C. Henry
@henryhenryhenry.com
political scientist @ University of Zürich
platforms, political violence, social media, computing
research & writing:
henryhenryhenry.com
sometimes land of enchantment, sometimes land of Helvetia
platforms, political violence, social media, computing
research & writing:
henryhenryhenry.com
sometimes land of enchantment, sometimes land of Helvetia
Reposted by C. Henry
Content policies are usually private, one-off efforts. You build yours, I build mine, we don't share much about what works or why. This makes sense given products can (and should) set different policies based on their communities, but it leaves us reinventing the wheel. 🧵 1/5
November 10, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Content policies are usually private, one-off efforts. You build yours, I build mine, we don't share much about what works or why. This makes sense given products can (and should) set different policies based on their communities, but it leaves us reinventing the wheel. 🧵 1/5
do you think it's possible the thing that connects voter preferences to politician behavior isn't quite working any more
November 10, 2025 at 2:33 PM
do you think it's possible the thing that connects voter preferences to politician behavior isn't quite working any more
Reposted by C. Henry
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
November 9, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
Reposted by C. Henry
Some thoughts on the CR/minibus.
1 The Dems negotiating with Rs were not freelancing. They coordinated with Sen Schumer. A few were ready to give in on day one, others worked to maximize appropriations wins.
Those voting for the 'deal' are the ones furthest away from electoral consequences.
1 The Dems negotiating with Rs were not freelancing. They coordinated with Sen Schumer. A few were ready to give in on day one, others worked to maximize appropriations wins.
Those voting for the 'deal' are the ones furthest away from electoral consequences.
November 10, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Some thoughts on the CR/minibus.
1 The Dems negotiating with Rs were not freelancing. They coordinated with Sen Schumer. A few were ready to give in on day one, others worked to maximize appropriations wins.
Those voting for the 'deal' are the ones furthest away from electoral consequences.
1 The Dems negotiating with Rs were not freelancing. They coordinated with Sen Schumer. A few were ready to give in on day one, others worked to maximize appropriations wins.
Those voting for the 'deal' are the ones furthest away from electoral consequences.
it finally happened to me -- reviewing a manuscript that cites a paper by me that doesn't exist
November 10, 2025 at 12:22 PM
it finally happened to me -- reviewing a manuscript that cites a paper by me that doesn't exist
Reposted by C. Henry
People need to understand that Chicago is a preview, not a culmination.
I have been actively watching contracts and surge funding over the last few days and what I would say to my friends in Baltimore is “be absolutely ready, right now.”
ICE poised to ramp up raids in Baltimore by Thanksgiving
The Trump administration has rush-ordered infrastructure to conduct raids, abduct residents, and detain people for months.
open.substack.com
November 9, 2025 at 1:51 PM
People need to understand that Chicago is a preview, not a culmination.
Reposted by C. Henry
Today I wrote about Zohran Mamdani's historic win, the energizing power of holding to shared principles of decency, and a taxonomy of the endlessly intertwined relationship between shame and vision. www.the-reframe.com/the-extraord...
The Extraordinary Power of Standing For Something
Winning by creating vision in the positive space of shared standards, and expertly negotiating the negative space of shame.
www.the-reframe.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Today I wrote about Zohran Mamdani's historic win, the energizing power of holding to shared principles of decency, and a taxonomy of the endlessly intertwined relationship between shame and vision. www.the-reframe.com/the-extraord...
Reposted by C. Henry
Four years ago, far-right white male supremacist Nick Fuentes was deplatformed pretty much everywhere.
Now he's back with a vengeance—and the online right can't stop fighting over whether to condemn him or welcome him. My story: wapo.st/4nJbt4M
Now he's back with a vengeance—and the online right can't stop fighting over whether to condemn him or welcome him. My story: wapo.st/4nJbt4M
Far-right provocateur Nick Fuentes is triggering a MAGA civil war
Once barred from nearly every social media platform, Fuentes’s resurgence has driven a wedge through the conservative movement.
wapo.st
November 8, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Four years ago, far-right white male supremacist Nick Fuentes was deplatformed pretty much everywhere.
Now he's back with a vengeance—and the online right can't stop fighting over whether to condemn him or welcome him. My story: wapo.st/4nJbt4M
Now he's back with a vengeance—and the online right can't stop fighting over whether to condemn him or welcome him. My story: wapo.st/4nJbt4M
Reposted by C. Henry
[New Paper Alert] Online toxic speech as positioning acts: Hate as discursive mechanisms for othering and belonging socialmedialab.ca/2025/11/03/n...
[New Paper Alert] Online toxic speech as positioning acts: Hate as discursive mechanisms for othering and belonging - Social Media Lab
Toxic speech is an endemic threat to civil discourse on social media; it’s marked by incivility, intolerance, and the intent to harm through threats, insults, and patronizing language. Further challen...
socialmedialab.ca
November 6, 2025 at 3:49 PM
[New Paper Alert] Online toxic speech as positioning acts: Hate as discursive mechanisms for othering and belonging socialmedialab.ca/2025/11/03/n...
Reposted by C. Henry
This is very clearly the direction in which things are headed, especially since so many of the people who built and maintained the tools the US IC has developed-in house have been fired or have left.
YIKES: NSO floats Pegasus spyware used in hypothetical "time of domestic crisis" in 🇺🇸America.
I believe they won't stop lobbying until they get Pegasus into USA.
To hack Americans. 1/
I believe they won't stop lobbying until they get Pegasus into USA.
To hack Americans. 1/
November 7, 2025 at 10:11 PM
This is very clearly the direction in which things are headed, especially since so many of the people who built and maintained the tools the US IC has developed-in house have been fired or have left.
Reposted by C. Henry
In "We Were The Lucky Ones" (true story of a Jewish family in Poland in WW2) the daughter learns her father has been detained. She puts on her most respectable dress to speak to camp guards, so they'll tell her the truth about if he's there.
Look at this man, in his suit. How is this happening.
Look at this man, in his suit. How is this happening.
November 7, 2025 at 5:00 PM
In "We Were The Lucky Ones" (true story of a Jewish family in Poland in WW2) the daughter learns her father has been detained. She puts on her most respectable dress to speak to camp guards, so they'll tell her the truth about if he's there.
Look at this man, in his suit. How is this happening.
Look at this man, in his suit. How is this happening.
the first whispers of the Butlerian Jihad enter Catholic doctrine
November 7, 2025 at 4:51 PM
the first whispers of the Butlerian Jihad enter Catholic doctrine
Reposted by C. Henry
lost in the catastrophe that is American politics right now is how terrible corporate governance has become. democratic backsliding touches private institutions too, and the people who run some of the biggest orgs in the world have quietly devolved them into regressive fiefdoms.
New: Conde Nast fired four employees who were among a group that confronted the company's head of human resources on Wednesday over the decision to fold Teen Vogue into Vogue/recent cuts. Employees who were fired included journalists from the New Yorker, Wired, and Bon Appétit.
November 6, 2025 at 6:19 PM
lost in the catastrophe that is American politics right now is how terrible corporate governance has become. democratic backsliding touches private institutions too, and the people who run some of the biggest orgs in the world have quietly devolved them into regressive fiefdoms.
the only thing i'm comfortable labeling "AI" is an LLM that can generate code. everything else is either a clever machine learning tool or an automated civil rights violation.
November 7, 2025 at 4:44 PM
the only thing i'm comfortable labeling "AI" is an LLM that can generate code. everything else is either a clever machine learning tool or an automated civil rights violation.
it's definitely ~odd~ that many of the so-called big names in AI research keep turning out to be monsters vs, say, food science researchers or people studying fish. wonder what's going on there.
Holy shit. Noam Shazeer, one of the original authors on the "Attention is All You Need" paper and Character.AI founder, came out as major transphobe. Like Trumpian levels of "this is child mutilation" of transphobia.
(via The Information)
(via The Information)
November 7, 2025 at 4:37 PM
it's definitely ~odd~ that many of the so-called big names in AI research keep turning out to be monsters vs, say, food science researchers or people studying fish. wonder what's going on there.
between Moonshot and Alibaba's Qwen, you can replicate the entire US AI stack with Chinese open source and/or local models. this is why OpenAI is scurrying into the shadow of the state.
China's progress with open-source models doesn't look like good news for the Silicon Valley AI boys venturebeat.com/ai/moonshots...
venturebeat.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:16 PM
between Moonshot and Alibaba's Qwen, you can replicate the entire US AI stack with Chinese open source and/or local models. this is why OpenAI is scurrying into the shadow of the state.
Reposted by C. Henry
Bombshell report exposes how Meta relied on scam ad profits to fund AI arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...
Bombshell report exposes how Meta relied on scam ad profits to fund AI
Meta goosed its revenue by targeting users likely to click on scam ads, docs show.
arstechnica.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Bombshell report exposes how Meta relied on scam ad profits to fund AI arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...
I have read similar accounts from testimony at truth and reconciliation commissions after civil conflict and mass violence under repressive regimes:
A family friend was telling us about what her husband shared about his experience in Broadview before he was deported back to Mexico. She's been sharing to friends and family because she's just in disbelief & horror what her husband told her. She wasn't able to talk to him until he was in Mexico.
November 7, 2025 at 1:07 PM
I have read similar accounts from testimony at truth and reconciliation commissions after civil conflict and mass violence under repressive regimes:
Reposted by C. Henry
LLMs are now widely used in social science as stand-ins for humans—assuming they can produce realistic, human-like text
But... can they? We don’t actually know.
In our new study, we develop a Computational Turing Test.
And our findings are striking:
LLMs may be far less human-like than we think.🧵
But... can they? We don’t actually know.
In our new study, we develop a Computational Turing Test.
And our findings are striking:
LLMs may be far less human-like than we think.🧵
Computational Turing Test Reveals Systematic Differences Between Human and AI Language
Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly used in the social sciences to simulate human behavior, based on the assumption that they can generate realistic, human-like text. Yet this assumption rem...
arxiv.org
November 7, 2025 at 11:13 AM
LLMs are now widely used in social science as stand-ins for humans—assuming they can produce realistic, human-like text
But... can they? We don’t actually know.
In our new study, we develop a Computational Turing Test.
And our findings are striking:
LLMs may be far less human-like than we think.🧵
But... can they? We don’t actually know.
In our new study, we develop a Computational Turing Test.
And our findings are striking:
LLMs may be far less human-like than we think.🧵
less than a month ago
November 7, 2025 at 6:34 AM
less than a month ago
Reposted by C. Henry
my latest: i spent weeks investigating how frustrations about data centers were about to swallow american politics…
…and then the 2025 election happened, proving the electoral impacts are already here.
read and share my deep dive on the bipartisan AI techlash shaping our elections before our eyes!
…and then the 2025 election happened, proving the electoral impacts are already here.
read and share my deep dive on the bipartisan AI techlash shaping our elections before our eyes!
The Data Center Backlash Is Swallowing American Politics
Activists on both the left and the right are pushing back against rampant AI development.
heatmap.news
November 6, 2025 at 9:13 PM
my latest: i spent weeks investigating how frustrations about data centers were about to swallow american politics…
…and then the 2025 election happened, proving the electoral impacts are already here.
read and share my deep dive on the bipartisan AI techlash shaping our elections before our eyes!
…and then the 2025 election happened, proving the electoral impacts are already here.
read and share my deep dive on the bipartisan AI techlash shaping our elections before our eyes!
lost in the catastrophe that is American politics right now is how terrible corporate governance has become. democratic backsliding touches private institutions too, and the people who run some of the biggest orgs in the world have quietly devolved them into regressive fiefdoms.
New: Conde Nast fired four employees who were among a group that confronted the company's head of human resources on Wednesday over the decision to fold Teen Vogue into Vogue/recent cuts. Employees who were fired included journalists from the New Yorker, Wired, and Bon Appétit.
November 6, 2025 at 6:19 PM
lost in the catastrophe that is American politics right now is how terrible corporate governance has become. democratic backsliding touches private institutions too, and the people who run some of the biggest orgs in the world have quietly devolved them into regressive fiefdoms.
which parts of your faith, exactly
oh, you know the ones
oh, you know the ones
Heritage Foundation having a normal one
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
November 6, 2025 at 2:25 PM
which parts of your faith, exactly
oh, you know the ones
oh, you know the ones
Reposted by C. Henry
It's hard for outsiders to quantify the horrific or fraudulent social media content.
Well:
Meta shows an "estimated 15 billion 'higher risk' scam" ads with signs of fraud daily.
"Meta earns about $7 billion in annualized revenue" from this scam ad category www.reuters.com/investigatio...
Well:
Meta shows an "estimated 15 billion 'higher risk' scam" ads with signs of fraud daily.
"Meta earns about $7 billion in annualized revenue" from this scam ad category www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com
November 6, 2025 at 1:07 PM
It's hard for outsiders to quantify the horrific or fraudulent social media content.
Well:
Meta shows an "estimated 15 billion 'higher risk' scam" ads with signs of fraud daily.
"Meta earns about $7 billion in annualized revenue" from this scam ad category www.reuters.com/investigatio...
Well:
Meta shows an "estimated 15 billion 'higher risk' scam" ads with signs of fraud daily.
"Meta earns about $7 billion in annualized revenue" from this scam ad category www.reuters.com/investigatio...
i remain fascinated at how the groyper war (really one single lengthy conflict rather than a series of them) continues to grow and spread inside the anti-democratic movement. the movement has typically been adept at harnessing internal conflict - but that was when they were out of power.
🚨 WaPo SCOOP: Inside the crisis at the Heritage Foundation
The group behind Project 2025 is facing a rebellion — and has been for months.
The Tucker Carlson/Nick Fuentes/antisemitism saga is just what caused it to break into the open.
🎁 Gift link:
The group behind Project 2025 is facing a rebellion — and has been for months.
The Tucker Carlson/Nick Fuentes/antisemitism saga is just what caused it to break into the open.
🎁 Gift link:
Heritage staff in open revolt over leader’s defense of Tucker Carlson
At least five members of Heritage’s antisemitism task force resigned after Roberts defended Carlson’s interview with antisemitic white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
wapo.st
November 6, 2025 at 1:03 PM
i remain fascinated at how the groyper war (really one single lengthy conflict rather than a series of them) continues to grow and spread inside the anti-democratic movement. the movement has typically been adept at harnessing internal conflict - but that was when they were out of power.