Tobia Spampatti, PhD

OFFS. When Iran tried to interefere in 2020, researchers caught them and called them out. Then the Benz-Weiss-Taibbi-Musk-Jordan-Trump axis labeled those researchers "censors" ... and set about defunding them and dismantling their organizations.

The real story is that foreign govts try to "interfere" all the time. In 2020 and 2024 we had mechanisms to catch them, call them out, & mitigate damage. Now, those mechanims are gone & the Trump admin would prefer to exploit "foreign interference" to justify a federal take-over of elections.

The essay claims users can eliminate risk from LLMs as long as they exercise (content-based) epistemic vigilance + active participation.

But this argument misses half the story of epistemic vigilance - arguably the more important half. Let's take a look at source-based epistemic vigilance.

4/

Per protocol analysis strikes again!

Folks, if you randomize but then don‘t analyze some of the people who got randomized (maybe because they didn’t adhere to instructions, maybe because they dropped out), randomization will no longer do all the heavy causal inference lifting.

This recent RCT of an "AI stethoscope" claims the technology "shows promise" for diagnosing cardiovascular conditions.

It does not.

It is a textbook example of the risks of conducting unprincipled 'per protocol analyses'. Once again, peer review at a major medical journal has failed.

🧵 1/

📢 Reminder: Applications are still open for Summer Institute 2026 @mpib-berlin.bsky.social (June 8–16)!

This year's theme focuses on AI and decision-making — a great opportunity for early-career researchers in this space.

⏰ Application deadline: March 16

🔗 www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/research/res...

Many are appropriately outraged by Altman’s comments here implying that raising a human child is akin to “training” an AI model.

This is part of a broader pattern where AI industry leaders use language that collapses the boundary between human and machine.

🧵/

So, just to recap, we have two random DOGE bros with basically no knowledge or experience in the humanities (and at least one of whom is a college dropout), who just went around terminating grants that had gone through a full grant application process by feeding in a list of culture war grievance terms, selecting out the grant titles based on the appearance of seemingly “woke” words, then asking ChatGPT “yo, tell me this is DEI” and then sending termination emails the next day from a private server and forging the director’s signature. This is what “government efficiency” looks like in practice: two guys with zero relevant experience, a keyword list built on culture war grievances, and a chatbot confidently spitting out 120-character verdicts on federal grants that went through actual review processes. The experts who might have explained what these grants actually do? Locked out. The director whose signature appeared on termination letters? Couldn’t tell you which grants got cut or w

Ever wondered how your grant got cancelled? No we know. Some college dropout asked ChatGPT "is it DEI/woke"?

www.techdirt.com/202...

Call for Proposals: Data Collection for Replication+Novel Political Science Survey Experiments Alexander Coppock and Mary McGrath January 27, 2026 We invite proposals for a survey experiment replication+novel design competition. Se- lected replication+novel design survey experiments will be conducted on large samples of American respondents, quota sampled to match U.S. Census margins and filtered for quality and attention by the survey sample provider Rep Data (repdata.com). Each proposal consists of two parts: (1) a replication study of an existing, previously published survey experiment, and (2) a novel experimental design on a topic of the authors’ choosing. The replication studies and reanalyses of the existing studies will be combined into a meta-paper to be co-authored by all authors of accepted proposals along with the princi- pal investigators (Coppock and McGrath). As a condition for acceptance, authors commit to sharing the data and producing a write-up of the findings from their novel design for submission to a scholarly journal, and public posting of a working paper pre-publication.

🎺 Call for proposals 🎺

1️⃣ replicate an existing experiment
2️⃣ run a novel experiment

on repdata.com

3️⃣ coauthor with Mary McGrath and me to meta-analyze the replications and existing studies
4️⃣ publish your study

details: alexandercoppock.com/replication_...
applications open Feb 1

please repost!

Submit a Question to The Wayfinder's "Dear Nina" Column Hi! You've made it to the submission page for The Wayfinder's monthly advice column, "Dear Nina" (think "Dear Abby" for disinformation and digital harms). Got a question about a social platform? Wonde...

This is your periodic reminder that I have a "Dear Nina" advice column where you can ask me your disinfo/digital harms questions.

Seeing your crazy uncle at a wedding?
Yoga friend fall down a conspiracy funnel?
Want to scrub your info from the internet?

I'm your gal 💁🏻‍♀️

forms.gle/P6WbpFaqMrSv...

You can't... repeal... a scientific finding. At that point it's just called lying about it.

I served as a consultant for the United Nations Development Programme on AIs consequences for development, the report is here and spends considerable time evaluating the claim that ai will necessarily erode labor demand.

hdr.undp.org/content/huma...

Perhaps today is the day we should all learn the term “agnotology” and think about the many mechanisms of ignorance and what/whom it serves.

🌎 If we seek 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 #𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, we must strengthen public resilience to 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 #𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

👉 That's why we're pleased to share the #ClimateFactsMatter campaign by @euclimateaction.bsky.social, incl. a digital handbook co-created w/ experts from EDMO + EDMO Hubs: edmo.eu/edmo-news/cl...

This is not a drill, we need to be ready to counter and we're not.

Internet platforms must be held accountable for their actions Multiple independent research institutions have recently and repeatedly sounded the alarm that democracy is in retreat worldwide. In the United States, a British academic has painstakingly recorded mo...

The above link mangled itself through some authentication thing in my browser. Correct link is www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

There have been increasingly shrill accusations against the EU over its digital legislation, based on accusations of "censorship" by defenders of "free speech" -- including, so it appears, the right to peddle an AI app that seemingly produces child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
1/9

most importantly, in my view, we really have to understand that trump, jordan, tech bro, fellow-traveler lies about european regs are principally about (1) preserving space for propaganda/disinfo by them & far right euro allies & (2) avoiding *any* accountability or oversight.

📢 Postdoc opportunity | Consumer Behaviour & Sustainability (CBS)

🔬 The role
Experimental consumer research
Focus on sustainable food consumption, policy, & food environments

📅 Start: April 2026 (flexible)
⏳ Duration: 29 months (extendable)
🗓 Deadline: 16 Feb 2026

Feel free to share with anyone 🌱

Challenges and Solutions to Prevent Disinformation in Environmental Policy Making The event aims to raise awareness about the impact of disinformation on environmental policy and public understanding, share concrete examples of disinformation tactics across the triple planetary cri...

If you are in the Geneva area, please join us on Jan 30th for a discussion about climate disinformation that spans governments, UN, NGOs and academia. Honored to have been invited to represent the science of misinformation among other important perspectives.

Help spread the word!
tiny.cc/GEN30Jan26

Challenges and Solutions to Prevent Disinformation in Environmental Policy Making The event aims to raise awareness about the impact of disinformation on environmental policy and public understanding, share concrete examples of disinformation tactics across the triple planetary cri...

If you are in the Geneva area, please join us on Jan 30th for a discussion about climate disinformation that spans governments, UN, NGOs and academia. Honored to have been invited to represent the science of misinformation among other important perspectives.

Help spread the word!
tiny.cc/GEN30Jan26

🚨 BREAKING 🚨
The UK Govt has quietly published - without announcement - the Joint Intelligence Committee/DEFRA report it suppressed last October. They tried to sneak it out in the midst of crisis. Read and share:

“Global Biodiversity Loss, Ecosystem Collapse & National Security.”
(link below)

🎺 On May 21/22 @lespin.bsky.social , @doriantsolak.bsky.social, and I host “Democracy at Risk? Societal Challenges, Data, and Research Infrastructures in the Age of CSS” in Vienna

Keynotes: @lauraknelson.bsky.social and @lorenzspreen.bsky.social

computational-social-science.org/workshops/20...

Macron:

"Faced with the brutalisation of the world, France and Europe must defend an effective multilateralism, because it serves our interests and those of all who refuse to submit to the rule of force"

Kai's write up and @cailinmeister.bsky.social's thread do a great job of summarizing our results. Rather than cover them a third time, I thought I'd clarify some misconceptions over our piece and COIS more broadly that keep cropping up scattered across replies. 🧵🧪

Industry Influence in High-Profile Social Media Research To what extent is social media research independent from industry influence? Leveraging openly available data, we show that half of the research published in top journals has disclosable ties to indus...

Who is the Big Tobacco of today?
In new work, we find 50% of high profile social media papers are connected to big tech through funding, collaboration and employment. Most connections aren't disclosed. @jbakcoleman.bsky.social @jevinwest.bsky.social @carlbergstrom.com 1
arxiv.org/abs/2601.11507

Opinion | One Year of Trump. The Time to Act Is Now, While We Still Can.

The way to avoid losing freedom is to use it, says Masha Gessen: “to claim all the room there still is for speaking, writing, publishing, protesting, voting. It’s what the people of Minnesota appear to be doing, and it’s something each of us needs to do — right now, while we still can.”
#giftlink

One year post-doc at University of Exeter for my project on counter-narratives about climate change, urban planning, and health policy in the southwest UK. Feel free to email me directly with any questions but application must be via link:

jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...

US tech giants allying with European far-right to strip back EU rules Amid rising EU-US tensions, a new report has accused Big Tech of courting far-right MEPs to weaken the EU's regulatory power on AI and data.

Meta, Microsoft and Google are all coordinating with the European far right in order to dismantle EU digital laws designed to protect citizens, according to a new report.

The recent 🇺🇸NSS strategy outlined regime change plans to support the European far right.

A public-private partnership.

PHD AND POSTDOC POSITIONS AT THE DIGITAL DEMOCRACY CENTRE

Topic: AI and the News Ecosystem

See thread by project PI @claesdevreese.bsky.social below.

Please help circulate and/or apply.

#polcomm #academia