Readings

The readings for this week are about misinformation:

• 13 Russians Indicted as Mueller Reveals Effort to Aid Trump Campaign

• How Russian Trolls Used Meme Warfare to Divide America

• Why Facebook is losing the war on hate speech in Myanmar

• How the "Knights of New" Became Fake News Pawns

Since Bill Theisen will be guest speaking on Tuesday, he requests you look at the following:

• Discrimination through optimization: How Facebook's ad delivery can lead to skewed outcomes (mirror: PDF)

• Edward Bernays

And trolling and anonymity:

• How an Online Mob Created a Playbook for a Culture War

• Trolls Are Winning the Internet, Technologists Say

• How dangerous is cyberbullying?

• Melania Trump Wants to End Online Bullying. Her Husband Doesn’t Help.

Optional: Misinformation

These articles discuss recent news regarding "Fake News":

• How WhatsApp Destroyed A Village

• Twitter begins emailing the 677,775 Americans who took Russian election bait

• The Alt-Right Are Savvy Internet Users. Stop Letting Them Surprise You

These articles consider the impact of "Fake News" on the 2016 Presidential Election:

• How Russia Helped Swing the Election for Trump

• The top 20 fake news stories outperformed real news at the end of the 2016 campaign

• How Teens In The Balkans Are Duping Trump Supporters With Fake News

These articles discuss Russia's role in spreading "Fake News":

• How Russian Facebook Ads Divided and Targeted US Voters Before the 2016 Election

• Russians Used Reddit and Tumblr to Troll the 2016 Election

• Russian troll factory paid US activists to help fund protests during election

These articles discuss the impact of the information wars occurring on the Internet:

• Hillary Clinton Was the First Casualty in the New Information Wars

• UW professor: The information war is real, and we’re losing it

• We desperately need a way to defend against online propaganda

These articles consider how technology companies curate their content:

• Facebook’s political ads policy is predictably a disaster

• Instagram Now Fact-Checks, but Who Will Do the Checking?

• Google and Facebook Failed Us

These articles discuss the idea of a echo chamber or filter bubble:

• The social media “echo chamber” is real

• Blame the Echo Chamber on Facebook. But Blame Yourself, Too

• The Filter Bubble Revisited

Optional: Trolling / Anonymity

These articles examine the problem of trolling:

• 545: If You Don't Have Anything Nice to Say, SAY IT IN ALL CAPS

• What happened when I confronted my cruellest troll

• The Future of Free Speech, Trolls, Anonymity and Fake News Online

These articles explore Gamergate:

• The Future Of The Culture Wars Is Here, And It's Gamergate

• "That life is over": Zoe Quinn looks beyond GamerGate

• GamerGate's Archvillain Is Really A Trolling Sketch Comedian

These articles consider the Reddit's approach to regulating trolling:

• Reddit troll ban helped cut hateful speech

• “Repugnant” online discussions are not illegal thoughtcrime, court rules

• Reddit cracks down on abuse as CEO apologizes for trolling the trolls

These articles consider the Twitter's approach to regulating trolling:

• A New Harassment Policy for Twitter

• The Existential Crisis of Public Life Online

• This researcher programmed bots to fight racism on Twitter. It worked.

These articles consider cyberbullying:

• Cyberbullying: teens and kids

• The shock and pain of cyber-bullying

• Cyberbullying in the workplace: 'I became paranoid'

These articles consider the First Lady's efforts in combating cyberbullying:

• What Melania Trump Doesn't Understand About Bullying

• Melania Trump Hosts Cyberbullying Event While Donald Is Busy On Twitter

• Parkland survivor tells FLOTUS: To combat cyberbullying, start with Trump Jr.

These articles consider the role of anonymity in trolling:

• Who Spewed That Abuse? Anonymous Yik Yak App Isn’t Telling

• Google Plus Finally Gives Up on Its Ineffective, Dangerous Real-Name Policy

• Changes to Facebook's "Real Names" Policy Still Don't Fix the Problem

Food for Thought

• Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?

Quiz

Once you have completed the readings, fill out the following quiz:

Note, you can view the initial quiz score after you submit your responses. If you get any answers wrong, you can go back and adjust your answers as necessary. After the deadline has passed, any wrong answers will be given partial credit.