This is a very timely article from @dublincityuni.bsky.social colleague @jamesfitz2.bsky.social along with colleagues form @University of Rio de Janeiro - silencing critics in academia has a long tradition. doi.org/10.1080/0094...

Of Politics and Playbooks: Silencing Disinformation Research(ers) in Times of Autocracy

The enforced demise of Clyde Miller’s Institute for Propaganda Analysis—shuttered in 1942 amid accusations of communist sympathy and insufficient loyalty to the American ideal—resonates with coordi...

doi.org

⚖️ They argue that the Brazilian Supreme Court's robust judicial and regulatory responses demonstrate that even the most powerful platforms can be constrained, offering an imperfect blueprint for effectively curbing the excesses of the tech oligarchy.

👉 In this piece, the authors analyse the confrontation set by tech oligarchy, 'embodied' in Elon Musk and his platform X, against Brazil's Supreme Court and its rejection of Musk’s refusal to comply with judicial content moderation orders.

📢 Another interesting addition to the Forum on Tech Oligarchy! 📜 The article "Brazil’s supreme court on content moderation: national sovereignty versus tech oligarchy," by @jamesfitz2.bsky.social, Carlos Eduardo Barros, Debora S., and Rose Marie Santini is now available! 🔗 doi.org/10.1080/0950...

Brazil’s supreme court on content moderation: national sovereignty versus tech oligarchy

Published in Science as Culture (Ahead of Print, 2026)

doi.org

Join us on 26 Feb for our next Deep Thoughts Seminar with Dr James Fitzgerald (DCU): Silencing Disinformation Research(ers) in Times of Autocracy. Hybrid | 3pm GMT | Wine reception to follow Register: deeplab@ucd.ie (in person or Zoom) @jamesfitz2.bsky.social

Nina Jankowicz: “They’re not doing this because they have any evidence of censorship — they lost a Supreme Court case that made those claims… They’re doing this because the group of researchers and advocates have stood up to liars like Donald Trump and the platforms that enable them.”

Craig Aaron@notaaroncraig.bsky.social · 8mo ago

“Chilling and unconstitutional” — @attorneynora.bsky.social @freepress.bsky.social

Brazilian lawmakers are debating a bill that would expand the definition of terrorism to include the activities of organised crime. Piece by Dr James Fitzgerald @jamesfitz2.bsky.social, Associate Professor of Security Studies at DCU, for @uk.theconversation.com. Read here: launch.dcu.ie/3GbJdIu

My third of three pieces on the potential (re-)classification of organised crime as terrorism in Brazil. Published today in @theconversation.com @ufrjoficial.bsky.social theconversation.com/brazils-dang...

Brazil’s dangerous flirtation with counterterrorism

Brazilian lawmakers are debating a bill that would expand the definition of terrorism to include the activities of organised crime.

theconversation.com

Netanyahu has spent the better part of two decades trying to strong arm the United States into an unprovoked war against Iran and finally found a president stupid enough to do it for him. Unbelievable.

It’s a good thing Congress isn’t alive to see this

Based on crowd-sourced records of No Kings Day event turnout, and extrapolating for the cities where we don't have data yet, it looks like roughly 4-6 million people protested Trump across the U.S. yesterday. That's nearly 2% of the U.S. pop! Mobilized anti-Trump resistance is exceeding 2017 levels

"No Kings Day" protests turn out millions

Our unofficial estimate is that around 4 million people attended a protest event yesterday. Anti-Trump resistance is outpacing 2017.

gelliottmorris.com

it is Illegal to not enjoy this. www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Trump's Military Birthday Parade Was a Gross Failure

Trump got the expensive military parade he wanted on his birthday, courtesy of Lockheed Martin, Palantir, and American taxpayers.

rollingstone.com

I’m published today in @folha.com, Brazil’s paper of record. I argue against the motion that organised crime in Brazil be re-classified as ‘terrorism’. In the other ‘corner’, Cláudio Castro, the Governor of Rio de Janeiro, argues for the motion.

Folha de S.Paulo@folha.com · last yr.

#Opinião 📝 James Fitzgerald | O crime organizado deve ser enquadrado como terrorismo? NÃO. Facções não têm propósito político, mas interesse financeiro; estratégia de 'guerra ao terror' tende a corroer normas democráticas e processuais

This @willsommer.bsky.social piece, on MAGA influencers embedding with law enforcement to capture cruel images of migrants for their social media followings, really captures what I'm talking about in my piece below on MAGA's deep structural problem here. www.thebulwark.com/p/the-viciou...

Greg Sargent@gregsargent.bsky.social · last yr.

MAGA has a built-in problem. MAGA thrives on endlessly hyped enemies and fantasies of crushing them with emergency measures. But most voters don't thrill to this the way MAGA does. Stop assuming voters will turn off their brains every time Trump yells "boo." 7/ newrepublic.com/article/1966...

My piece “Brazil’s Precarious Counterterrorism Project” is published today, in Português, in Outras Palavras (Other Words), as part of ongoing collaboration with NetLab, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. outraspalavras.net/direita-assa...

Brasil: O perigoso projeto “contraterrorista” | Outras Palavras

Congresso debate proposta que equipara ação de grupos como o PCC a “terror”. É demagógica e ameaçadora. Ao dotar o Estado de carta-branca para perseguir e punir, ameaça a democracia, sob pretexto de e...

outraspalavras.net

75% of American researchers & scientists are considering leaving the US www.nature.com/articles/d41...

75% of US scientists who answered Nature poll consider leaving

More than 1,600 readers answered our poll; many said they were looking for jobs in Europe and Canada.

nature.com

Looking forward to presenting at this “International Workshop on Technology Justice For/From the Global South” tomorrow, at PUC-Minas, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Will speak about genealogies of (critical) terrorism studies and how it intersects with current perspectives in disinformation studies.

Latest article with NetLab, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, w/Rose Marie Santini and Débora Salles. The Extraction Ideology: Pro-agribusiness propaganda in times of climate emergency. @dublincityuni.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The extraction ideology: Brazilian pro-agribusiness propaganda in times of climate emergency

Almost a century since the birth of modern Propaganda Studies, familiar dynamics continue to drive the literature. With a majority of scholarship emanating from the Global North, localized and cult...

tandfonline.com

Ordem e progresso 🇧🇷 www.nytimes.com/2025/03/26/w...

Jair Bolsonaro Ordered to Face Trial in Brazil for Attempting a Coup

Brazil’s top court ruled that the former president will be tried over his role in a vast plot to cling to power after his 2022 election loss.

nytimes.com

While Grok holds only a small market share compared to ChatGPT’s 62.5% dominance, access to vast government databases could provide a crucial competitive advantage.

Remember our conversation in 2016? Data has become the oil of the 21st century, and Elon Musk’s pursuit of IRS taxpayer data represents a modern version of industrial monopoly building

Old friend just laid off by USDA, 1 mos short of his probationary period as senior researcher. Brilliant person who left a tenured faculty position several yrs ago to join USDA. Bright early-career researchers also being laid off. USDA is terminating a generation of highly-qualified scientists.

This is one gigantic five alarm fire.

Ben Goggin@bengoggin.bsky.social · 2y ago

NEW: DOGE-affiliated employee has accessed IRS system with sensitive taxpayer information www.nbcnews.com/politics/dog...

Mind boggling when you see the entire confirmed list of agencies with mass firing of probationary employees, :

What’s not a “journey” these days. Iconic mandatory cyber security journey vibes.

The best piece on Musk & DOGE that I’ve yet read. Finally, someone zones in on the video game vernacular that shapes so much of his (pathetic) behaviour and the juvenile frames by which his acts of destruction are carried out. There is no reset button. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/12/o...

Opinion | Look Past Elon Musk’s Chaos. There’s Something More Sinister at Work.

Everything is content.

nytimes.com

not a new observation but Elon Musk genuinely isn't very bright, genuinely has no idea how most things work, and his entire supergenius engineer persona is a tech press-enabled mythology (they've never been held accountable for)

My latest column just appeared in Science, entitled "Free speech, fact-checking, and the right to accurate information”. (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) I use one of President Trump’s first executive orders to unpack the terrain between misinformation and claims to free speech 1/n

Free speech, fact checking, and the right to accurate information

True to his campaign promises, on 20 January 2025, US President Donald Trump signed a broad range of Executive Orders, the scope of which ranged from renaming the Gulf of Mexico to “Gulf of America” t...

science.org

"Do online conspiracy theories have any impact? Do disinformation campaigns work?"

Scientists and journalists need to figure out right quick how to explain to the average person how a massive change in research indirects will impact the medical care they and their children get (eg at the local children’s hospital), the education their children will get, the price of tuition, etc.