Advancing knowledge and practice wherever people interact with information and technology

University of California, Berkeley, School of Information professor Coye Cheshire, along with colleagues at the UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare and UC San Francisco, recently won a $300K grant from the UC Noyce Initiative on computational precision health to study the extent of the problem, and what might be done to combat it. Their project, “Computational Approaches for Understanding and Intervening Upon Misinformation About Contraception and Abortion on Social Media,” is a two-part study. 

The U.S. is enveloped in a storm of digital disinformation so powerful that it’s putting lives, and democracy, at risk. Policymakers and many others blame Facebook, the former Twitter, TikTok and other social media, but that’s too simple, says UC Berkeley computer scientist Hany Farid.

Yes, Farid says, social media deserve some blame — they’re now the main news source for most Americans. But, he argues, many politicians today lie with impunity, especially on the right. And all of us who rely on partisan news shows and social media for our understanding of the world are responsible, too.