Our latest episode of the Read Them Sideways podcast is a discussion between postdoctoral research fellow, Phoebe Matich and host Sebastian Svegaard. They chat about Phoebe's recently completed PhD, with a focus on misinformation and truth claims in Australian journalism.

Journalism, Misinformation and Truth Claims w/ Phoebe Matich (#44)

Read Them Sideways · Episode

open.spotify.com

I could not make it to march yesterday in support of protestors in Iran, so I listened to this podcast again. And I really recommend it.

Ehsan Dehghan@essideh.com · 6mo ago

I had a chat with @pardisyarahmadi.bsky.social about the situation in Iran, and the horrors hidden behind and by the digital blackout. If you'd like to know more about the context and how you can help, have a listen.

Hey BlueSky, most of you have access to internet connectivity that the people of Iran currently do not. Do me a favour and share this podcast episode from the DMRC Digital Publics group. We can no longer accept catastrophic silence. Solidarity means paying attention and creating visibility

The Iranian digital blackout, and how you can help (#37)

Podcast Episode · Read Them Sideways · 02/02/2026 · 53m

podcasts.apple.com

I had a chat with @pardisyarahmadi.bsky.social about the situation in Iran, and the horrors hidden behind and by the digital blackout. If you'd like to know more about the context and how you can help, have a listen.

QUT Digital Media Research Centre@qutdmrc.bsky.social · 6mo ago

The Read Them Sideways podcast is back from summer hiatus! Our first episode of 2026 welcomes Ehsan Dehghan and Pardis Yarahmadi to discuss the ongoing Iranian digital blackout, its implications, and how digital activism can assist. An important listen for your Monday!

What is happening in Iran is horrifying. And the silence is deafening. The people of Iran deserve to have their fight and plight seen and heard - at the very least.

Lenore Taylor@lenoret.bsky.social · 6mo ago

www.theguardian.com/global-devel... Catching up on stories from this week... "...the killings bore the hallmarks of executions. Medical workers..described receiving bodies with close-range gunshot wounds to the head that had been transferred from hospital morgues while still attached to catheters...

The social media age ban started today. Hear more about what it means for the younger ones, where it all started, and where it may take us in the future, from the DMRC director @antmandan.bsky.social:

QUT Digital Media Research Centre@qutdmrc.bsky.social · 8mo ago

We have your morning commute listening for Wednesday lined up... 👂🔊 DMRC Director Daniel Angus (@antmandan.bsky.social) spoke with the Read Them Sideways podcast team about the social media ban, the implications, and what to expect in the future. open.spotify.com/episode/6IES...

PhD researcher Kate FitzGerald has a new article out in The Conversation today looking at generative AI chatbots and conspiracy theories.

AI chatbots are encouraging conspiracy theories – new research

If you interact with chatbots about conspiracy theories, research shows you can can easily fall down the rabbit hole.

theconversation.com

Looking forward to kicking this project off with a dream team!

QUT Digital Media Research Centre@qutdmrc.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Congratulations to DMRC investigator Ehsan Dehghan (@essideh.com) and colleagues across Australia for their 2026 Discovery Project! This project examines the public sphere responses and domestic divides caused by foreign conflicts, to find what fosters or hinders deliberation across difference.

Hey #AoIR2025 participants, the upcoming @qutdmrc.bsky.social Summer School will be highly relevant to many of you:

Axel Bruns@snurb.info · 10mo ago

Join us for the 2026 @qutdmrc.bsky.social Summer School – registration opens next Monday !

A highly recommended read: policyreview.info/articles/ana...

Facebook, the EU and Russia’s war: Challenges of moderating authoritarian news

Despite several measures to curb their visibility, this study shows how Facebook mediates predominantly Russian state-aligned news during Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine

policyreview.info

I had a lot of fun chatting with Klaus (@klaus.bsky.social) about The Discursive-Digital Link. You can listen to the episode on the Read Them Sideways podcast.

QUT Digital Media Research Centre@qutdmrc.bsky.social · 11mo ago

After a brief hiatus, the Read Them Sideways podcast is back! In this week's episode, Klaus Groebner (@gklaus.bsky.social) interviews Dr Ehsan Dehghan (@essideh.com) about his new book: The Discursive-Digital Link. Listen to Klaus and Ehsan chat about the new book below!

BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT! @mahliann.bsky.social, @marcuscarter.com, and myself have combined our collective brains and written a wide-reaching introduction to the complex and interdisciplinary field of Game Studies in this forthcoming book for Polity. www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?b...

Very excited to share that my book, The Discursive-Digital Link, is now available for pre-order on Routledge: tinyurl.com/the-ddl. The e-book is already available to order with a 30% discount! You can also read the synopsis and the Introduction chapter on my website: essideh.com/ddl/ (thread)

On May 28, I'll be the keynote speaker at the Inaugural conference of Congreso H (Hermes) in Spain, online edition. I'll talk about the reinvention of journalistic verifiability across platforms and AI ecosystems. My first time presenting my research in Spanish! www.congresoh.com/schedule/con...

Brilliant comments/thread! Very well put, Tim

Timothy Graham@timothyjgraham.bsky.social · last yr.

Here's me saying it like it is regarding Elon Musk and X as a propaganda tool that is increasingly biased towards the far right. The article is in French - in this thread are some auto-translated excerpts from my comments. Shout out to @markandrejevic.bsky.social www.rtbf.be/article/comm...

Made it to my final seminar (thesis pre-defence) today - thanks to the efforts and support of my supervisors, research participants, and many others.

Axel Bruns@snurb.info · last yr.

Wonderful to see another excellent @qutdmrc.bsky.social PhD student reach her final seminar milestone – @kkasianenko.bsky.social with a thesis on cosmopolitan responses to the Russian war on Ukraine. 🇺🇦 🫶

Wonderful to see another excellent @qutdmrc.bsky.social PhD student reach her final seminar milestone – @kkasianenko.bsky.social with a thesis on cosmopolitan responses to the Russian war on Ukraine. 🇺🇦 🫶

Serving on the PhD admission committee this year. We're offering two scholarships in Digital Culture and Communication—one specifically for international candidates. Know talented candidates passionate about digital culture? Send them our way! Details: www.uniurb.it/concorsi/9085

Abbiamo pubblicato un nuovo bando nella sezione PhD - Dottorati di Ricerca / SU. Per informazioni, clicca qui.

Avviso pubblicato il giorno 8/5/2025 con scadenza 10/6/2025

uniurb.it

"At the root of our problems with social media is... a mistake: that we delegated to profit-seeking businesses what I call “the space of the world”." Read @couldrynick.bsky.social s piece for @lsereviewofbooks.bsky.social blogs.lse.ac.uk/inequalities...

🗽 Big day for new publications: the special issue of _Comunicazione Politica_ that @gboccia.bsky.social, @essideh.com, Laura Iannelli, and I edited has now come out, and includes our introduction on Fringe Democracy and the Platformisation of the Public Sphere. www.rivisteweb.it/do...

Remember when social media was sometimes good, thanks to users and what they built? We do! Please check out this 'minor history' of Twttr and its community-created bots from @domcarlon.bsky.social @kkasianenko.bsky.social & me, out now in Convergence journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

The lives and afterlives of community-created bots on Twitter: A minor history - Dominique Carlon, Jean Burgess, Kateryna Kasianenko, 2025

This article presents a minor history of the beneficial community-created bots that once flourished on Twitter, showcasing their important but overlooked role i...

journals.sagepub.com

💡 NEW ARTICLE ALERT 💡 My article with @qutdmrc.bsky.social colleagues @kkasianenko.bsky.social, @vishneww.bsky.social, @essideh.com, and @voddenlaura.bsky.social is now out in Social Media + Society. We introduce a new analytics method: #PracticeMapping. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Untangling the Furball: A Practice Mapping Approach to the Analysis of Multimodal Interactions in Social Networks - Axel Bruns, Kateryna Kasianenko, Vish Padinjaredath Suresh, Ehsan Dehghan, Laura Vod...

This article introduces the analytical approach of practice mapping, using vector embeddings of network actions and interactions to map commonalities and disjun...

journals.sagepub.com

"It is not about whether such technology will be good or bad for society... those who control the production and use of information technology will shape it in ways that are good for some and destructive for others" (Mosco, 1982, p. 8)

Our @techpolicypress.bsky.social article is based on our recent paper examining Community Notes through the lens of humour. We find that CN enacts a narrow conception of disinformation that is ill-equipped to address hate and harm. eprints.qut.edu.au/254907/1/Mat...

Tech Policy Press@techpolicypress.bsky.social · 2y ago

Nadia Jude and Dr. Ariadna Matamoros-Fernández find the “Community Notes” model –which combines automation with the ‘wisdom’ of user crowds– is ill-equipped to address hate-fuelled, harmful narratives often deeply entwined with disinformation.

Our piece on Community Notes and its narrow understanding of the disinformation problem is now live on @techpolicypress.bsky.social. It is based on our paper on the topic, which can be found here: eprints.qut.edu.au/254907/1/Mat...

Tech Policy Press@techpolicypress.bsky.social · 2y ago

Nadia Jude and Dr. Ariadna Matamoros-Fernández find the “Community Notes” model –which combines automation with the ‘wisdom’ of user crowds– is ill-equipped to address hate-fuelled, harmful narratives often deeply entwined with disinformation.

Our article 'The discursive function of the Meta Newsroom' is out! In it, me, @essideh.com, @voddenlaura.bsky.social, and @antmandan.bsky.social examine how Meta's blog framed issues to do with mis/disinfo, hate speech, etc on Meta platforms during 2016-2021. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

🚨🚨 New publication with @eddyhurc.bsky.social, @antmandan.bsky.social, and @voddenlaura.bsky.social: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... (thread below)

Pre-orders are now open for AGE OF DOUBT. Edited by Tracey Kirkland and Gavin Fang, this book is a collection of essays by global experts on trust in the world today. My essay looks at bots and moral panic as we hurtle into the future of Generative AI. publishing.monash.edu/product/age-...

Age of Doubt - Monash University Publishing

Today, trust seems harder to find than ever before. It's hardly surprising we feel that way. Our politics is polarised, our online world is awash with misinformation, and we’ve lost faith in our bedro...

publishing.monash.edu

Amidst Meta's content moderation changes, @nadiajude.bsky.social and I have a new paper in press on how the 'Community Notes' model corrects narrow understandings of the disinformation problem eprints.qut.edu.au/254907/1/Mat... We're also preparing a piece for Tech Policy Press that we'll share soon

Some reflections with colleagues @nedwatt.bsky.social and @riedlinm.bsky.social at @theconvo-bot.bsky.social on Meta's decision to end its professionally funded fact-checking model in its platforms and adopt the X crowdsourcing model with a new 'community notes'👇 theconversation.com/meta-is-aban...

Meta is abandoning fact checking – this doesn’t bode well for the fight against misinformation

Numerous studies have shown that fact checking has helped reduce the spread of misinformation and disinformation online.

theconversation.com