Docket+ 20 January

Hi! I'm Victoria and welcome to DisinfoDocket. Docket+ is a weekly roundup of the latest influence operations-related academic research, events and job opportunities.

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Highlights

1. Covert political campaigning: Mapping the scope, scale, and cost of cross-platform election influence operations (SAGE, 12 January)
2. Explaining Twitter’s inability to reduce vaccine misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic (Research Square, 13 January)
3. Meta’s Dangerous New Direction Will Enable Atrocity by Design (CSOH, 8 January)
4. Politically biased observers attempted to legitimize fraudulent elections in Georgia (DFRLab, 13 January)
5. 2025 Southern California Wildfire Misinformation Tracker (News Guard, January)
6. CETaS Outlook: Emerging Technology Trends to Watch in 2025 (CETaS, 9 January)
7. Finding fake followers (Bluesky edition) (Conspirator Norteño, 18 January)

1. Academia & Research

1.1 Platforms & Technology

1. Engineering patterns for Trust and Safety on social media platforms: A case study of Mastodon and Diaspora (Science Direct, 15 January)
2. How Not to Decide TikTok: U.S. press freedom hangs in the balance (Just Security, 13 January)
3. The Techlash Will Not Disappear Under Trump 2.0 (Tech Policy Press, 15 January)
4. Beyond Moderation: Challenging Big Tech’s Power in a Troubled Time for Democracy (Tech Policy Press, 15 January)

Meta

1. Introducing New Ways to Chat on WhatsApp (Meta, 14 January)
2. To Evaluate Meta’s Shift, Focus on the Product Changes, Not the Moderation (Tech Policy Press, 15 January)
3. The ethical and practical flaws in Meta's policy overhaul (Everything in Moderation, 13 January)
4. Don’t Expect Mark Zuckerberg to Save Social Media (Columbia University, 11 January)

Availability and spread of information

1. Scholarly Podcasting for Research Dissemination: A Scoping Review (SAGE, 16 January)