Russia has been employing a multi-level strategy of spreading digital propaganda and disinformation to legitimize its aggression against Ukraine. Given their unique international position, the role of Russian diplomats in this propaganda system has been of particular interest. This study examines the changes in Russia's digital diplomatic practices following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 by analyzing Russian diplomats' communication on Twitter. The study employs a two-fold analytical approach combining network and frame analysis to investigate the communication's content and structure comprehensively. Given the context-specific nature of digital diplomacy, the study concentrates on a sample of all active Twitter accounts of Russian embassies and consulates located in Germany, analyzing their tweets from three critical time periods: three months before the invasion (23.11.2021-23.02.2022), three months after the invasion (24.02.2022-24.05.2022), and three months before the anniversary of the full-scale war (24.11.2022-24.02.2023). The study identifies several practices utilized by diplomatic accounts that involve distorting, omitting, and misdirecting narratives, evident in both the content and the specific strategies and linking practices employed by the accounts in the sample. Furthermore, the study reveals significant changes in the networks of these accounts after the full-scale invasion. Against this backdrop, the study discusses the role of Twiplomacy in an armed conflict and the conceptual distinction between diplomacy and propaganda, providing novel insights into the involvement of state officials in propaganda dissemination and emphasizing the significance of authoritarian regimes' networks on Twitter.

The rise of blockchain and cryptocurrencies come with the promise of decentralizing transactions and disrupting the power of market intermediaries. Despite these promises, scholars argue that the risks associated with cryptocurrencies are still unclear.

Some preliminary works investigate the manipulative role played by the circulation of problematic content on platforms such as Reddit, Twitter, Discord, or Telegram. Nonetheless, the research still lacks a clear and comprehensive picture of how widespread the phenomenon is across the whole ecosystem. Despite its prominence, Facebook is understudied in this context. To fill this gap, this work focuses on the role played by Meta’s main platform, as a venue employed to reach a wide audience prone to potential manipulative practices or scams related to cryptocurrencies. As part of a broader investigation on coordinated disinformation in Africa, we have come across a cluster of Facebook groups sharing content related to cryptocurrencies. The links shared by these networks revealed a very prolific cluster of 152 groups dedicated to Airdrop and Bounty initiatives for new cryptocurrencies. We collected a list of recent posts created by these groups between November 2021 and January 2022 (378,513 URLs). A preliminary analysis of these URLs pointed out an overwhelming presence of links to Telegram (47%) that highlights the central role played by this platform in this specific ecosystem. This paper explores the overlap between the cryptocurrency community and social media, analyzing how crypto-related projects are disseminated as a new type of problematic content on Facebook and Telegram.

The U.S. defamation trial between celebrities Johnny Depp and Amber Heard has fueled unprecedented viral online misogyny due to media spotlighting, as well as strategic disinformation leveraged by the Depp team. As the first high-profile defamation case of its kind to be livestreamed on social media—a decision Professor Michelle Dauber of Stanford Law called “the single worst decision I can think of in the context of intimate partner violence and sexual violence in recent history" (Maddaus, 2022)–-it resulted in widespread viewership and active commentary. Our work uses the Depp v. Heard defamation trial as a case study to examine the impacts of gendered mis- and disinformation using a trauma-informed approach. This study is not interested in the facticity of details of the case itself, but seeks to center the experiences of survivors of sexual violence, intimate partner violence, and domestic violence (SV/IPV/DV) and those who work with them. Our interview study asks: (1) What online claims or narratives related to gender and/or SV/IPV/DV were most prominent or impactful for survivors and those who work with them?; (2) How have these narratives impacted survivors’ emotional, psychological, and physical well-being, and/or their access to resources?; (3) What interventions might be appropriate to counter harms and/or provide support for survivors as similar cases emerge? We intend for this project to be one of the first of many in centering women and gender/sexual minority individuals’ lived experiences in the context of mis-/disinformation about and perpetuated in relation to high-profile defamation cases.

In recent years, major technology companies have taken much of the public blame for this reality, given their algorithms facilitate the sharing of—and sometimes even promote—falsehoods. This, however, misses a key reality; social media, search engines, and messaging services are not fully automated technologies. Rather, they are heteromated: they are reliant on participatory humans to serve their economic goals. Focusing on users, and on the sharing, rather than the origination, of disinformation, we connect theories of heteromation with those surrounding the Human Infrastructure of Misinformation (HIM) with the express purpose of contributing to a more holistic understanding of how and why misinformation is so prevalent online.