FSI scholars offer expert analysis and commentary on contemporary global issues.
FEATURED NEWS
Remembering Alexei Navalny, Russia's Unwavering Opposition Leader
Scholars from the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies share their memories and perspectives of Navalny, who died while incarcerated in a Russian penal colony.
Slovak President Optimistic about Democracy, but Warns about Russian Misinformation
During a visit to FSI, Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová reminded the Stanford community that the stakes of the war in Ukraine are high and will impact democracies far beyond Eastern and Central Europe.
Confronting the Climate Crisis: Kumi Naidoo's Call to Action
At the 2024 Payne Distinguished Lecture, Kumi Naidoo highlighted how creative storytelling blended with scientific evidence can move societies toward longer-term solutions for climate change, social injustice, and war.
New work in Nature Human Behaviour from SIO researchers, with other co-authors looks at how generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools have made it easy to create realistic disinformation that is hard to detect by humans and may undermine public trust.
New report finds an increasingly decentralized social media landscape offers users more choice, but poses technical challenges for addressing child exploitation and other online abuse.
A Stanford Internet Observatory investigation identified large networks of accounts, purportedly operated by minors, selling self-generated illicit sexual content. Platforms have updated safety measures based on the findings, but more work is needed.
Renee DiResta of the Stanford Internet Observatory writes about the growing body of research suggesting human behavior on social media is strikingly similar to collective behavior in nature. Published in Noema Magazine.
In an essay for Lawfare Blog, Samantha Bradshaw, Renee DiResta and Christopher Giles look at how state war propaganda in Russia is increasingly prevalent on platforms that offer minimal-moderation virality as their value proposition.
During a hearing titled “A Growing Threat: Foreign And Domestic Sources Of Disinformation," DiResta offered expert testimony on influence operations and the spread of narratives across social and media networks.
The report is the culmination of work by Aspen Digita's Commission on Information Disorder, with guidance from Stanford Cyber's Renee DiResta, Alex Stamos, Daphne Keller, Nate Persily and Herb Lin, and provides a framework for action with 15 recommendations to build trust & reduce harm.
The audio chat app “Clubhouse” went viral among Chinese-speaking audiences. Stanford Internet Observatory examines whether user data was protected, and why that matters.
Renée DiResta is leading the fight against online disinformation. On the World Class Podcast, she describes what it’s like to expose malign actors in the emerging world of ceaseless propaganda and conspiracy theories.
A new SIO-Lawfare debate series argues the questions: What is the impact of foreign influence operations targeting the United States? Is public conversation commensurate with the threat level?
In the June 2020 Sabin-Aspen Vaccine Science Policy Report, "Meeting the Challenge of Vaccination Hesitancy," Stanford Internet Observatory research manager Renée DiResta and First Draft lead strategist Claire Wardle write about how anti-vaccination movements' effective storytelling helps spread misinformation online.
A cluster of pro-Saif Gaddafi Facebook Pages suspended for inauthentic behavior worked to create the impression that Saif has broad support among Libyans, and tried to undermine the recognized government, including by pushing COVID-19 conspiracies.