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.