Max Falkenberg
@maxfalken.bsky.social
Physicist. Computational Social Scientist. Interested in the structures of polarization.
Central European University & Institute for Sustainable Resources, UCL.
maxfalkenberg.com
Central European University & Institute for Sustainable Resources, UCL.
maxfalkenberg.com
Reposted by Max Falkenberg
Just occurred that the BBC is the most literal example of Conquest's third law in that it is actually run by a cabal of its enemies.
November 10, 2025 at 8:25 AM
Just occurred that the BBC is the most literal example of Conquest's third law in that it is actually run by a cabal of its enemies.
Reposted by Max Falkenberg
Firing a BBC director for *leftist* bias is like punishing a pig for taking a bath.
Tim Davie resigns as BBC director general after accusations of ‘serious and systemic’ bias in coverage
Tim Davie resigns as BBC director general after accusations of ‘serious and systemic’ bias in coverage
Davie tells staff departure was “my own decision” but it comes with the BBC preparing to apologise for the way it edited a Trump speech
Tim Davie, the BBC’s director general, and the head of BBC News have resigned after a former adviser to the corporation accused it of “serious and systemic” bias in its coverage of issues including Donald Trump, Gaza and trans rights.
In a shock move, Davie said his depature was his own, but comes with the BBC preparing to apologise for the way the broadcaster edited a Donald Trump speech. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Firing a BBC director for *leftist* bias is like punishing a pig for taking a bath.
Spoke to the BBC about how Grok is facilitating the abuse of politicians on X.
Abusive messaging on X is not new (we studied it here: www.nature.com/articles/s41... ), but the enhanced visibility of Grok posts will increase engagement with this content.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Abusive messaging on X is not new (we studied it here: www.nature.com/articles/s41... ), but the enhanced visibility of Grok posts will increase engagement with this content.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
MP wants Musk's Grok chatbot shut down over claim he enabled grooming gangs
SNP MP Pete Wishart says he is seeking legal advice over the
www.bbc.co.uk
November 6, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Spoke to the BBC about how Grok is facilitating the abuse of politicians on X.
Abusive messaging on X is not new (we studied it here: www.nature.com/articles/s41... ), but the enhanced visibility of Grok posts will increase engagement with this content.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Abusive messaging on X is not new (we studied it here: www.nature.com/articles/s41... ), but the enhanced visibility of Grok posts will increase engagement with this content.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
It is hard to overstate the number of academic hours which are wasted on fruitless funding applications 👇
Applications for MCSA are up 64%! 50% now come from outside the EU. Trump effect?
The European Research market just got a hell of a lot more crowded.
EU should turn on the tap
marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/news/msca-po...
The European Research market just got a hell of a lot more crowded.
EU should turn on the tap
marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/news/msca-po...
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 receives record number of 17,058 proposals
This year’s annual MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships call has attracted considerable interest from the research community with 17,058 proposals submitted.
marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu
November 3, 2025 at 9:49 AM
It is hard to overstate the number of academic hours which are wasted on fruitless funding applications 👇
Reposted by Max Falkenberg
If you're in need of positive and rather wholesome news, there's a high school teacher named Bryan who took a ton of freely licensed celebrity headshots at the New York Film Festival last month for Wikipedia, and I truly can't believe how drastic the upgrade is for some articles (thread)
November 1, 2025 at 1:21 PM
If you're in need of positive and rather wholesome news, there's a high school teacher named Bryan who took a ton of freely licensed celebrity headshots at the New York Film Festival last month for Wikipedia, and I truly can't believe how drastic the upgrade is for some articles (thread)
Reposted by Max Falkenberg
The EBU just published a new report on how well consumer AI chatbots function as gateways to news by public service media – an interesting piece, but with some big problems in my view that make me question its usefulness.
buff.ly/X9ident
buff.ly/X9ident
Largest study of its kind shows AI assistants misrepresent news content 45% of the time – regardless of language or territory
New research coordinated by the EBU and led by the BBC has found that AI assistants routinely distort or misrepresent public service journalism.
www.ebu.ch
October 23, 2025 at 10:54 AM
The EBU just published a new report on how well consumer AI chatbots function as gateways to news by public service media – an interesting piece, but with some big problems in my view that make me question its usefulness.
buff.ly/X9ident
buff.ly/X9ident
Competition for ERC Starting Grants up 38% in two years.
No increase in the number of grants awarded and no increase in grant value.
Result: more academic hours wasted on fruitless, bureaucratic grant applications instead of research
erc.europa.eu/news-events/...
No increase in the number of grants awarded and no increase in grant value.
Result: more academic hours wasted on fruitless, bureaucratic grant applications instead of research
erc.europa.eu/news-events/...
Starting Grants 2026 applications: Facts and figures
The ERC Starting Grants 2026 call closed for applications on 14 October 2025. These are the preliminary data on submitted proposals:
erc.europa.eu
October 17, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Competition for ERC Starting Grants up 38% in two years.
No increase in the number of grants awarded and no increase in grant value.
Result: more academic hours wasted on fruitless, bureaucratic grant applications instead of research
erc.europa.eu/news-events/...
No increase in the number of grants awarded and no increase in grant value.
Result: more academic hours wasted on fruitless, bureaucratic grant applications instead of research
erc.europa.eu/news-events/...
Reposted by Max Falkenberg
Last week we had our second “Inverse Complexity Lab Retreat” at wonderful Traunkirchen!
skewed.de/lab/group.ht...
Nothing like eldritch C++ incantations by the sunny lakeside! 🏖️
skewed.de/lab/group.ht...
Nothing like eldritch C++ incantations by the sunny lakeside! 🏖️
August 8, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Last week we had our second “Inverse Complexity Lab Retreat” at wonderful Traunkirchen!
skewed.de/lab/group.ht...
Nothing like eldritch C++ incantations by the sunny lakeside! 🏖️
skewed.de/lab/group.ht...
Nothing like eldritch C++ incantations by the sunny lakeside! 🏖️
General reminder:
Good internet regulation is not easy if you're a small island with little real influence.
Good internet regulation is not easy if you're a small island with little real influence.
The UK: we must reinvigorate our uncompetitive and slow growth economy!
Also the UK: time to censor the easiest general reference of archive of human knowledge, which is also free.
Also the UK: time to censor the easiest general reference of archive of human knowledge, which is also free.
OSA is gonna make us lose access to fucking wikipedia
write to your MPs.
write to your MPs.
July 27, 2025 at 11:48 AM
General reminder:
Good internet regulation is not easy if you're a small island with little real influence.
Good internet regulation is not easy if you're a small island with little real influence.
Reposted by Max Falkenberg
New preprint: “Multiscale patterns of migration flows in Austria: regionalization, administrative barriers, and urban-rural divides”, with @thomrobiglio.bsky.social, Martina Contisciani, @martonkarsai.bsky.social, arxiv.org/abs/2507.11503
Multiscale patterns of migration flows in Austria: regionalization, administrative barriers, and urban-rural divides
Migration is central in various societal problems related to socioeconomic development. While much of the existing research has focused on international migration, migration patterns within a single c...
arxiv.org
July 22, 2025 at 8:38 AM
New preprint: “Multiscale patterns of migration flows in Austria: regionalization, administrative barriers, and urban-rural divides”, with @thomrobiglio.bsky.social, Martina Contisciani, @martonkarsai.bsky.social, arxiv.org/abs/2507.11503
Reposted by Max Falkenberg
🧵 New preprint!
Do online mental health communities form patterns of association that mirror diagnostic systems or challenge them?
“Network Analysis of Reddit Mental Health Communities: Mapping the Interconnectedness of Psychopathology”
👉 osf.io/7dfcw_v1
@ceu-dnds.bsky.social
Short thread: 1/N
Do online mental health communities form patterns of association that mirror diagnostic systems or challenge them?
“Network Analysis of Reddit Mental Health Communities: Mapping the Interconnectedness of Psychopathology”
👉 osf.io/7dfcw_v1
@ceu-dnds.bsky.social
Short thread: 1/N
OSF
osf.io
July 21, 2025 at 6:08 AM
🧵 New preprint!
Do online mental health communities form patterns of association that mirror diagnostic systems or challenge them?
“Network Analysis of Reddit Mental Health Communities: Mapping the Interconnectedness of Psychopathology”
👉 osf.io/7dfcw_v1
@ceu-dnds.bsky.social
Short thread: 1/N
Do online mental health communities form patterns of association that mirror diagnostic systems or challenge them?
“Network Analysis of Reddit Mental Health Communities: Mapping the Interconnectedness of Psychopathology”
👉 osf.io/7dfcw_v1
@ceu-dnds.bsky.social
Short thread: 1/N
Reposted by Max Falkenberg
Are you from the US and would like to work as a postdoc in Austria, maybe in our lab? 25 new fellowships will be available in July from the @oeaw.bsky.social: www.oeaw.ac.at/en/news/25-n...
If you are interested; get in touch!
If you are interested; get in touch!
25 new scholarships for US researchers
Fonds Zukunft Österreich (FZÖ) is providing €10 million in funding for an academy program to bring postdocs from the USA to Austria ++ Faßmann: “The right signal in these turbulent times”
www.oeaw.ac.at
June 29, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Are you from the US and would like to work as a postdoc in Austria, maybe in our lab? 25 new fellowships will be available in July from the @oeaw.bsky.social: www.oeaw.ac.at/en/news/25-n...
If you are interested; get in touch!
If you are interested; get in touch!
Reposted by Max Falkenberg
Testing LLMs in the Prisoner’s Dilemma to reveal their moral biases. LLMs can defect often but become more forgiving and less retaliatory than humans when opponents are mostly cooperative. Nicolò Fontana at #ICWSM. w @frapierri.bsky.social
Paper: ojs.aaai.org/index.php/IC...
Paper: ojs.aaai.org/index.php/IC...
June 26, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Testing LLMs in the Prisoner’s Dilemma to reveal their moral biases. LLMs can defect often but become more forgiving and less retaliatory than humans when opponents are mostly cooperative. Nicolò Fontana at #ICWSM. w @frapierri.bsky.social
Paper: ojs.aaai.org/index.php/IC...
Paper: ojs.aaai.org/index.php/IC...
Reposted by Max Falkenberg
Kicking off #ICWSM with the DETOX workshop and @maxfalken.bsky.social’s keynote on why the Web is not a set of siloed platforms and why we should not study it as such. Shows why deplatforming doesn’t work exactly as we expect and why large online platforms are plagued by affective polarization
June 23, 2025 at 7:36 AM
Kicking off #ICWSM with the DETOX workshop and @maxfalken.bsky.social’s keynote on why the Web is not a set of siloed platforms and why we should not study it as such. Shows why deplatforming doesn’t work exactly as we expect and why large online platforms are plagued by affective polarization
Reposted by Max Falkenberg
Here's another paper by Shalizi showing how inferring *latent* homophily allows for disentangling from contagion. Bizarre how this gets overlooked, since it's obvious that homophily leaves huge traces in the network structure, while contagion changes nothing.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
June 22, 2025 at 7:10 AM
Here's another paper by Shalizi showing how inferring *latent* homophily allows for disentangling from contagion. Bizarre how this gets overlooked, since it's obvious that homophily leaves huge traces in the network structure, while contagion changes nothing.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Max Falkenberg
The systemic impact of deplatforming on social media, featuring @maxfalken.bsky.social.
From the Cambridge Disinformation Summit
youtu.be/k5IA96g0U5s
From the Cambridge Disinformation Summit
youtu.be/k5IA96g0U5s
The systemic impact of deplatforming on social media
YouTube video by Cambridge Disinformation Summit
youtu.be
June 21, 2025 at 7:05 PM
The systemic impact of deplatforming on social media, featuring @maxfalken.bsky.social.
From the Cambridge Disinformation Summit
youtu.be/k5IA96g0U5s
From the Cambridge Disinformation Summit
youtu.be/k5IA96g0U5s
No surprise that bank lending to the fossil fuel sector keeps rising 👇
Nadia Ameli and I recently wrote about why current banking regulations are insufficient and ineffective at limiting continued funding to the FF sector - call ordinated action is needed: www.thebanker.com/content/e812...
Nadia Ameli and I recently wrote about why current banking regulations are insufficient and ineffective at limiting continued funding to the FF sector - call ordinated action is needed: www.thebanker.com/content/e812...
June 17, 2025 at 1:01 PM
No surprise that bank lending to the fossil fuel sector keeps rising 👇
Nadia Ameli and I recently wrote about why current banking regulations are insufficient and ineffective at limiting continued funding to the FF sector - call ordinated action is needed: www.thebanker.com/content/e812...
Nadia Ameli and I recently wrote about why current banking regulations are insufficient and ineffective at limiting continued funding to the FF sector - call ordinated action is needed: www.thebanker.com/content/e812...
Reposted by Max Falkenberg
Extremely fun little secret recording in @desmog.com by @geoffdembicki.bsky.social here - Lomborg just openly saying to the Fraser Institute that CCS wont' work but that it can be used to soak up subsidies
www.desmog.com/2025/06/05/c...
www.desmog.com/2025/06/05/c...
Carbon Capture ‘Not Going to Happen,’ Top Fossil Fuel Advocate Predicts
In audio obtained by DeSmog, Bjorn Lomborg told a Fraser Institute event in Vancouver that the technology is way too expensive to be viable.
www.desmog.com
June 6, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Extremely fun little secret recording in @desmog.com by @geoffdembicki.bsky.social here - Lomborg just openly saying to the Fraser Institute that CCS wont' work but that it can be used to soak up subsidies
www.desmog.com/2025/06/05/c...
www.desmog.com/2025/06/05/c...
Reposted by Max Falkenberg
@maxfalken.bsky.social on the importance of nuence when studying polarization at the social network session at #netsci2025
June 5, 2025 at 9:46 AM
@maxfalken.bsky.social on the importance of nuence when studying polarization at the social network session at #netsci2025
Reposted by Max Falkenberg
Celebrating my first post on Bluesky with a picture of @abovet.bsky.social giving his invited talk at UNCSS today. The Satellite in running now at NetSci 2025. Feel free to join even for the last round of talks.
Together with: @maxfalken.bsky.social & Alessandro Galeazzi
Together with: @maxfalken.bsky.social & Alessandro Galeazzi
June 3, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Celebrating my first post on Bluesky with a picture of @abovet.bsky.social giving his invited talk at UNCSS today. The Satellite in running now at NetSci 2025. Feel free to join even for the last round of talks.
Together with: @maxfalken.bsky.social & Alessandro Galeazzi
Together with: @maxfalken.bsky.social & Alessandro Galeazzi
Looking forward to hosting this tomorrow! Lots of great talks!
👇
👇
Looking forward to our satellite on "Understudied Networks in Computational Social Science" next Tuesday (June 3) from 9am at @netsciconf.bsky.social
Join us for 10 great talks discussing (Meta)Decidem, Tiktok, Bluesky, Wikidata, Painters, and more!
galeale.github.io/UNCSS/?trk=f...
Join us for 10 great talks discussing (Meta)Decidem, Tiktok, Bluesky, Wikidata, Painters, and more!
galeale.github.io/UNCSS/?trk=f...
Understudied Networks in Computational Social Science
Understudied Networks in Computational Social Science
galeale.github.io
June 2, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Looking forward to hosting this tomorrow! Lots of great talks!
👇
👇
Reposted by Max Falkenberg
I can officially confirm my presence to the satellite! If I made it, you cannot miss.
June 1, 2025 at 8:24 PM
I can officially confirm my presence to the satellite! If I made it, you cannot miss.
Reposted by Max Falkenberg
🎉 Very happy to announce Maxime Lucas @maximelca.bsky.social as our next panelist! Maxime is an FNRS Postdoc at the Namur Institute for Complex Systems & UCLouvain in Belgium. He is interested in dynamical systems, complex systems, networks, and their applications to life sciences.
May 29, 2025 at 1:16 PM
🎉 Very happy to announce Maxime Lucas @maximelca.bsky.social as our next panelist! Maxime is an FNRS Postdoc at the Namur Institute for Complex Systems & UCLouvain in Belgium. He is interested in dynamical systems, complex systems, networks, and their applications to life sciences.
Looking forward to our satellite on "Understudied Networks in Computational Social Science" next Tuesday (June 3) from 9am at @netsciconf.bsky.social
Join us for 10 great talks discussing (Meta)Decidem, Tiktok, Bluesky, Wikidata, Painters, and more!
galeale.github.io/UNCSS/?trk=f...
Join us for 10 great talks discussing (Meta)Decidem, Tiktok, Bluesky, Wikidata, Painters, and more!
galeale.github.io/UNCSS/?trk=f...
Understudied Networks in Computational Social Science
Understudied Networks in Computational Social Science
galeale.github.io
May 27, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Looking forward to our satellite on "Understudied Networks in Computational Social Science" next Tuesday (June 3) from 9am at @netsciconf.bsky.social
Join us for 10 great talks discussing (Meta)Decidem, Tiktok, Bluesky, Wikidata, Painters, and more!
galeale.github.io/UNCSS/?trk=f...
Join us for 10 great talks discussing (Meta)Decidem, Tiktok, Bluesky, Wikidata, Painters, and more!
galeale.github.io/UNCSS/?trk=f...
Reposted by Max Falkenberg
Dr @maxfalken.bsky.social on the impact of social media deplatforming.
From the Cambridge Disinformation Summit meetings.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=k5IA...
From the Cambridge Disinformation Summit meetings.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=k5IA...
The systemic impact of deplatforming on social media
YouTube video by Cambridge Disinformation Summit
m.youtube.com
May 23, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Dr @maxfalken.bsky.social on the impact of social media deplatforming.
From the Cambridge Disinformation Summit meetings.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=k5IA...
From the Cambridge Disinformation Summit meetings.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=k5IA...