We’re partnering with George Washington University’s Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics (IDDP) to host The Capital Coup One Year Later: How Research Can Assess and Counter Threats to Democracy, a two-day conference exploring key questions surrounding January 6, 2021. The event will span two half-days on January 6 and 7, 2022 with both in-person and virtual participation.
The January 6 half-day, hosted from GWU, features a keynote talk from Emily Van Duyn on the theme of “How does our research help us understand what happened on January 6?”, followed by two panel discussions. The first panel will explore theories and methods that help to make sense of this moment in American history, while the second will consider new research questions that help explain the attacks.
The January 7 half-day, hosted at UNC, features keynote talks at UNC from Khadijah White and Francesca Tripodi on the theme of “How should researchers respond to January 6? How should our work change in light of these events?“, followed by two panels to discuss normative commitments in research and public engagement.
While the keynote talks will be livestreamed for a public audience, the panel discussions are closed to the research community. Confirmed panelists include researchers from the host centers as well as the University of Washington, New York University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Texas at Austin.
If you’re a researcher in this space and would like to request an invitation to the closed panel conversations, contact us at citap@unc.edu.
Facebook, Google, and the myth of neutrality in political advertising
In “Commercial Companies in Party Networks: Digital Advertising Firms in US Elections from 2006-2016,” Bridget Barrett reveals how central Facebook and Google are in the world of digital political advertising – and they’re hardly neutral content platforms. Her research uses Federal Election Commission data to show just how central these two commercial platforms are to the network of political campaigns and consultancies that use digital advertising.
As policy debates heat up heading into the 2022 midterms, this paper offers the first direct documentation of how much sway these firms have over political discourse. Facebook and Google are centrally positioned to shape the paid political messages that the public receive and determine who receives them.
These findings raise questions about how politically neutral these companies’ digital advertising policies and products really are. It argues that researchers and the press cannot treat these companies as mere distribution platforms. In the world of political advertising, Google and Facebook function more like members of political parties whose decisions are likely to have far-reaching consequences.
Recent publications and appearances
"Misogynistic speech is so much of a daily part of life that women just learn to accept it to be on the platform." Alice Marwick comments on online harassment and the challenges of identifying abuse on platforms.
“Politicians should not be allowed to have a one-way dialogue with the American public. One-way political communication is a very slippery slope to a closed political process — one that trades real accountability for a process that appears transparent only because we can see the moving images on our screens.” Tressie McMillan Cottom meditates on scams and how political actors marshal power.
“All this requires leadership and a global outlook. Unlike in the terrible days of early last year, we have an early warning, vaccines, effective drugs, greater understanding of the disease and many painful lessons. It’s time to demonstrate that we learned them.” Zeynep Tufekci discusses the importance of a systemic approach in fighting the new Omicron variant.
“Omicron has demonstrated a propensity for superspreading, so places where vulnerable populations live together need to be on high alert.” Dr. Tufekci shows how complacency about Omicron can be deadly in nursing homes.
Rest of Web
🙋🏻♀️ Call for Participants: True Cost of Misinformation Workshop with the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy. Deadline to apply is December 15.
💼 The Social Science Research Council seeks applicants for the inaugural cohort of its Just Tech Fellowship, which mobilizes diverse, cross-sector cohorts of researchers and practitioners to create more just, equitable, and representative technological futures. Expression of Interest due January 2.
📕 We look forward to the upcoming release of Journalism and Jim Crow: White Supremacy and the Black Struggle for New America, now available for preorder. (Can’t wait? Catch co-author Kathy Forde’s recent talk at UNC).