Social & Cultural Studies

A new analysis by UC Berkeley School of Information Ph.D. student Dan Hickey has found that weekly rates of hate speech on the social media platform X rose about 50% in the months after its purchase in October 2022 by Elon Musk, and that the number of bots and bot-like accounts did not decrease, despite Musk’s earlier pledge to reduce bot activity.

Even in the face of overwhelming evidence, false narratives can be incredibly sticky. Many people insist that the earth is flat, that childhood vaccines cause autism, or that climate change is a hoax, despite ample scientific evidence to the contrary. “Stories are very powerful,” said Timothy Tangherlini, a UC Berkeley professor in the Department of Scandinavian and the School of Information. “We’re much more comfortable with hearing stories that confirm our beliefs than ones that challenge them.”

A new study led by Professor David Bamman used facial recognition technology to track the amount of time actors appear on screen in more than 2,300 films.

Led by Professor John Chuang, Info 290: Climate, People, and Informatics seeks to explore the burgeoning field of climate informatics and equip students with the necessary language and contextual knowledge to contribute. 

Kevin Lustig and Ando Shah have been awarded the 2022–23 Quigley/Heffernan Family Environmental Fellowship.

Apparently, the people has spoken, and they want former President Donald Trump back on Twitter. However, Hany Farid believes that this would be the worst time for him to return to the social media platform. 

Alex Hanna discusses how social media impacts our democracy; how Twitter has affected past U.S. elections; and how Musk’s most recent changes to the platform could affect the flow of disinformation moving forward.