Strauss Distinguished Scholar Samuel Woolley recently published his book Manufacturing Consensus: Propaganda in the Era of Automation & Anonymity which analyzes social media and emerging tech to show how propaganda has infiltrated modern society. Woolley shows how social media, with its anonymity and capacity for automation, allows a wide variety of groups to build the illusion of popularity through computational tools (such as bots) and human-driven efforts (such as sockpuppets—real people assuming false identities online—and partisan influencers). Woolley also offers advice to policy makers, technologists, and more, on how to combat these propaganda campaign efforts.
Woolley will join fellow UT Austin Professor Josephine Lukito on Monday, February 6, at 7pm at BookPeople to discuss and sign books. For more information on the event, visit BookPeople’s website.
Samuel Woolley, Assistant professor of journalism and Distinguished Scholar at the Strauss Center for International Security and Law, recently commented on an article in ABC News entitled “Anonymous users are dominating right-wing discussions online. They also spread false information.” The article addresses political dialogue ahead of the presidential information in November. “With these types of accounts, there’s an allure of...
Samuel Woolley, Strauss Center Distinguished Scholar and Assistant Professor in the Schools of Journalism and Information, made several comments for an article titled "BBC tries to understand politics by creating fake Americans" at Spectrum News. A BBC news reporter created fake social media accounts of 5 Americans to track and better understand how information, and particularly disinformation, spreads as well as...
Samuel Woolley, Strauss Center Distinguished Scholar and Assistant Professor in the Schools of Journalism and Information made several comments for an article titled “Why You Need To Think Carefully When You Post About Russia And Ukraine On Social Media” at Grazia. When a humanitarian crisis like Russia’s attack on Ukraine occurs, many people’s first reaction is to search for information and provide...