technology and Politics. 15 (2) 81-93.
- (2017) "Computational Propaganda and Political Big Data: Moving Toward a More Critical Research Agenda", Big Data. 5 (4) 273-276.
- (2016) "Automation, Big Data and Politics: a research review", International Journal of Communication. 10 5032-5055.
- (2016) ""Political Communication, Computational Propaganda, and Autonomous Agents — Introduction"", International Journal of Communication. 4882-4890.
- (2016) "Social Media, Civic Engagement, and the Slacktivism Hypothesis: Lessons from Mexico’s “El Bronco”", Journal of International Affairs. 70 (1) 55-73.
- (2014) "Participation, Civics and Your Next Coffee Maker", Policy and Internet. 6 (2) 199-201.
- (2014) "Telecom Policy Across the Former Yugoslavia: Incentives, Challenges, and Lessons Learned", Journal of Information Policy. 4 67.
- (2013) "What Best Explains Successful Protest Cascades? ICTs and the Fuzzy Causes of the Arab Spring", International Studies Review. 15 (1) 48-66.
- (2012) "Social Media and Political Change: Capacity, Constraint, and Consequence", Journal of Communication. 62 (2) 359-362.
- (2011) "Digital Media and the Arab Spring", Journal of Democracy. 22 (3) 35-48.
- (2011) "When Do States Disconnect Their Digital Networks? Regime Responses to the Political Uses of Social Media", The Communication Review. 14 (3) 216-232.
- (2011) "Information Technologies and Omnivorous News Diets Over Three U.S. Presidential Elections", Journal of Information Technology and Politics. 8 (2) 177-198.
- (2010) "Political parties and voter privacy: Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and United States in comparative perspective", First Monday. 15 (12).
- (2010) "New Challenges to Political Privacy: Lessons from the First U.S. Presidential Race in the Web 2.0 Era", International Journal of Communication. 1032-1050.
- (2010) "Comparing Digital Divides: Internet Access and Social Inequality in Canada and the United States", Canadian Journal of Communication. 35 (1).
- (2009) "Telecommunications Reform, Internet Use and Mobile Phone Adoption in the Developing World", World Development. 37 (7) 1159-1169.
- (2009) "Data Collection and Leakage", Chicago - Kent Law Review. 84 (3).
- (2009) "Sizing up Information Societies—Towards a Better Metric for the Cultures of ICT Adoption", The Information Society. 25 (3) 208-219.
- (2007) "A Case of Mistaken Identity? News Accounts of Hacker and Organizational Responsibility for Compromised Digital Records, 1980-2006", Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. 12 (4) 1229-1247.
- (2007) "Channeling Diversity in the Public Spectrum: Who Qualifies to Bid for Which FCC Licenses?", Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. 84 (2) 215-230.
- (2007) "Learning to Search and Searching to Learn: Income, Education and Experience Online", Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. 12 (3) 846-865.
- (2007) "Testing the Leap-Frog Hypothesis: Assessing the Impact of Extant Infrastructure and Telecommunication Policy on the Global Digital Divide", Information, Communication and Society. 10 (2) 133-157.
- (2005) "Deep Democracy, Thin Citizenship: The Impact of Digital Media in Political Campaign Strategy", The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 597 (1) 153-170.
- (2005) "Digital Technology and the Market for Political Surveillance", Surveillance and Society. 59-73.
- (2003) "Digitizing the Social Contract: Producing American Political Culture in the Age of New Media", The Communication Review. 6 (3) 213-245.
- (2002) "Network Ethnography and the Hypermedia Organization: New Media, New Organizations, New Methods", New Media & Society. 4 (4) 550-574.
- (2001) "Days and Nights on the Internet: The Impact of a Diffusing Technology", American Behavioral Scientist. 45 (3) 383-404.
- (2000) "Method and Representation in Internet-Based Survey Tools: Mobility, Community, and Cultural Identity in Survey2000.", Social Science Computer Review. 18 (2) 179-195.
- (1998) "The History of Ecological Marginalization in Chiapas", Environmental History. 3 (3) 357.
- (1997) "Development-Induced Displacement in Haiti", Refuge: Canada's periodical on refugees. 16 (3) 4-11.
Reports
- (2017) "Social Media, News and Political Information during the US Election: Was Polarizing Content Concentrated in Swing States?" In: COMPROP data memo 2017.8. Oxford: Project on Computational Propaganda.
- (2017) Junk News and Bots during the German Parliamentary Election: What are German Voters Sharing over Twitter?. Oxford, UK: Project on Computational Propaganda.
- (2017) Troops, Trolls and Troublemakers: A Global Inventory of Organized Social Media Manipulation. Oxford, UK: Project on Computational Propaganda.
- (2017) Computational Propaganda in Canada: The Use of Political Bots. Oxford, UK: Computational Propaganda Research Project.
- (2017) Computational Propaganda in Brazil: Social Bots During Elections. Oxford, UK: Computational Propaganda Research Project.
- (2017) Computational Propaganda in Poland: False Amplifiers and the Digital Public Sphere. Oxford, UK: Computational Propaganda Research Project.
- (2017) Computational Propaganda in Russia: The Origins of Digital Misinformation. Oxford, UK: Computational Propaganda Research Project.
- (2017) Computational Propaganda in China: An Alternative Model of a Widespread Practice. Oxford, UK: Computational Propaganda Research Project.
- (2017) Computational Propaganda in the United States of America: Manufacturing Consensus Online. Oxford, UK: Project on Computational Propaganda.
- (2017) Computational Propaganda Worldwide: Executive Summary. Oxford, UK: Project on Computational Propaganda.
- (2016) "Bots and Automation over Twitter during the Third U.S. Presidential Debate" In: Bots and Automation over Twitter during the Third U.S. Presidential Debate: COMPROP data memo 2016.3. Oxford, UK: Project on Computational Propaganda.
- (2016) "“Bots and Automation over Twitter during the Second U.S. Presidential Debate: COMPROP data memo 2016.2"" In: “Bots and Automation over Twitter during the Second U.S. Presidential Debate: COMPROP data memo 2016.2". EU COMPROP project.
- (2016) "“Bots and Automation over Twitter during the First U.S. Presidential Debate: COMPROP Data Memo 2016.1"" In: “Bots and Automation over Twitter during the First U.S. Presidential Debate: COMPROP Data Memo 2016.1". EU COMPROP project.
- (2016) "“Creativity and Critique: Gap Analysis of Support for Critical Research on Big Data"" In: “Creativity and Critique: Gap Analysis of Support for Critical Research on Big Data". Project on Computational Propaganda.
- (2015) Political Bots and the Manipulation of Public Opinion in Venezuela. Elsevier BV.
- Bots, #Strongerin, and #Brexit: Computational Propaganda During the UK-EU Referendum.
Other
- Junk News and Bots during the French Presidential Election: What Are French Voters Sharing Over Twitter?.
- Junk News and Bots during the U.S. Election: What Were Michigan Voters Sharing Over Twitter?.
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Is Social Media Killing Democracy? Computational Propaganda, Algorithms, Automation and Public Life
Recorded: 15 June 2017
Duration: 00:48:11
Philip Howard on how social media platforms have become key infrastructures for political discourse.
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Will the Internet of Things Enhance Democracy or Empower Autocrats?
Recorded: 3 February 2016
Duration: 01:18:06
Phil Howard discusses his new book, Pax Technica: How the Internet of Things May Set Us Free or Lock Us Up.
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Civic Engagement, Bots, and the Internet of Things (IoT)
Recorded: 15 June 2015
Duration: 00:56:38
Phil Howard discusses civic engagement, bots, and the Internet of things (IoT).
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Testing the Leap-frog Hypothesis: The Impact of Existing Infrastructure and Telecommunications Policy on the Global Digital Divide
Recorded: 15 May 2007
Duration: 00:24:00
Philip Howard discusses the issues raised by his paper: 'Testing the leap-frog hypothesis: the impact of existing infrastructure and telecommunications policy on the global digital divide' published in the journal iCS (10:133-157).
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UK media coverage of artificial intelligence dominated by industry and industry sources
13 December 2018
The factsheet, An Industry-Led Debate: How UK Media Cover Artificial Intelligence, is based on an analysis of eight months of reporting on AI in six mainstream UK news outlets.
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Junk news dominating coverage of US midterms on social media, new research finds
1 November 2018
25% of content shared around US midterms is junk news, despite efforts by the platforms to curb the problem
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Brazil elections ‘not at risk’ from junk news on Twitter, new research finds
5 October 2018
Researchers from the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford conclude only 1.2% of Twitter content connected to the elections is junk news
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New report reveals growing threat of organised social media manipulation world-wide
20 July 2018
The manipulation of public opinion over social media platforms has emerged as a critical threat to public life.
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Pro-Trump highly automated accounts ‘colonised’ pro-Clinton Twitter campaign
17 November 2016
Research by Prof. Philip Howard (OII, University of Oxford), with Bence Kollanyi (University of Corvinus) and Samuel Woolley (University of Washington) reveals that Trump supporters’ use of highly automated accounts was 'deliberate and strategic'.
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OII London Lecture – Tomorrow’s Leviathan: Intelligent Machines in a Political World
5 March 2019
The Oxford Internet Institute is excited to present the Director of the OII, Professor Philip Howard for the lecture "Tomorrow’s Leviathan: Intelligent Machines in a Political World" in London.
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Professor Philip Howard’s Inaugural Lecture
15 June 2017
The Oxford Internet Institute presents Professor Philip Howard's Inaugural Lecture 'Is Social Media Killing Democracy? Computational Propaganda, Algorithms, Automation and Public Life'
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The Production and Detection of Bots
17 February 2018
Author: Philip Howard
Abstract Political bots are manipulating public opinion over major social networking applications. This project enables a new team of social and information scientists to investigate ... Read More The Production and Detection of Bots
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The Production and Detection of Bots
17 February 2018
Author: Philip Howard
Abstract Political bots are manipulating public opinion over major social networking applications. This project enables a new team of social and information scientists to investigate ... Read More The Production and Detection of Bots
-
Computational Propaganda
17 February 2018
Author: Philip Howard
Abstract Social media can have an impressive impact on civic engagement and political discourse. Yet increasingly we find political actors using digital media and ... Read More Computational Propaganda
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Computational Propaganda
17 February 2018
Author: Philip Howard
Abstract Social media can have an impressive impact on civic engagement and political discourse. Yet increasingly we find political actors using digital media and ... Read More Computational Propaganda
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Activities
16 February 2018
Author: Philip Howard
Computational Propaganda Social media can have an impressive impact on civic engagement and political discourse. Yet increasingly we find political actors using digital media ... Read More Activities
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Activities
16 February 2018
Author: Philip Howard
Computational Propaganda Social media can have an impressive impact on civic engagement and political discourse. Yet increasingly we find political actors using digital media ... Read More Activities
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Palo Alto Talk: Truth and Trust in Times of Junk News
7 January 2018
Author: Philip Howard
The past year has been dominated by stories of how junk news has influenced major political decisions on both sides of the Atlantic. Algorithms, ... Read More Palo Alto Talk: Truth and Trust in Times of Junk News
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European Commission Multi-stakeholder Conference on Fake News
18 November 2017
Author: Philip Howard
Lisa-Maria Neudert represented the project on a panel at the European Commission’s recent Multi-stakeholder Conference on Fake News, part of a large-scale consultation process on fake ... Read More European Commission Multi-stakeholder Conference on Fake News
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Social Media, News and Political Information during the US Election: Was Polarizing Content Concentrated in Swing States?
28 September 2017
Author: Philip Howard
US voters shared large volumes of polarizing political news and information in the form of links to content from Russian, WikiLeaks and junk news ... Read More Social Media, News and Political Information during the US Election: Was Polarizing Content Concentrated in Swing States?
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Junk News and Bots during the German Parliamentary Election: What are German Voters Sharing over Twitter?
19 September 2017
Author: Philip Howard
Automation and propaganda can significantly impact public life during important policy debates, elections, and political crises. We collected Twitter data on bot activity and junk ... Read More Junk News and Bots during the German Parliamentary Election: What are German Voters Sharing over Twitter?
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Should Facebook Ads Be Regulated Like TV Commercials?
14 September 2017
Author: Philip Howard
I spoke to the Atlantic for this story about regulating political advertising on Facebook. Experts seem to agree on two principles with respect to ... Read More Should Facebook Ads Be Regulated Like TV Commercials?
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Confusion Before the German Election: What Influence Does Fake News Have?
11 September 2017
Author: Philip Howard
We are collaborating with our colleagues at the SNV and Reporters Without Borders on a ComProp Research Briefing in Berlin. On October 20th we ... Read More Confusion Before the German Election: What Influence Does Fake News Have?
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Troops, Trolls and Troublemakers: A Global Inventory of Organized Social Media Manipulation
17 July 2017
Author: Philip Howard
Cyber troops are government, military or political party teams committed to manipulating public opinion over social media. In this working paper, we report on ... Read More Troops, Trolls and Troublemakers: A Global Inventory of Organized Social Media Manipulation
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Video: Is Social Media Killing Democracy? Computational Propaganda, Algorithms, Automation and Public Life
15 June 2017
Author: Philip Howard
The Oxford Internet Institute presents Professor Philip Howard’s Inaugural Lecture. The design and implementation of social media platforms has put several advanced democracies into ... Read More Video: Is Social Media Killing Democracy? Computational Propaganda, Algorithms, Automation and Public Life
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Social Media and News Sources during the 2017 UK General Election
6 June 2017
Author: Philip Howard
Platforms like Twitter and sources like Wikipedia are important parts of the information diet for many citizens. In this data memo, we analyse Twitter ... Read More Social Media and News Sources during the 2017 UK General Election
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Video: Ten things you wish you didn’t know about elections (and what to do about them)
5 May 2017
Author: Philip Howard
In this talk, Prof Phil Howard explains how we are targeted and manipulated by social media and bots trying to influence voter behaviour. Since 2012, ... Read More Video: Ten things you wish you didn’t know about elections (and what to do about them)
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Junk News and Bots during the French Presidential Election (Round II)
5 May 2017
Author: Philip Howard
Computational propaganda distributes large amounts of misinformation about politics and public policy over social media platforms. The combination of automation and propaganda can significantly ... Read More Junk News and Bots during the French Presidential Election (Round II)
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Junk News and Bots during the French Presidential Election (Round I)
21 April 2017
Author: Philip Howard
Computational propaganda distributes large amounts of misinformation about politics and public policy over social media platforms. The combination of automation and propaganda can significantly ... Read More Junk News and Bots during the French Presidential Election (Round I)
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Junk News and Bots during the German Federal Presidency Election: What Were German Voters Sharing Over Twitter?
26 March 2017
Author: Philip Howard
Computational propaganda distributes large amounts of misinformation about politics and public policy over social media platforms. The combination of automation and propaganda can significantly ... Read More Junk News and Bots during the German Federal Presidency Election: What Were German Voters Sharing Over Twitter?
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Junk News and Bots during the U.S. Election: What Were Michigan Voters Sharing Over Twitter?
26 March 2017
Author: Philip Howard
Computational propaganda distributes large amounts of misinformation about politics and public policy over social media platforms. The combination of automation and propaganda can significantly ... Read More Junk News and Bots during the U.S. Election: What Were Michigan Voters Sharing Over Twitter?
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Prezi: What is Public Opinion? Lessons From 4 Mistakes
28 February 2017
Author: Philip Howard
The science of opinion measurement often advances because of big mistakes. Three of the biggest mistakes are easy to identify. Did we just make ... Read More Prezi: What is Public Opinion? Lessons From 4 Mistakes
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Prezi – Collective Action in a Digital Era
6 February 2017
Author: Philip Howard
Here is my Prezi on “Collective Action in a Digital Era“. Note: This post was originally published on Phil Howard's blog on 6 February ... Read More Prezi – Collective Action in a Digital Era
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Social Media, Civic Engagement, and the Slactivism Hypothesis: Lessons from Mexico’s “El Bronco
14 January 2017
Author: Philip Howard
Does social media use have a positive or negative impact on civic engagement? The cynical “slacktivism hypothesis” holds that if citizens use social media ... Read More Social Media, Civic Engagement, and the Slactivism Hypothesis: Lessons from Mexico’s “El Bronco
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Reuters: Facebook and Twitter’s real sin goes beyond spreading fake news
3 January 2017
Author: Philip Howard
(This originally appeared as Facebook and Twitter’s real sin goes beyond spreading fake news.) Social media companies are taking heat for influencing the outcomes ... Read More Reuters: Facebook and Twitter’s real sin goes beyond spreading fake news
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Bots and Automation over Twitter during the U.S. Election
17 November 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Bots are social media accounts that automate interaction with other users, and political bots have been particularly active on public policy issues, political crises, ... Read More Bots and Automation over Twitter during the U.S. Election
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Is Social Media Killing Democracy?
15 November 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Donald Trump in Reno, Nevada, by Darron Birgenheier (Flickr). This is the big year for computational propaganda — using immense data sets to manipulate public opinion ... Read More Is Social Media Killing Democracy?
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Bots and Automation over Twitter during the Third U.S. Presidential Debate
31 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Bots are social media accounts that automate interaction with other users, and political bots have been particularly active on public policy issues, political crises, ... Read More Bots and Automation over Twitter during the Third U.S. Presidential Debate
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Review in Journal of Democracy
30 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
This essay appeared originally in July issue of the Journal of Democracy and is by Daniel O’Maley. What does the Internet mean for political systems, ... Read More Review in Journal of Democracy
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Cracking the Stealth Political Influence of Bots
30 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
The project’s research was covered on PBS. Among the millions of real people tweeting about the presidential race, there are also a lot accounts ... Read More Cracking the Stealth Political Influence of Bots
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Pro-Clinton Bots ‘Fought Back but Outnumbered in Second Debate’
27 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
The project’s research into the 2016 US election was covered in the BBC. Web robots dedicated to posting pro-Hillary Clinton tweets appear to have ... Read More Pro-Clinton Bots ‘Fought Back but Outnumbered in Second Debate’
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As Artificial Intelligence Evolves, So Does Its Criminal Potential
25 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
The project’s research was covered in The New York Times. This can already be seen in efforts by state governments and political campaigns ... Read More As Artificial Intelligence Evolves, So Does Its Criminal Potential
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Partisan Twitter bots distorting U.S. presidential candidates’ popularity
23 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
The project’s research on the 2016 US election was featured in the CBC. What sort of volume is out there? It’s — pardon the ... Read More Partisan Twitter bots distorting U.S. presidential candidates’ popularity
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Digital Mudslingers (in German)
23 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
The project’s research into the 2016 US election was covered in Der Speigel. Automatische Bots verzerren politische Diskussionen in sozialen Netzwerken und können Wahlen ... Read More Digital Mudslingers (in German)
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Bot Tweets Influencing U.S. Election
23 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
The project’s research was covered in this CBC news story on the US election. Automated accounts are sending out tweets that could amplify and ... Read More Bot Tweets Influencing U.S. Election
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One in four debate tweets comes from a bot. Here’s how to spot them.
21 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
The project’s research into the US presidential election was featured in the Washington Post. Philip Howard has a fancy name for partisan election bots. ... Read More One in four debate tweets comes from a bot. Here’s how to spot them.
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Donald Trump support during presidential debate was inflated by bots, professor says
20 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
The project’s work into the 2016 US election was covered in the Independent. Many of the Twitter users supporting Donald Trump after the presidential ... Read More Donald Trump support during presidential debate was inflated by bots, professor says
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A third of pro-Trump tweets are generated by bots
20 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
The project’s work into the 2016 US election was covered by CNN. University researchers who track political activity on Twitter have found that traffic ... Read More A third of pro-Trump tweets are generated by bots
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Bots and Automation over Twitter during the Second U.S. Presidential Debate
19 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Bots are social media accounts that automate interaction with other users, and political bots have been particularly active on public policy issues, political crises, ... Read More Bots and Automation over Twitter during the Second U.S. Presidential Debate
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Trump’s Twitter debate lead was ‘swelled by bots’
19 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
The project’s research into the US election and presidential debates was covered in the BBC. More than four times as many tweets were made ... Read More Trump’s Twitter debate lead was ‘swelled by bots’
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Donald Trump Twitter Bot Announces Candidacy For President
18 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
The project’s research into the 2016 US election was covered in Newsweek. Donald Trump’s use of fourth grade-level language may be a powerful rhetorical ... Read More Donald Trump Twitter Bot Announces Candidacy For President
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A Twitter Bot Imitates Donald Trump in order to Attack him Better (Un « bot » Twitter imite Donald Trump pour mieux le dénoncer)
18 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
The project’s research into the 2016 US Election was featured in Le Monde. Mais Donald Trump sait lui aussi tirer profit des bots. Le chercheur d’Oxford ... Read More A Twitter Bot Imitates Donald Trump in order to Attack him Better (Un « bot » Twitter imite Donald Trump pour mieux le dénoncer)
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Bots and Automation over Twitter during the First U.S. Presidential Debate
18 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Bots are social media accounts that automate interaction with other users, and political bots have been particularly active on public policy issues, political crises, ... Read More Bots and Automation over Twitter during the First U.S. Presidential Debate
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IJOC: Automation, Big Data and Politics: A Research Review
15 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
We review the great variety of critical scholarship on algorithms, automation, and big data in areas of contemporary life both to document where there ... Read More IJOC: Automation, Big Data and Politics: A Research Review
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When Bots Tweet: Toward a Normative Framework for Bots on Social Networking Sites
15 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Political actors are using algorithms and automation to sway public opinion, notably through the use of “bot” accounts on social networking sites. This article ... Read More When Bots Tweet: Toward a Normative Framework for Bots on Social Networking Sites
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Growing Bot Security: An Ecological View of Bot Agency
15 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Political actors are now deploying software programs called social bots that use social networking services such as Facebook or Twitter to communicate with users ... Read More Growing Bot Security: An Ecological View of Bot Agency
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Auditing for Transparency in Content Personalization Systems
15 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Do we have a right to transparency when we use content personalization systems? Building on prior work in discrimination detection in data mining, I ... Read More Auditing for Transparency in Content Personalization Systems
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When the Algorithm Itself is a Racist: Diagnosing Ethical Harm in the Basic Components of Software
15 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Computer algorithms organize and select information across a wide range of applications and industries, from search results to social media. Abuses of power by ... Read More When the Algorithm Itself is a Racist: Diagnosing Ethical Harm in the Basic Components of Software
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Bots and Political Influence: A Sociotechnical Investigation of Social Network Capital
15 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
This study explains how bots interact with human users and influence conversational networks on Twitter. We analyze a high-stakes political environment, the UK general ... Read More Bots and Political Influence: A Sociotechnical Investigation of Social Network Capital
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Where Do Bots Come From? An Analysis of Bot Codes Shared on GitHub
15 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
An increasing amount of open source code is available on the Internet for quickly setting up and deploying bots on Twitter. This development of ... Read More Where Do Bots Come From? An Analysis of Bot Codes Shared on GitHub
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IJOC: Talking to Bots: Symbiotic Agency and the Case of Tay
15 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
In 2016, Microsoft launched Tay, an experimental artificial intelligence chat bot. Learning from interactions with Twitter users, Tay was shut down after one day ... Read More IJOC: Talking to Bots: Symbiotic Agency and the Case of Tay
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IJOC: Keeping Ottawa Honest—One Tweet at a Time? Politicians, Journalists, Wikipedians and Their Twitter Bots
14 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
WikiEdits bots are a class of Twitter bot that announce edits made by Wikipedia users editing under government IP addresses, with the goal of ... Read More IJOC: Keeping Ottawa Honest—One Tweet at a Time? Politicians, Journalists, Wikipedians and Their Twitter Bots
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IJOC: Political Communication, Computational Propaganda, and Autonomous Agents — Introduction
14 October 2016
Author: Philip Howard
The Internet certainly disrupted our understanding of what communication can be, who does it, how, and to what effect. What constitutes the Internet has ... Read More IJOC: Political Communication, Computational Propaganda, and Autonomous Agents — Introduction
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BBC Click: A look at bots influencing social media in the US election
25 September 2016
Author: Philip Howard
The project’s research was featured in a segment of the BBC show Click, which discussed the role of social media bots in modern political ... Read More BBC Click: A look at bots influencing social media in the US election
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A look at bots influencing social media in the US election, ways to take back control of your mobile, and the latest drone from GoPro
25 September 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Our research was featured in a segment of the BBC show Click, about the role of social media bots in modern political communication. Watch ... Read More A look at bots influencing social media in the US election, ways to take back control of your mobile, and the latest drone from GoPro
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Creativity and Critique: Gap Analysis of Support for Critical Research on Big Data
12 July 2016
Author: Philip Howard
We define big data as large amounts of information, collected about many people, over multiple devices. We define critical big data research as efforts ... Read More Creativity and Critique: Gap Analysis of Support for Critical Research on Big Data
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Watch out for the Brexit bots
24 June 2016
Author: Philip Howard
The project’s research into the Brexit referendum was covered in Quartz. As the Brexit vote draws closer, undecided voters will need to make up ... Read More Watch out for the Brexit bots
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Beware the Brexit bots: The Twitter spam out to swing your vote
23 June 2016
Author: Philip Howard
The project’s research into the Brexit referendum was covered in the New Scientist. Watch out for the ballot bots. As the UK’s referendum on ... Read More Beware the Brexit bots: The Twitter spam out to swing your vote
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These ‘bots’ could sway the Brexit vote
23 June 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Automated social media accounts are being used by both sides in the Brexit debate, a new report shows, with some experts fearing that a ... Read More These ‘bots’ could sway the Brexit vote
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Three Research Appointments in Computational Social Science
21 June 2016
Author: Philip Howard
**Update 23/09/2016 These posts have been filled, but we will likely advertise again, along similar themes, in a year. We are looking for ... Read More Three Research Appointments in Computational Social Science
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Positions Filled: Three Research Appointments in Computational Social Science
21 June 2016
Author: Philip Howard
**Update 23/09/2016 These posts have been filled, but we will likely advertise again, along similar themes, in a year. We are looking for three ... Read More Positions Filled: Three Research Appointments in Computational Social Science
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Bots, #StrongerIn, and #Brexit: Computational Propaganda during the UK-EU Referendum
21 June 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Bots are social media accounts that automate interaction with other users, and they are active on the StrongerIn-Brexit conversation happening over Twitter. These automated ... Read More Bots, #StrongerIn, and #Brexit: Computational Propaganda during the UK-EU Referendum
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A $1 Million Fight Against Hillary Clinton’s Online Trolls
1 June 2016
Author: Philip Howard
The project’s research into the 2016 US election was covered in the Atlantic. Misinformation can easily take hold online, and spread quickly in the ... Read More A $1 Million Fight Against Hillary Clinton’s Online Trolls
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How Twitter Bots Could Sway the Outcome of the Presidential Election
23 May 2016
Author: Philip Howard
In the midst of the most unprecedented election season in recent history, questioning the political power of technology is now more important than ever. ... Read More How Twitter Bots Could Sway the Outcome of the Presidential Election
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Politics, Propaganda, and Bots–The Changing Nature of Cyber Warfare
19 May 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Sam Woolley was a member of a panel at the News Impact Summit on the theme, “Trolls, Corruption, Falsehood: Reporting ‘Truth’ in the Digital Age”. ... Read More Politics, Propaganda, and Bots–The Changing Nature of Cyber Warfare
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Video: Politics, Propaganda, and Bots–The Changing Nature of Cyber Warfare
19 May 2016
Author: Philip Howard
The News Impact Summit London on the theme, “Trolls, Corruption, Falsehood: Reporting ‘Truth’ in the Digital Age”. The event was held on Thursday 12 ... Read More Video: Politics, Propaganda, and Bots–The Changing Nature of Cyber Warfare
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Bots Unite to Automate the Presidential Election
16 May 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Phil Howard and Sam Woolley wrote an article on the 2016 US election for Wired Magazine. But as the power of bots grows, so ... Read More Bots Unite to Automate the Presidential Election
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The Impact of Social Media on Political Debate (in Dutch)
28 April 2016
Author: Philip Howard
The project’s research was featured in the Dutch Newspaper de Volskskrant. Sociale media en politiek activisme: even bracht het democratie 2.0 voort. Via de ... Read More The Impact of Social Media on Political Debate (in Dutch)
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These are the Droids You’re Looking For: Bots as a Tool For Journalism
4 April 2016
Author: Philip Howard
This originally appeared as “These are the Droids You’re Looking For: Bots as a Tool For Journalism” by Samuel Woolley and Phil Howard on ... Read More These are the Droids You’re Looking For: Bots as a Tool For Journalism
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Presentation at Yale Law School
2 April 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Project collaborators Phil Howard and Sam Woolley presented a coauthored paper, “Campaign Bots & The Law”, authored by Ryan Calo, Lisa Manheim, Sam Woolley ... Read More Presentation at Yale Law School
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Prezi: Campaign Bots & The Law
2 April 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Here is an interactive Prezi on our recent paper “Campaign Bots & The Law”, authored by Ryan Calo, Lisa Manheim, Sam Woolley and Phil ... Read More Prezi: Campaign Bots & The Law
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Presentations at SXSW 2016
1 April 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Project Researchers Samuel Woolley and Phil Howard presented twice at SXSW this year. There was a “Book Reading” of Pax Technica: The “internet of things” ... Read More Presentations at SXSW 2016
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Presentation at SXSW 2016
1 April 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Project Researchers Samuel Woolley and Phil Howard presented twice at SXSW this year. There was a “Book Reading” of Pax Technica: The “internet of things” ... Read More Presentation at SXSW 2016
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Sam Woolley Speaks at Princeton
1 April 2016
Author: Philip Howard
The project’s Sam Woolley presented some of the project’s research findings at Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology and Policy. The video is available ... Read More Sam Woolley Speaks at Princeton
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Video: Polbots at Princeton
1 April 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Polbots project manager Sam Woolley presented some of the project’s research findings at Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology and Policy. Note: ... Read More Video: Polbots at Princeton
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Automating Power: Social Bot Interference in Global Politics
1 April 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Over the last several years political actors worldwide have begun harnessing the digital power of social bots — software programs designed to mimic human ... Read More Automating Power: Social Bot Interference in Global Politics
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We’re in a Bot Gold Rush. Kik tells you how to strike it rich.
9 March 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Quinn Brenner was living a nightmare. Her mother passed away. She was rejected from drama school. Then, as she was leaving an audition, she ... Read More We’re in a Bot Gold Rush. Kik tells you how to strike it rich.
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Les bots informatiques : énigmes légales dans un avenir rempli de robots
2 March 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Selon Andrew Leonard, journaliste et auteur du livre Bots : The Origin of New Species, un bot est « un programme informatique autonome supposé ... Read More Les bots informatiques : énigmes légales dans un avenir rempli de robots
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Botifesto: How To Think About Bots
28 February 2016
Author: Philip Howard
This originally appeared as “How to Think About Bots” by Samuel Woolley, danah boyd, Meredith Broussard, Madeleine Elish, Lainna Fader, Tim Hwang, Alexis Lloyd, Gilad ... Read More Botifesto: How To Think About Bots
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The Good, Bad, and Ugly of the World of Bots, and the Journalistic Implications of Using Them
26 February 2016
Author: Philip Howard
The project’s research was covered by the Nieman Lab. Bot or not? Vice’s Motherboard has a piece up today — a “botifesto,” if you ... Read More The Good, Bad, and Ugly of the World of Bots, and the Journalistic Implications of Using Them
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Essays on Data & Society Points
23 February 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Sam Woolley curated a collection of Points/talking bots. “What is the Value of a Bot?” is a series of essays from a week-long workshop ... Read More Essays on Data & Society Points
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Curated Essays on Data & Society Points
23 February 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Sam Woolley curated a collection of essays from a week-long workshop at Data & Society. The workshop brought together a group of experts to get ... Read More Curated Essays on Data & Society Points
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Prezi: Confronting Political Bot Attacks – Guidelines for Civil Society Leaders
29 January 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Governments, militaries, and lone attackers increasingly use bots to attack civil society groups. This Prezi investigates how such groups should prepare and respond. ... Read More Prezi: Confronting Political Bot Attacks – Guidelines for Civil Society Leaders
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Prezi: Creating Lasting Relationships Among Computer and Social Scientists
29 January 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Here is an interactive Prezi about how the special collaborations within our project are going. We are tackling some important research questions, but doing ... Read More Prezi: Creating Lasting Relationships Among Computer and Social Scientists
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Prezi: About the Project
9 January 2016
Author: Philip Howard
Here is an interactive Prezi describing the goals, work plan and initial findings of the Computational Propaganda Research Project. Note: This post was originally published on ... Read More Prezi: About the Project
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Preconference Call for Papers: Algorithms, Automation and Politics
6 January 2016
Author: Philip Howard
The international Politicalbots.org team will be meeting in Fukuoka, Japan in June 2016. We invite other researchers who plan to come to the International ... Read More Preconference Call for Papers: Algorithms, Automation and Politics
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5 Countries That Use Bots to Spread Political Propaganda
16 December 2015
Author: Philip Howard
The project’s research was covered by Tech Insider. More recently, bots are being used by governments mimic social media users and manipulate public opinion. In ... Read More 5 Countries That Use Bots to Spread Political Propaganda
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Social Media, Revolution, and the Rise of the Political Bot
28 August 2015
Author: Philip Howard
Uprisings and protests worldwide, from the Arab Spring across North Africa and the Middle East to Euromaidan in the Ukraine, have made use of ... Read More Social Media, Revolution, and the Rise of the Political Bot
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Political Bots and the Manipulation of Public Opinion in Venezuela
28 August 2015
Author: Philip Howard
Social and political bots have a small but strategic role in Venezuelan political conversations. These automated scripts generate content through social media platforms and ... Read More Political Bots and the Manipulation of Public Opinion in Venezuela
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Prezi: Bots, Botnets and Political Culture
2 June 2015
Author: Philip Howard
This short Prezi from 2015 describes what bots are, and what impact they have on political campaigning. Note: This post was originally published on ... Read More Prezi: Bots, Botnets and Political Culture
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Pax Technica: How the Internet of Things May Set Us Free or Lock Us Up
9 January 2015
Author: Philip Howard
Should we fear or welcome the internet’s evolution? The “internet of things” is the rapidly growing network of everyday objects—eyeglasses, cars, thermostats—made smart with ... Read More Pax Technica: How the Internet of Things May Set Us Free or Lock Us Up
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Bad News Bots: How Civil Society Can Combat Automated Online Propaganda
14 December 2014
Author: Philip Howard
Sam Woolley and Phil Howard wrote an article for TechPresident on the political effects of bots. It’s no secret that governments and political actors ... Read More Bad News Bots: How Civil Society Can Combat Automated Online Propaganda
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Let’s Make Candidates Pledge Not to Use Bots
3 January 2014
Author: Philip Howard
Phil Howard wrote an article about bots and campaigns for Reuters. Bots — chunks of computer code that generate messages and replicate themselves — ... Read More Let’s Make Candidates Pledge Not to Use Bots
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Russia ‘meddled in all big social media’ around US election
17 December 2018 BBC News
Russia used every major social media platform to try to influence the 2016 US election, a report claims.
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Junk News Still Spreading on Facebook, Twitter, Despite Efforts
4 November 2018 Newsweek
In a press release on Thursday, the Oxford Internet Institute said the proportion of junk news in circulation on social media sites since the presidential election grew by five percent.
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‘Junk news’ still rising, study finds, as US midterms near
1 November 2018 Financial Times
Researchers see increase in deceptive or conspiratorial content on Twitter and Facebook
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The Cybersecurity 202: There is more phony political news on social media now than in 2016, report says
1 November 2018 The Washington Post
There’s even more phony or misleading political news circulating on social media than there was in 2016
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Russia now targeting elections in India, Brazil: Oxford expert tells US lawmakers
3 August 2018 Times of India
Russia may target elections in India and Brazil.
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Facebook fakers get better at covering tracks, security experts say
3 August 2018 Reuters
Creators of fake accounts and news pages on Facebook (FB.O) are learning from their past mistakes and making themselves harder to track and identify.
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Experts: Russian influence efforts constitute “informational warfare”, span beyond election
1 August 2018 CBS News
Experts were in agreement on Wednesday during the Senate Intelligence Committee's latest hearing into foreign actor's attempts to interfere in the U.S. election process.
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Once again, Facebook says meddlers trying to roil US with posts dividing Americans
31 July 2018 McClatchy DC Bureau
A new social-media influence campaign that Facebook divulged on Tuesday provides fresh evidence suggesting the Kremlin or others are seeking to magnify the anger felt by groups on the fringes of American society.
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Computational Propaganda: Bots, Targeting And The Future
12 February 2018 NPR
The December issue of the journal Big Data was dedicated to the problem of computational propaganda. In it, researchers Gillian Bolsover and Philip Howard, of the Oxford Internet Institute, define the dangers that need to be addressed.
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Dawn of the Techlash
12 February 2018 The Guardian
Once seen as saviours of democracy, tech giants are now viewed as threats to truth. But how did our faith in all things digital turn into an erosion of trust, particularly in the arena of information and politics?
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Study bashes Trumpites for promoting ‘junk’ news. But what’s that?
8 February 2018 The Washington Post
n three months leading up to President Trump’s first State of the Union address, the institute’s researchers combed through a heap of data on social-media networks, the better to understand who’s guilty of spreading bogus news out there in the world.
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Why the hysteria around the ‘fake news epidemic’ is a distraction
7 February 2018 The Guardian
Researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) found that “on Twitter, a network of Trump supporters shares the widest range of junk news and circulates more junk news than all other political audience groups combined”.
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How fares trust in journalism amid a sea of fake news?
9 July 2017 The Guardian
Three recent reports -- from Ofcom, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, and the Oxford Internet Institute -- provide some pointers.
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‘Bots used to bias online political chats’
21 June 2017 BBC News
If you've been chatting about politics on social media recently, there's a good chance you've been part of a conversation that was manipulated by bots, researchers say.
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Twitter and Facebook have become ‘vessels of propaganda and manipulation’
21 June 2017 Wired
A study from the Oxford Internet Institute warns that social networks have to do more to stymie the tide of fake news, which damages our democracies.
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Oxford profs tell Twitter, Facebook to take action against political bots
20 June 2017 The Register
The use of algorithms and bots to spread political propaganda is "one of the most powerful tools against democracy", top academics have warned.
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Facebook and Twitter are being used to manipulate public opinion — report
19 June 2017 The Guardian
Nine-country study finds widespread use of social media for promoting lies, misinformation and propaganda by governments and individuals.
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Junk news and democracy
1 June 2017 BBC News
Researchers at Oxford University have found that the quality of news available to British voters on Twitter is superior to that available to Americans ahead of the election of Donald Trump as president.
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How social media filter bubbles and algorithms influence the election
22 May 2017 The Guardian
With Facebook becoming a key electoral battleground, researchers are studying how automated accounts are used to alter political debate online.
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BBC News at Ten (Report on Political Bots)
18 May 2017 BBC News
Phil Howard and Sam Woolley discuss political bots and propaganda on BBC News at Ten.
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‘Bots’ spam FCC website over proposed net neutrality reversal
17 May 2017 BBC News
Bots appear to be spamming a US regulator's website over a proposed reversal of net neutrality rules; Phil Howard comments.
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Unless The Government Acts Soon, Fake News Will Produce Deep Information Inequality
6 April 2017 The Huffington Post
Philip Howard writes: "My team and I collected data on junk news. Our conclusion: voters didn’t get the information they needed during the U.S. election."
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Fake news is shared as widely as the real thing
27 March 2017 Financial Times
Nearly a quarter of web content shared on Twitter by users in the battleground state of Michigan during the final days of last year's US election campaign were so-called fake news, according to a University of Oxford study.
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Twitter study shows pro-Trump tweets swamped Clinton’s in Michigan
26 March 2017 McClatchy DC Bureau
Voters in Michigan received nearly three times as many Twitter messages favoring Donald Trump in early November compared with tweets supporting Hillary Clinton, an OII research team has found.
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Harsh truths about fake news for Facebook, Google and Twitter
21 November 2016 The Financial Times
Digital platforms are urged to take responsibility and accept their role as publishers; Phil Howard comments.
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Fake News And Online Hate
18 November 2016 BBC World Service
Is the internet still a force for good as fake news and hate speech cause soul-searching for the likes of Facebook, Google, and Twitter? Presented by Rory Cellan-Jones, with Zoe Kleinman from BBC Online, and special guest Prof. Philip Howard of the OII.
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Automated Pro-Trump Bots Overwhelmed Pro-Clinton Messages, Researchers Say
17 November 2016 The New York Times
An automated army of pro-Donald J. Trump chatbots overwhelmed similar programs supporting Hillary Clinton five to one in the days leading up to the presidential election, according to a report published Thursday by researchers at Oxford University.
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Trump’s Twitter Bots Turned Out on Election Day
17 November 2016 Bloomberg
Throughout the campaign, automated propaganda accounts on Twitter leaned Republican, but that disparity increased in the race's final days.
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Is AI Cause For Fear Or Hope?
21 October 2016 BBC World Service
Phil Howard on TechTent (BBC World Service), discussing how "computational propaganda" is at play in the US election.
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Trump’s Twitter debate lead was ‘swelled by bots’
18 October 2016 BBC News
More than four times as many tweets were made by automated accounts in favour of Donald Trump around the first US presidential debate as by those backing Hillary Clinton, a study found.
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US election: experts fear Twitter bots could spread lies and sway voters
18 October 2016 iNews
A new study has found that a fair few pro-Trump tweets could have been sent by bots, which are automated accounts that can deliver news or even spread spam.
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Rise of the Brexit bots: Surge in automated Twitter accounts threaten to influence the outcome of Britain’s EU referendum
22 June 2016 Mail Online
The OII's Phil Howard warns that the upsurge in automatic Twitter accounts generating political statements before the EU Referendum could have a harmful effect, and that they can spread massive amounts of misinformation.