Social Networks and Disinformation with Renée DiResta (S02 E03)

Send us Fan Mail **SYNOPSIS** Renée DiResta, associate research professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy and author of Invisible Rulers, joins Rachel and Dan to talk about how influencers, algorithms and crowds work together to decide what feels real and true online. She explains how monetization programs reward provocation, how opaque curation fuels stories of shadow banning, and how her MySky project gives users more control over their own feeds and more insight into how they work. Rachel describes the lens of Show Me the Money, and Dan introduces the lens of Authenticity. **NOTE: GreenEarth is now MySky** Throughout the episode Renée refers to her user-adjustable social media feed project with Jonathan Stray as "GreenEarth". Since the interview was recorded, they changed the project name to MySky. **INTERVIEW WITH RENÉE DIRESTA** - Renée DiResta - Renée's book: Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality - MySky (project with Jonathan Stray for bridging-based, user-adjustable feed for Bluesky) - “It’s not social media anymore, it’s parasocial media” (essay by danah boyd, cited by Renée) - Facebook “Trending Topics” controversy (the 2016 Gizmodo report on Facebook’s human curators) - For Expertise to Matter, Nonpartisan Institutions Need New Communications Strategies (Carnegie Endowment paper by Rachel Kleinfeld and Renée DiResta) **LENSES** **Show Me the Money** Systems are shaped by visible structures like navigation and taxonomy, and also by invisible ones, especially the incentive and monetization rules underneath them. Those rules decide what content gets made, surfaced and rewarded just as much as any content model does. - How do the system’s monetization rules or incentive structures act as an information model, shaping what content people see and how it flows? - What does the system count, and are people gaming it? If so, why? - Who benefits from the incentives in the system: the business, creators, sellers, advertisers or users? **Authenticity** Systems reward authenticity differently. Some expect participants to show up as their true selves, and others reward a curated or performed version of themselves. When trusted experts don’t offer authenticity, people go looking for it elsewhere, which creates space for voices that only perform it. - What does the system expect of participants when it comes to being their true selves? - Does the system reward honest self-representation, or does it reward a curated persona? - How does the system tie contributions to identity, and when is anonymity beneficial or harmful? \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\__ **Personnel** - Dan Brown, Host - Rachel Price, Host **Music** - Turtle Up Fool, by Elliot \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\__ Unchecked is a production of Curious Squid Curious Squid is a digital design consulting firm specializing in information architecture, user experience, and product design