Tobia Spampatti, PhD
@tspampatti.bsky.social
PhD in Neuroscience, Guest Researcher at the Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development
I study why people care and discuss about societal, systemic issues like climate change, technology, and disinformation.
❤️=bookmarks
I study why people care and discuss about societal, systemic issues like climate change, technology, and disinformation.
❤️=bookmarks
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
Public health depends on citizens accepting scientifically-grounded guidance. When official institutions produce politically-determined science and independent verification infrastructure is eliminated, the capacity for evidence-based health policy collapses, writes Renée DiResta.
How Political Power is Capturing Knowledge Systems and Manufacturing Structural Ignorance | TechPolicy.Press
We're witnessing the simultaneous capture of knowledge-producing institutions and the elimination of independent verification mechanisms, writes Renée DiResta.
www.techpolicy.press
November 10, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Public health depends on citizens accepting scientifically-grounded guidance. When official institutions produce politically-determined science and independent verification infrastructure is eliminated, the capacity for evidence-based health policy collapses, writes Renée DiResta.
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
Yes, this is correct. And the reason is because our capitalist classes have decided that it is not sufficiently profitable, so they're not going to do it.
We must understand this reality. Capital *cannot* be relied upon to address the climate crisis.
We must understand this reality. Capital *cannot* be relied upon to address the climate crisis.
November 10, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Yes, this is correct. And the reason is because our capitalist classes have decided that it is not sufficiently profitable, so they're not going to do it.
We must understand this reality. Capital *cannot* be relied upon to address the climate crisis.
We must understand this reality. Capital *cannot* be relied upon to address the climate crisis.
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
🚨 Our new report, Deny, Deceive, Delay: Demystified, is out now. 🚨
The report explores how Big Carbon and Big Tech use disinformation to sabotage climate action and why, despite 89% of people worldwide demanding stronger action, progress gets derailed.
The report explores how Big Carbon and Big Tech use disinformation to sabotage climate action and why, despite 89% of people worldwide demanding stronger action, progress gets derailed.
buff.ly
November 10, 2025 at 11:30 AM
🚨 Our new report, Deny, Deceive, Delay: Demystified, is out now. 🚨
The report explores how Big Carbon and Big Tech use disinformation to sabotage climate action and why, despite 89% of people worldwide demanding stronger action, progress gets derailed.
The report explores how Big Carbon and Big Tech use disinformation to sabotage climate action and why, despite 89% of people worldwide demanding stronger action, progress gets derailed.
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
My first paper is out at Journal of Environmental Psychology! 🌱
Climate change is complex: there are many variables that are connected via unclear causal relationships. But is awareness of complexity helpful in guiding people towards effective environmental behavior, or can it hinder action? (1/5)
Climate change is complex: there are many variables that are connected via unclear causal relationships. But is awareness of complexity helpful in guiding people towards effective environmental behavior, or can it hinder action? (1/5)
November 7, 2025 at 3:21 PM
My first paper is out at Journal of Environmental Psychology! 🌱
Climate change is complex: there are many variables that are connected via unclear causal relationships. But is awareness of complexity helpful in guiding people towards effective environmental behavior, or can it hinder action? (1/5)
Climate change is complex: there are many variables that are connected via unclear causal relationships. But is awareness of complexity helpful in guiding people towards effective environmental behavior, or can it hinder action? (1/5)
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
The claim that “emissions have come down” in this @nytimes.com @sominisengupta.bsky.social article on where we are ten years post-Paris is FALSE.
Global emissions were at an all-time high in 2024.
As it stands this claim is misinformation. They need to issue a correction!
Global emissions were at an all-time high in 2024.
As it stands this claim is misinformation. They need to issue a correction!
November 7, 2025 at 11:17 AM
The claim that “emissions have come down” in this @nytimes.com @sominisengupta.bsky.social article on where we are ten years post-Paris is FALSE.
Global emissions were at an all-time high in 2024.
As it stands this claim is misinformation. They need to issue a correction!
Global emissions were at an all-time high in 2024.
As it stands this claim is misinformation. They need to issue a correction!
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
Watch the video here if you missed the livestream. coveringclimatenow.org/event/the-bi...
The Bill Gates Memo: Climate Scientists Respond with Urgency
Hear from Kim Cobb, Zeke Hausfather, Katharine Hayhoe and Daniel Swain.
coveringclimatenow.org
November 6, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Watch the video here if you missed the livestream. coveringclimatenow.org/event/the-bi...
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
For each additional moral–emotional word in a social media post, the number of shares increases 13%
Our new meta-analysis finds robust evidence of moral contagion (N=4,821,006)
The moral contagion effect is even stronger in larger, pre-registered studies (17%).
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Our new meta-analysis finds robust evidence of moral contagion (N=4,821,006)
The moral contagion effect is even stronger in larger, pre-registered studies (17%).
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
November 5, 2025 at 4:58 PM
For each additional moral–emotional word in a social media post, the number of shares increases 13%
Our new meta-analysis finds robust evidence of moral contagion (N=4,821,006)
The moral contagion effect is even stronger in larger, pre-registered studies (17%).
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Our new meta-analysis finds robust evidence of moral contagion (N=4,821,006)
The moral contagion effect is even stronger in larger, pre-registered studies (17%).
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
We have a new preprint: osf.io/preprints/so...
What have we learned about social media - the constantly moving target of empirical research - over the past decade?
What have we learned about social media - the constantly moving target of empirical research - over the past decade?
October 30, 2025 at 10:53 AM
We have a new preprint: osf.io/preprints/so...
What have we learned about social media - the constantly moving target of empirical research - over the past decade?
What have we learned about social media - the constantly moving target of empirical research - over the past decade?
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
📢 Excited to share that my 🌟first book talk🌟 will be with @osome.iu.edu! Join me Nov 19, 12-1 pm ET (online) as I discuss key themes from #ContentConfusion (@mitpress.bsky.social). Don’t miss this opportunity to dive deep into the challenges impacting our news media today.
October 29, 2025 at 4:57 PM
📢 Excited to share that my 🌟first book talk🌟 will be with @osome.iu.edu! Join me Nov 19, 12-1 pm ET (online) as I discuss key themes from #ContentConfusion (@mitpress.bsky.social). Don’t miss this opportunity to dive deep into the challenges impacting our news media today.
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
I revamped a figure from our paper showing our results in a nutshell: Even during the short experimental time, in the U.S., we find climate concern in the sample diverges between participants with different information diets. 3/4
October 29, 2025 at 4:28 PM
I revamped a figure from our paper showing our results in a nutshell: Even during the short experimental time, in the U.S., we find climate concern in the sample diverges between participants with different information diets. 3/4
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
In our recent paper, we use a sampling paradigm to investigate how people consume Pro-climate information and Anti-climate disinformation. In representative samples from three nations, we find belief-confirming sampling and processing and that the messages influenced climate concern. 2/4
October 29, 2025 at 4:28 PM
In our recent paper, we use a sampling paradigm to investigate how people consume Pro-climate information and Anti-climate disinformation. In representative samples from three nations, we find belief-confirming sampling and processing and that the messages influenced climate concern. 2/4
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
The relationship between the climate change narratives a person holds and which type of climate messages this person consumes and trusts is a two-way street. 1/4 bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
October 29, 2025 at 4:28 PM
The relationship between the climate change narratives a person holds and which type of climate messages this person consumes and trusts is a two-way street. 1/4 bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
Perceptions of ideology are endogenous to the coverage that precedes their formulation you absolute idiots.
October 24, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Perceptions of ideology are endogenous to the coverage that precedes their formulation you absolute idiots.
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
Selective Causal Focus: Research produced and funded by tech companies often either frames problems as user-driven, or solutions as the obligation of users (E.g. community notes). Distracting us from their design, business model, interface, and other causes steering us away from their profit model
October 24, 2025 at 12:12 AM
Selective Causal Focus: Research produced and funded by tech companies often either frames problems as user-driven, or solutions as the obligation of users (E.g. community notes). Distracting us from their design, business model, interface, and other causes steering us away from their profit model
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
I'm excited to finally have a preprint of this paper up, a few years in the making.
In it we argue that industry-driven manipulation of social media research is well underway and that norms and institutions in the field are ill-prepared to resist tech's influence.
arxiv.org/abs/2510.19894
In it we argue that industry-driven manipulation of social media research is well underway and that norms and institutions in the field are ill-prepared to resist tech's influence.
arxiv.org/abs/2510.19894
October 24, 2025 at 12:12 AM
I'm excited to finally have a preprint of this paper up, a few years in the making.
In it we argue that industry-driven manipulation of social media research is well underway and that norms and institutions in the field are ill-prepared to resist tech's influence.
arxiv.org/abs/2510.19894
In it we argue that industry-driven manipulation of social media research is well underway and that norms and institutions in the field are ill-prepared to resist tech's influence.
arxiv.org/abs/2510.19894
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
🗓️ Join CAAD for a Pre-COP30 Disinformation Roundtable on Thursday October 30th, at 11am ET.
We'll dig into the latest climate misinformation trends with a panel of experts and discuss how to counter false narratives ahead of COP30.
Register here buff.ly/A1Da6WM
We'll dig into the latest climate misinformation trends with a panel of experts and discuss how to counter false narratives ahead of COP30.
Register here buff.ly/A1Da6WM
October 24, 2025 at 12:27 PM
🗓️ Join CAAD for a Pre-COP30 Disinformation Roundtable on Thursday October 30th, at 11am ET.
We'll dig into the latest climate misinformation trends with a panel of experts and discuss how to counter false narratives ahead of COP30.
Register here buff.ly/A1Da6WM
We'll dig into the latest climate misinformation trends with a panel of experts and discuss how to counter false narratives ahead of COP30.
Register here buff.ly/A1Da6WM
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
Years ago, I came across a simple post that has stayed with me ever since. Its message was this: There’s a cost to silence and a cost to speaking up. Every day I wake up and decide which bill I’m going to pay.
Bill me for speaking up and standing up. Every day.
11/11
Bill me for speaking up and standing up. Every day.
11/11
October 24, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Years ago, I came across a simple post that has stayed with me ever since. Its message was this: There’s a cost to silence and a cost to speaking up. Every day I wake up and decide which bill I’m going to pay.
Bill me for speaking up and standing up. Every day.
11/11
Bill me for speaking up and standing up. Every day.
11/11
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
Let’s not be naive: We need to be very aware of industry influence in computational social science! Through control of data (and experiment) access the situation is even more problematic than in other industries, which makes the data access rights under DSA article 40 particular important!
1. We ( @jbakcoleman.bsky.social, @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @jevinwest.bsky.social, and I) have a new preprint up on the arXiv.
There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.
There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.
October 24, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Let’s not be naive: We need to be very aware of industry influence in computational social science! Through control of data (and experiment) access the situation is even more problematic than in other industries, which makes the data access rights under DSA article 40 particular important!
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
Who today is influencing science a la Big Tobacco or Oil and Gas?
In our new preprint we show how tech companies like Meta are capturing research on their product, using mechanisms that subtly (or not so subtly) shape what science gets produced
In our new preprint we show how tech companies like Meta are capturing research on their product, using mechanisms that subtly (or not so subtly) shape what science gets produced
October 24, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Who today is influencing science a la Big Tobacco or Oil and Gas?
In our new preprint we show how tech companies like Meta are capturing research on their product, using mechanisms that subtly (or not so subtly) shape what science gets produced
In our new preprint we show how tech companies like Meta are capturing research on their product, using mechanisms that subtly (or not so subtly) shape what science gets produced
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
3. While big oil, big tobacco, etc. serve as well-known cautionary tales, social media research poses novel challenges for independent researchers—perhaps most notably, access to the study system itself.
It's like trying to study climate change if Exxon-Mobile owned all the world's thermometers.
It's like trying to study climate change if Exxon-Mobile owned all the world's thermometers.
October 24, 2025 at 12:49 AM
3. While big oil, big tobacco, etc. serve as well-known cautionary tales, social media research poses novel challenges for independent researchers—perhaps most notably, access to the study system itself.
It's like trying to study climate change if Exxon-Mobile owned all the world's thermometers.
It's like trying to study climate change if Exxon-Mobile owned all the world's thermometers.
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
2. Here's the paper itself: arxiv.org/abs/2510.19894
The Risks of Industry Influence in Tech Research
Emerging information technologies like social media, search engines, and AI can have a broad impact on public health, political institutions, social dynamics, and the natural world. It is critical to ...
arxiv.org
October 24, 2025 at 12:47 AM
2. Here's the paper itself: arxiv.org/abs/2510.19894
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
1. We ( @jbakcoleman.bsky.social, @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @jevinwest.bsky.social, and I) have a new preprint up on the arXiv.
There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.
There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.
October 24, 2025 at 12:47 AM
1. We ( @jbakcoleman.bsky.social, @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @jevinwest.bsky.social, and I) have a new preprint up on the arXiv.
There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.
There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
When there is a random way to do something, there is a less random way that is better but requires more thought. In this case, regression models that make no sense don't belong in a multiverse analysis. An inferential regression without a causal justification is like an opinion without reasons.
October 23, 2025 at 4:34 PM
When there is a random way to do something, there is a less random way that is better but requires more thought. In this case, regression models that make no sense don't belong in a multiverse analysis. An inferential regression without a causal justification is like an opinion without reasons.
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
Published today: One of the biggest #science #communication studies to date. We asked 71,922 people in 68 countries how they #engage with information about #science and combined the data with several country-level factors: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... #OpenAccess
October 21, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Published today: One of the biggest #science #communication studies to date. We asked 71,922 people in 68 countries how they #engage with information about #science and combined the data with several country-level factors: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... #OpenAccess
Reposted by Tobia Spampatti, PhD
The deadline for the meeting on counterfactuals is coming up. Don't forget to send in your contribution.
We're organizing an EASP small group meeting on counterfactuals in March 2026. More details can be found here:
www.easp.eu/news/itm/eas...
www.easp.eu/news/itm/eas...
October 21, 2025 at 6:32 AM
The deadline for the meeting on counterfactuals is coming up. Don't forget to send in your contribution.