July 08, 2024

Exposing Sources and Impacts of Election Disinformation Campaigns

42 minutes

Legendary tech journalist John Markoff (CASBS fellow, 2017-18) chats with 2023-24 CASBS fellow Young Mie Kim on her groundbreaking efforts to identify how shadowy groups use algorithms and targeted disinformation campaigns during presidential election cycles; measure their real-world distorting effects on voter mobilization or suppression; and illuminate our understanding of resulting political inequalities and their implications for American democracy.

YOUNG MIE KIM: CASBS bio | Univ. of Wisconsin faculty page | "The Disinformation Detective" (On Wisconsin magazine) |

Kim leads Project DATA (Digital Ad Tracking & Analysis) at UW. | Project DATA on X |

Kim is lead author of the article "The Stealth Media? Groups and Targets Behind Divisive Issue Campaigns on Facebook," Political Communication, v35 n4 (2018). The article won the Kaid-Sanders Award for the Best Political Communication Article of the Year by the International Communication Association.

Coverage of findings: The New York Times here and here | Wired |

Kim's testimony delivered to the Federal Election Commission |

Kim is a founding member of the International Panel on the Information Environment. Coverage of IPIE in The New York Times |

Kim among the authors of "The effects of Facebook and Instagram on the 2020 election: A deactivation experiment," Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, v121 n2 (2024) |

Kim a coauthor of several articles appearing in a special issue of Science on Social Media and Elections (2023) |

At the beginning of the episode, Kim discusses the influence of Phil Converse. Converse was a CASBS fellow in 1979-80 and later served as CASBS director (1989-94). Learn more about Converse's work.

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Read John Markoff's latest book, Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand (Penguin Random House, 2022)