Giovanna Mascheroni

@giovannamas.bsky.social

970 followers 900 following 220 posts

Media sociologist researching digital media, data & AI in children's lives. Dog lover (Eng. Springer Spaniel) TwitterRefugee. Projects: http://www.eukidsonline.net/, https://yskills.eu/, https://datachildfutures.it/
Also on @giovannamas@aoir.social .. more

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Education 32%

Communication & Media Studies 22%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Giovanna Mascheroni @giovannamas.bsky.social · 18h

il 20% di bambin* e adolescenti italian* chiede consigli all'AI su salute e forma fisica ma non si fida al 100%. questi e altri risultati nel report di @eukidsonline.bsky.social researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/13...

Giovanna Mascheroni @giovannamas.bsky.social · 20h

The role of #GenAI in children’s development is ambivalent, and their opportunities (scaffolding learning) can easily turn into harmful consequences (deskilling and disempowerment). Read more here researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/13... #SaferInternetDay

Giovanna Mascheroni @giovannamas.bsky.social · 1d

domani pubblichiamo i report EUKO su bambini, adolescenti e AI (uno comparativo in inglese e uno italiano). tante forme di resistenza algoritmica lì! certo, scriviamo/facciamo qualcosa!

Giovanna Mascheroni @giovannamas.bsky.social · 1d

"Probably around 10 per cent of them actually have been banned, and half of that 10 per cent has been unbanned by just using basically the same thing that I did: use other people's faces, use their driver's licence. #SocialMediaBan www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02...

Two months into the social media ban, a teenager says it's 'useless'

Australia's world-first social media ban for under-16s is two months old, but teenagers say they have found ways around it.

www.abc.net.au

Reposted by Giovanna Mascheroni, Aviel Roshwald

The Verge @theverge.com · 10d

ChatGPT isn’t the only chatbot pulling answers from Elon Musk’s Grokipedia

Google’s Gemini, AI Mode, and AI Overviews, Perplexity, and Microsoft are starting to cite Musk’s Wikipedia knockoff.

buff.ly

Reposted by Erik Champion, Giovanna Mascheroni

Karen Hao @karenhao.bsky.social · 13d

Absolutely damning from @aaronschaffer.com, @willoremus.com, & @nitasha.bsky.social.

To get more data, Anthropic:
* "destructively scanned" millions of books
* downloaded the shadow library LibGen
* hailed another shadow library's arrival as "just in time!!!"

www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Inside an AI start-up’s plan to scan and dispose of millions of books

Court filings reveal how AI companies raced to obtain more books to feed chatbots, including by buying, scanning and disposing of millions of titles.

www.washingtonpost.com

Reposted by Anna Nagurney, Patrick A. Jansen, Rosemary A. Joyce , and 2 more Anna Nagurney, Patrick A. Jansen, Rosemary A. Joyce, Giovanna Mascheroni, Raffaella Ravinetto

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 22d

Breaking News: President Trump told Norway’s prime minister that one reason he’s pushing to acquire Greenland is because he didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Denied Peace Prize, Trump Tells Norway He’ll Push for Greenland

In a text message, President Trump told Norway’s prime minister he no longer felt obliged to “think purely of Peace” and that the world would not be secure until America controlled the island.

nyti.ms

Giovanna Mascheroni @giovannamas.bsky.social · 26d

"A balanced reading of existing research shows the impact of digital media depends on what children are watching, when, and why." but the debate on #ScreenTime is dominated by 6 papers that sell fears blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...

Why fear still sells research on screen time - Impact of Social Sciences

Regardless of quality research that deploys fear based framing drives public debate on screen time for children.

blogs.lse.ac.uk

Giovanna Mascheroni @giovannamas.bsky.social · 26d

This TikTok star sharing Australian animal stories doesn’t exist – it’s #AI #Blakface theconversation.com/this-tiktok-...

This TikTok star sharing Australian animal stories doesn’t exist – it’s AI Blakface

The ‘Bush Legend’ is bringing us short videos of an Aboriginal person teaching us about native animals. But he isn’t real.

theconversation.com

Reposted by Giovanna Mascheroni

Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · Jan 9

"The media has largely let [tech companies] set the terms of the debate, right down to the terminology used in any discussion of these systems."

From @nannainie.bsky.social & me in @techpolicypress.bsky.social on how to spot and resist anthropomorphizing language about so-called "AI".

We Need to Talk About How We Talk About 'AI' | TechPolicy.Press

We share a responsibility to create and use empowering metaphors rather than misleading language, write Emily M. Bender and Nanna Inie.

www.techpolicy.press

Giovanna Mascheroni @giovannamas.bsky.social · Jan 8

Further evidence that the #SocialMediaBan is NOT the solution to protect children's rights and wellbeing. it is just a low-cost policy to appease worried parents. we need more effective regulations on platforums to ensure children's rights by design

Giovanna Mascheroni @giovannamas.bsky.social · Dec 20

www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult... chatbots are “always hallucinating,” he says. “It’s not a malfunction. A predictive model predicts some text, and maybe it’s accurate, maybe it isn’t, but the process is the same either way. To put it another way: LLMs are structurally indifferent to truth.”

AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals

Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.

www.rollingstone.com

Reposted by Giovanna Mascheroni

Voxeurop – Independent European journalism @voxeurop.bsky.social · Dec 17

🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Is "Green" money funding the European war industry with #EU backing? A collaborative investigation reveals a surge in sustainable investments flowing into defence, reaching €50bn in Q1 2025.
🤝 In partnership w/ @elpais.com @mediapart.fr & @irpimedia.eu voxeurop.eu/en/europe-ar...

How Brussels made the arms industry “sustainable”

“Green” investments in defence firms have surged in recent years, topping €50 billion in 2025. The trend is driven by concerted pressure from the arms industry backed by the European Commission. Both ...

voxeurop.eu

Reposted by Luca Rossi, Giovanna Mascheroni

Tama Leaver @tamaleaver.bsky.social · Dec 15

Of course it f&&king is. Please don't use GenAI for news. Please don't use Grok for anything.

Grok is spreading misinformation about the Bondi Beach shooting www.theverge.com/news/844443/...

Grok is spreading misinformation about the Bondi Beach shooting

Grok has repeatedly misidentified video of the Bondi Beach shooting and the hero who disarmed a gunman.

www.theverge.com

Giovanna Mascheroni @giovannamas.bsky.social · Nov 25

The proprietary recommender algorithms of YouTube, Instagram and TikTok can determine whether a user is a child. But instead of using this info to protect them they use it to deliver target ads www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Giovanna Mascheroni @giovannamas.bsky.social · Nov 18

1 in 5 high schoolers has had a romantic AI relationship, or knows someone who has www.vpm.org/npr-news/202...

1 in 5 high schoolers has had a romantic AI relationship, or knows someone who has

A national survey of students, teachers and parents shines a light on how the AI revolution is playing out in schools – including when it comes to bullying and a community's trust in schools.

www.vpm.org

Reposted by Giovanna Mascheroni, David Murakami Wood, Jack Stilgoe

Fabio Chiusi @fabiochiusi.bsky.social · Nov 18

AI-Powered Teddy Bear Caught Talking About Sexual Fetishes and Instructing Kids How to Find Knives

gizmodo.com/ai-powered-t...

AI-Powered Teddy Bear Caught Talking About Sexual Fetishes and Instructing Kids How to Find Knives

OpenAI blocked access for the toymaker following the incidents.

gizmodo.com

Giovanna Mascheroni @giovannamas.bsky.social · Nov 16

These companies are stealing every scrap of data they can find, throwing compute power at it, draining our aquifers of water and our national grids of electricity and all we have so far is some software that you can’t trust not to make things up broligarchy.substack.com/p/the-great-...

Giovanna Mascheroni @giovannamas.bsky.social · Nov 12

Marketed for productivity but used for personal use and emotional conversations, an analysis of 47,000 conversations with ChatGPT by the @washingtonpost.com finds www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Giovanna Mascheroni @giovannamas.bsky.social · Nov 12

We urge qualitative researchers to...reject the use of GenAI in such analyses...
1 GenAI as simulated intelligence is incapable of meaning making
2 Qualitative research should remain a distinctly human practice
3 harms of GenAI to the environment & workers in the Global outh ssrn.com/abstract=567...

<span>We reject the use of generative artificial intelligence for reflexive qualitative research</span>

We write as 416 experienced qualitative researchers from 38 countries, to reject the use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) applications for Big Q Qu

ssrn.com

Giovanna Mascheroni @giovannamas.bsky.social · Nov 11

Public service media equip citizens with the critical skills to identify mis- and disinformation. De-legitimising public service media is then unctional to a certain political agenda

Andrew Chadwick @andrewchadwick.com · Nov 11

7/ The key findings: the more that respondents received their political campaign news via professional news organizations, the more they were able to distinguish true from false information.

Reposted by Giovanna Mascheroni

Andrew Chadwick @andrewchadwick.com · Nov 11

7/ The key findings: the more that respondents received their political campaign news via professional news organizations, the more they were able to distinguish true from false information.

Giovanna Mascheroni @giovannamas.bsky.social · Nov 10

The "womanosphere" and “pastel QAnon” lure young women "into far-right conspiracies through content about motherhood and female-coded aesthetics. Some beauty and wellness influencers have proven to be a natural fit for this ecosystem." www.teenvogue.com/story/womano...

The 'Womanosphere' Is Coming for Teen Girls

How beauty and wellness influencers are part of a misinformation ecosystem pushing traditional values on girls.

www.teenvogue.com

Reposted by Giovanna Mascheroni, Margot C. Finn, David Murakami Wood

Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · Nov 9

I appreciate the work of these authors to show that this problem not only is still here but has grown:

www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...

But it is also quite frustrating 🧵>>

AI's capabilities may be exaggerated by flawed tests, according to new study

A study from the Oxford Internet Institute analyzed 445 tests used to evaluate AI models.

www.nbcnews.com

Giovanna Mascheroni @giovannamas.bsky.social · Nov 8

“the excessive visibility of a highly active minority at the tip of the iceberg can not only mislead social scientists, but also deceive social media users themselves.”https://www.techpolicy.press/what-a-new-study-reveals-about-the-productionconsumption-gap-on-social-media/

Reposted by Will Jennings, Giovanna Mascheroni, Peter Schöttler , and 2 more Will Jennings, Giovanna Mascheroni, Peter Schöttler, Jane Suiter, Tobias Singelnstein

Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · Nov 6

X is designed to radicalise people.

The algorithm promotes Elon Musk's agenda to promote racists and people who want violence bought - specifically - to the streets of Britain.

Members of Parliament, major institutions and the media should not be there.
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...

Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how

news.sky.com

Reposted by Giovanna Mascheroni

Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · Oct 31

Creepy crawlers collecting data for generative AI are making the internet work less well for everyone, write Article 19's Tanu I & Corinne Cath. AI crawlers slow sites, strain libraries, and push journalism behind paywalls, they write. But there are solutions, if AI firms choose to respect them.

Creepy AI Crawlers Are Turning the Internet into a Haunted House | TechPolicy.Press

The question is no longer whether AI crawlers are disrupting the internet, but what we can do about it, write Tanu I and Corinne Cath.

www.techpolicy.press

Giovanna Mascheroni @giovannamas.bsky.social · Oct 31

evidence is piling up that LLMs are culturally biased, since traiend on data from Western, Educated, Industrialized,
Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) countries, thus unsuitable to understand people from different regions and cultures, study finds: coevolution.fas.harvard.edu/sites/g/file...

coevolution.fas.harvard.edu