Kate Starbird
@katestarbird.bsky.social
Researcher of online rumors & disinformation. Former basketball player. Prof at University of Washington, HCDE. Co-founder of the UW Center for an Informed Public. Personal account: Views may not reflect those of my employer. #RageAgainstTheBullshitMachine
Pinned
Kate Starbird
@katestarbird.bsky.social
· Mar 27
A Spotlight on Rumors
YouTube video by UW (University of Washington)
www.youtube.com
On Feb 24, I gave a lecture at UW explaining what my team's decade-plus research on online rumors during crises reveals about the right wing "bullshit machine." Fittingly, a lightning strike impacted the original audio. Here's a fixed version w/ the full transcript: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjiG...
Reposted by Kate Starbird
Is it possible that whole “free speech” and “ending censorship” thing was all just a setup by election deniers and useful idiots to work platform referees into serving their objectives? 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔 Maybe there was no “censorship industrial complex” and these ppl never gave a shit ab free speech. 🙊
November 30, 2025 at 2:58 AM
Is it possible that whole “free speech” and “ending censorship” thing was all just a setup by election deniers and useful idiots to work platform referees into serving their objectives? 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔 Maybe there was no “censorship industrial complex” and these ppl never gave a shit ab free speech. 🙊
Reposted by Kate Starbird
🚨 New working paper 🚨
Can LLMs with reasoning + web search reliably fact-check political claims?
We evaluated 15 models from OpenAI, Google, Meta, and DeepSeek on 6,000+ PolitiFact claims (2007–2024).
Short answer: Not reliably—unless you give them curated evidence.
arxiv.org/abs/2511.18749
Can LLMs with reasoning + web search reliably fact-check political claims?
We evaluated 15 models from OpenAI, Google, Meta, and DeepSeek on 6,000+ PolitiFact claims (2007–2024).
Short answer: Not reliably—unless you give them curated evidence.
arxiv.org/abs/2511.18749
November 29, 2025 at 10:06 PM
🚨 New working paper 🚨
Can LLMs with reasoning + web search reliably fact-check political claims?
We evaluated 15 models from OpenAI, Google, Meta, and DeepSeek on 6,000+ PolitiFact claims (2007–2024).
Short answer: Not reliably—unless you give them curated evidence.
arxiv.org/abs/2511.18749
Can LLMs with reasoning + web search reliably fact-check political claims?
We evaluated 15 models from OpenAI, Google, Meta, and DeepSeek on 6,000+ PolitiFact claims (2007–2024).
Short answer: Not reliably—unless you give them curated evidence.
arxiv.org/abs/2511.18749
I’m old enough to remember… oh never mind. These hypocrites don’t give a damn about their hypocrisy. They spend years falsely accusing various members of “the left” of doing what they have absolutely no problem and no shame doing themselves. The “censorship industrial complex” scam.
The White House web site now includes a "media bias" tracker with a leaderboard and an offender hall of shame. www.whitehouse.gov/mediabias/
November 30, 2025 at 12:46 AM
I’m old enough to remember… oh never mind. These hypocrites don’t give a damn about their hypocrisy. They spend years falsely accusing various members of “the left” of doing what they have absolutely no problem and no shame doing themselves. The “censorship industrial complex” scam.
Reposted by Kate Starbird
The White House launched a “media bias” “fact checking” site after more than three years of labeling efforts to understand and counter disinformation “censorship.”
It’s just another enemies list in disguise ⤵️
It’s just another enemies list in disguise ⤵️
November 30, 2025 at 12:24 AM
The White House launched a “media bias” “fact checking” site after more than three years of labeling efforts to understand and counter disinformation “censorship.”
It’s just another enemies list in disguise ⤵️
It’s just another enemies list in disguise ⤵️
Reposted by Kate Starbird
Have you signed up for one of our phonebanks yet? It takes just a few minutes, and makes a huge difference!
This race is down to the wire, and we're leaving it all on the field. Sign up today!
Fri & Mon: tr.ee/final-sprint
Sat (with @jimmcgovernma.bsky.social !) & Sun: tr.ee/weekend-phonebank
This race is down to the wire, and we're leaving it all on the field. Sign up today!
Fri & Mon: tr.ee/final-sprint
Sat (with @jimmcgovernma.bsky.social !) & Sun: tr.ee/weekend-phonebank
November 27, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Have you signed up for one of our phonebanks yet? It takes just a few minutes, and makes a huge difference!
This race is down to the wire, and we're leaving it all on the field. Sign up today!
Fri & Mon: tr.ee/final-sprint
Sat (with @jimmcgovernma.bsky.social !) & Sun: tr.ee/weekend-phonebank
This race is down to the wire, and we're leaving it all on the field. Sign up today!
Fri & Mon: tr.ee/final-sprint
Sat (with @jimmcgovernma.bsky.social !) & Sun: tr.ee/weekend-phonebank
Reposted by Kate Starbird
Nearly every mechanism that made my career possible—Ford, NSF, Harvard BiGS—is gone or on the way to the chopping block.
This means NSF dissertation improvement grants in the social sciences are simply...not happening.
NEW from me - NSF cancels grant scheme for social science research.
Seems the NSF quietly archived ALL calls for DDRIG grants in the SBE directorate. This is a massive blow for PhD students wanting to do cutting-edge social science research. 🏺🧪
Seems the NSF quietly archived ALL calls for DDRIG grants in the SBE directorate. This is a massive blow for PhD students wanting to do cutting-edge social science research. 🏺🧪
November 27, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Nearly every mechanism that made my career possible—Ford, NSF, Harvard BiGS—is gone or on the way to the chopping block.
First, they rewired information spaces (exploiting attention dynamics & inherent vulnerabilities of social & digital media). Building upon that advantage, they reconfigured the political systems. Now, they use both to shift values into something that would have been unrecognizable mere months ago.
It's not just that the United States has stopped trying to promote liberal democratic ideas internationally. It's that the United States is actively trying to promote the contrary. It's trying to turn more countries into Hungary.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
U.S. to Press Europe and Other Allies on ‘Mass Migration,’ Document Says
www.nytimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 12:11 AM
First, they rewired information spaces (exploiting attention dynamics & inherent vulnerabilities of social & digital media). Building upon that advantage, they reconfigured the political systems. Now, they use both to shift values into something that would have been unrecognizable mere months ago.
Reposted by Kate Starbird
Everything is so ridiculous and dumb right now (and not just in the US) that I had to laugh at the news of the volcano. Like, really, now?? Read the room, magma!
November 26, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Everything is so ridiculous and dumb right now (and not just in the US) that I had to laugh at the news of the volcano. Like, really, now?? Read the room, magma!
As someone who lives in Seattle, I find this news disconcerting.
November 26, 2025 at 11:52 PM
As someone who lives in Seattle, I find this news disconcerting.
Reposted by Kate Starbird
"Fractured Facts: How Generative AI Fuels Anti-Immigrant Misinformation" socialmedialab.ca/2025/11/25/f...
Fractured Facts: How Generative AI Fuels Anti-Immigrant Misinformation - Social Media Lab
Most conversations about AI focus on convenience, like how it drafts emails or speeds up everyday tasks, but the real story runs deeper. As Philip Mai shared at the Pathways to Prosperity Conference i...
socialmedialab.ca
November 26, 2025 at 1:33 PM
"Fractured Facts: How Generative AI Fuels Anti-Immigrant Misinformation" socialmedialab.ca/2025/11/25/f...
Reposted by Kate Starbird
They thought we, being radical leftists apparently, would put a "DOGE sucks" type of message onto government websites or into government communication systems
My evidence for that: the right did exactly this to government websites. So they were projecting what they planned to do onto us.
My evidence for that: the right did exactly this to government websites. So they were projecting what they planned to do onto us.
November 26, 2025 at 2:44 AM
They thought we, being radical leftists apparently, would put a "DOGE sucks" type of message onto government websites or into government communication systems
My evidence for that: the right did exactly this to government websites. So they were projecting what they planned to do onto us.
My evidence for that: the right did exactly this to government websites. So they were projecting what they planned to do onto us.
Reposted by Kate Starbird
Being among the first interrogated and ultimately fired by DOGE, I certainly felt we were facing the business end of a right-wing conspiracy theory 🧵
DOGE was not a money-saving effort. It was an effort to chase down and prove right-wing conspiracy theories. They went after USAID to prove conspiracy theories about foreign aid. Then they went after SSA to, again, pursue conspiracy theories about Dems paying "illegals" to vote. 1/2
All DOGE accomplished was purging critical government staff, handing private data to outsiders, and sentencing thousands in developing countries to death by gutting USAID.
I don’t say this lightly: if there were any justice in this world, the people responsible for this devastation would be in jail
I don’t say this lightly: if there were any justice in this world, the people responsible for this devastation would be in jail
November 26, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Being among the first interrogated and ultimately fired by DOGE, I certainly felt we were facing the business end of a right-wing conspiracy theory 🧵
Reposted by Kate Starbird
Interested in working for Bellingcat? Bellingcat US is hiring a Director of Development and Partnerships, details here:
www.on-ramps.com/jobs/3518
www.on-ramps.com/jobs/3518
Bellingcat US | Director of Development and Partnerships
Bellingcat is an independent community of researchers, investigators, and citizen journalists who pioneered open source investigations tools. With precision and perseverance, Bellingcat exposes everyt...
www.on-ramps.com
November 21, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Interested in working for Bellingcat? Bellingcat US is hiring a Director of Development and Partnerships, details here:
www.on-ramps.com/jobs/3518
www.on-ramps.com/jobs/3518
Reposted by Kate Starbird
Nothing to worry about, just a US official advising our nuclear-armed adversary how to manipulate the President of the United States, a notoriously weak-minded mark
November 25, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Nothing to worry about, just a US official advising our nuclear-armed adversary how to manipulate the President of the United States, a notoriously weak-minded mark
Reposted by Kate Starbird
NEW: AI “recipe slop” is overrunning search and social. Food creators say Google’s AI Overviews and glossy fake food pics are drowning out real, tested recipes — collapsing traffic and setting home cooks up for disaster, especially this Thanksgiving.
Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
AI Slop Recipes Are Taking Over the Internet -- And Thanksgiving Dinner
Food bloggers see traffic dip as home cooks turn to AI, inspired by impossible pictures
www.bloomberg.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:16 PM
NEW: AI “recipe slop” is overrunning search and social. Food creators say Google’s AI Overviews and glossy fake food pics are drowning out real, tested recipes — collapsing traffic and setting home cooks up for disaster, especially this Thanksgiving.
Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Also damning (and perhaps even more meaningful in retrospect) is how Jack was in there RTing Crystal1Johnson, revealing how the “new elites” of Twitter have long been high on their own supply (of disinformation). Jack just got his from the Gabbard wing of the “left” and now Elon from the hard right
Here it is, the most damning academic figure in the history of all figures: Russian IRA accounts deeply embedded in both sides of the 2016 Twitter BLM "discussion" (by @katestarbird.bsky.social & team, 2018).
THIS is what our information ecosystem supports. Twitter just made it 1% more visible.
THIS is what our information ecosystem supports. Twitter just made it 1% more visible.
November 25, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Also damning (and perhaps even more meaningful in retrospect) is how Jack was in there RTing Crystal1Johnson, revealing how the “new elites” of Twitter have long been high on their own supply (of disinformation). Jack just got his from the Gabbard wing of the “left” and now Elon from the hard right
Reposted by Kate Starbird
Honored to serve on Mayor-elect @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social Transition Committee on Technology. For too long, too many New Yorkers have been left behind. NYC deserves governance that centers affordability, equity, and the public good-looking forward to the work ahead. www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news...
NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announces transition committees
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced Monday the creation of 17 transition advisory committees made up of more than 400 people.
www.cbsnews.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Honored to serve on Mayor-elect @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social Transition Committee on Technology. For too long, too many New Yorkers have been left behind. NYC deserves governance that centers affordability, equity, and the public good-looking forward to the work ahead. www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news...
Reposted by Kate Starbird
I can think of no more important time to be doing work with this extraordinary community at UW
The UW Center for an Informed Public is looking for postdocs (for 2026-2028) from across diverse disciplines whose research sheds light on the challenges of our modern information environment, promotes civic health, and/or helps people/communities navigate online spaces: apply.interfolio.com/177901
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:11 PM
I can think of no more important time to be doing work with this extraordinary community at UW
Reposted by Kate Starbird
The Center for an Informed Public is a bright spot in the current gloom about researching our modern information environment. Definitely encourage early career researchers from all sorts of disciplines to apply.
The UW Center for an Informed Public is looking for postdocs (for 2026-2028) from across diverse disciplines whose research sheds light on the challenges of our modern information environment, promotes civic health, and/or helps people/communities navigate online spaces: apply.interfolio.com/177901
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:48 PM
The Center for an Informed Public is a bright spot in the current gloom about researching our modern information environment. Definitely encourage early career researchers from all sorts of disciplines to apply.
“…the notion that there might be false labels could give any bad actor the ability to claim they’ve been mislabeled…the final post-truthification of a platform that long ago pivoted [to what] journalist Peter Pomerantsev [describes in] post-Soviet Russia: Nothing is true and everything is possible.”
I wrote about the fake account blowup on X this weekend. A genuine post-truth nightmare and proof that these companies have polluted their platforms so thoroughly and traded reality for profit that they've undermined the very idea of what the internet is supposed to be.
That MAGA Account Might Be a Troll From Pakistan
How X blew up its own platform with a new location feature
www.theatlantic.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:10 PM
“…the notion that there might be false labels could give any bad actor the ability to claim they’ve been mislabeled…the final post-truthification of a platform that long ago pivoted [to what] journalist Peter Pomerantsev [describes in] post-Soviet Russia: Nothing is true and everything is possible.”
Reposted by Kate Starbird
Someone very close to Putin once explained to me that Putin thinks that all Westerners can be bought. We have no values; only a price. Dmitriev's prominent role in drafting the latest "peace plan" underscores that Putin assessment. I hope Putin is wrong. I fear for some, he might be right.
November 24, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Someone very close to Putin once explained to me that Putin thinks that all Westerners can be bought. We have no values; only a price. Dmitriev's prominent role in drafting the latest "peace plan" underscores that Putin assessment. I hope Putin is wrong. I fear for some, he might be right.
The UW Center for an Informed Public is looking for postdocs (for 2026-2028) from across diverse disciplines whose research sheds light on the challenges of our modern information environment, promotes civic health, and/or helps people/communities navigate online spaces: apply.interfolio.com/177901
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:26 PM
The UW Center for an Informed Public is looking for postdocs (for 2026-2028) from across diverse disciplines whose research sheds light on the challenges of our modern information environment, promotes civic health, and/or helps people/communities navigate online spaces: apply.interfolio.com/177901
The UW Center for an Informed Public is looking for nominations of folks making a difference towards promoting civic health and helping people and communities navigate the complex information systems that we all seem to be caught up in. If you know of someone making impact, please nominate them!
🧵We're seeking nominations for the CIP Award for Impact & Excellence, which recognizes outstanding contributions, achievements or bodies of work that advance civic health and promote an informed society by helping individuals, communities and institutions navigate complex information challenges.
November 24, 2025 at 6:18 PM
The UW Center for an Informed Public is looking for nominations of folks making a difference towards promoting civic health and helping people and communities navigate the complex information systems that we all seem to be caught up in. If you know of someone making impact, please nominate them!
Reposted by Kate Starbird
X turned on account location, and immediately turned it off again--because it showed that your "farmer in Michigan" is really a paid troll in Bangladesh. We need a social network that shows where content is from.
asbruckman.medium.com/x-added-acco...
With cites to @katestarbird.bsky.social
asbruckman.medium.com/x-added-acco...
With cites to @katestarbird.bsky.social
X added account location — and turned it off hours later.
A window onto what is most broken about the internet.
asbruckman.medium.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:05 PM
X turned on account location, and immediately turned it off again--because it showed that your "farmer in Michigan" is really a paid troll in Bangladesh. We need a social network that shows where content is from.
asbruckman.medium.com/x-added-acco...
With cites to @katestarbird.bsky.social
asbruckman.medium.com/x-added-acco...
With cites to @katestarbird.bsky.social
Social media could work differently. We teach digital literacy, but ppl often can’t apply those lessons w/in systems that obscure where info comes from & how it gets to them. What might social media look like if users had better signals of information provenance? www.rawstory.com/maga-foreign...
Internet erupts as MAGA influencers exposed for being based in other countries
A large number of MAGA social media influencers were exposed over the weekend as being being based in other countries.Podcaster Matt Binder posted screenshots showing that Charlie’s Voice Rising, a po...
www.rawstory.com
November 23, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Social media could work differently. We teach digital literacy, but ppl often can’t apply those lessons w/in systems that obscure where info comes from & how it gets to them. What might social media look like if users had better signals of information provenance? www.rawstory.com/maga-foreign...