Cracking the Code on the Spread of Mis-and-Disinformation on Social Media

The Random Sample

For many of us, we rely on social media to get a lot of the information we’re interested in. But how does all that information move across these different platforms? It’s a question that researchers in the data and mathematical sciences at The University of Adelaide have been studying for years. Included in that research is the study of how misinformation and disinformation spreads on social media. Our guests for this episode are Professor Lewis Mitchell, Director of the Adelaide Data Science Centre, and Bridget Smart, who recently completed a Masters at The University of Adelaide. As part of her research, she worked to understand and model the processes behind malicious activity in our online social networks. They also talk about some of their latest research, which includes the spread of disinformation in the Russia-Ukraine war. Plus, why the mathematical and data sciences are so important in examining this problem, and how recent changes to social media, specifically, Twitter, could change that research. Our host is Rose Crocker, an applied mathematician with the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

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