Johan Farkas
@jfarkas.bsky.social
Assistant Professor. Author of 'Post-Truth, Fake News and Democracy' (https://t.ly/1JHye), University of Copenhagen, Firstgen 🎓. he/him. Free access to my work: http://www.johanfarkas.com/research
What happens to democratic accountability when generative AI models mediate news and information? I reflect on these questions in a new interview (in Danish). While I am deeply concerned about the implications of generative AI, I also caution against techno-determinism. www.mm.dk/artikel/seks...
Seks grunde til, at chatbots udfordrer demokratiet - Mandag Morgen
Kildekritik bliver stadig mere afgørende i en fremtid, hvor AI-modeller ændrer medievaner og udfordrer demokratiet på mindst seks forskellige måder, siger medieforsker Johan Farkas. Men han er fortrøs...
mm.dk
For tech CEOs, making false promises has become a goal in itself. My new commentary (in Danish) examines the dangers of letting tech companies define our collective future. radar.dk/holdning/tec...
For Tech CEO's er brudte løfter blevet et mål i sig selv | Radar
Over det seneste årti har to tilsyneladende modstridende udviklinger præget verdens største teknologivirksomheder, herunder særligt Meta, Nvidia, Apple og Tesla. På den ene side har virksomhederne gan...
radar.dk
Democracy is about the possibility to imagine and build more solidaric ways of living together. In Hungary, this has been suppressed. I have my doubts about Hungary's new prime minister. But right now, I celebrate the hope for political alternatives. The photo shows my father with Magyar in 2024
What is 'slopaganda'? My university has made a short explainer with me on the topic: www.instagram.com/reels/DWYmNC... www.facebook.com/share/v/17JT... P.S. I’m still an Assistant Professor, but it’s nice to know that my institution thinks I’m ready for the next step 😉
So many current debates about media suffer from presentism, repeating old tropes and technological determinism. There's so much to learn from the history of media and communication studies. Recently expanded my own collection (after reviewing two proposals from Bloomsbury).
I'm giving a free public lecture in Malmö next week! Will talk about the relationship between democracy and trust. The talk will be in English, with a Q&A in 'Scandinavian' 😊. Looking forward to being back in Malmö! malmo.se/Uppleva-och-...
Just out: the new @vdeminstitute.bsky.social is clear: "The speed with which American democracy is currently dismantled is unprecedented in modern history" V-dem uses a global dataset on democracy with over 32 million data points for 202 countries, from 1789 to 2025. www.v-dem.net/documents/75...
v-dem.net
Made my daughter proud today: Was on Ultra Nyt, the news program for 9-14-year-olds on DR (Danish Broadcasting Corporation). The context is AI-generated content in the Danish elections. Available here (in Danish): www.dr.dk/drtv/episode...
DRTV - Ultra Nyt: Reagerer på politikernes AI-videoer
FAKE ELLER FAKTA: Vind din helt egen ø?! | Afgører videobattle | Hvad synes I om AI-videoer i valgkampen? | Udløber: 4. mar 2027
dr.dk
An occassional reminder that almost all my research is freely available on my website 😊. This includes recent work on propaganda, fact-checking, platform companies, and discourse analysis. www.johanfarkas.com/research/
Publications
Here, you can find an overview of my academic publications. I’ve made as much as possible freely available. To read and download, click on the titles. For publisher information/published vers…
johanfarkas.com
The data from your Meta Ray Bans is used to train Meta's AI, which most people don't understand means that humans are looking at the most intimate details of their lives. www.svd.se/a/K8nrV4/met...
She Came Out of the Bathroom Naked, Employee Says
Bank details, sex and naked people who seem unaware they are being recorded. Behind Meta’s new smart glasses lies a hidden workforce, uneasy about peering into the most intimate parts of other people’...
svd.se
"Det, vi skal holde øje med, er, hvor meget partierne og kandidaterne laver AI-slop med sig selv, og om de kommer til at bruge det imod politiske modstandere. For det kan hurtigt blive meget polariserende." #fv26 #dkpol
Johan Farkas@jfarkas.bsky.social · 5mo agoAI-slop has entered the Danish election campaigns. I contribute to a new article from DR (Danish Broadcasting Corporation) on the rise of such 'slopaganda' www.dr.dk/nyheder/poli...
AI-slop has entered the Danish election campaigns. I contribute to a new article from DR (Danish Broadcasting Corporation) on the rise of such 'slopaganda' www.dr.dk/nyheder/poli...
Partiernes AI-videoer vækker opsigt: Valgkampen præges af 'slopaganda'
Som vi kender det fra Donald Trump, tester danske partier grænserne for brugen af AI i valgkampen, siger forsker til DR.
dr.dk
What is propaganda? And what can the 20 most cited texts in political science from the past decade teach us about it? I address these questions in a new open access entry to IPSA Companion to Political Science. Freely available here: link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
Several European countries are considering social media bans for children. We must regulate platforms, not children. I urge caution: ✅ Focus on "safety by design" ✅ Demand algorithmic transparency ✅ Enforce the #DSA & #HumanRights standards Read my Shout Out👇 www.coe.int/en/web/commi...
Regulate platforms, not children – Commissioner urges caution over social media bans - Commissioner for Human Rights - www.coe.int
Strasbourg 23 February 2026
coe.int
Our book, Post-Truth, Fake News and Democracy, just received a new review: "By restoring the political stakes behind appeals to facticity, reason, and expertise, the authors expose how the rhetoric of truth can narrow, rather than expand, democratic participation."
When tech companies anthropomorphize AI, they also dehumanise people. Case in point: Sam Altman just said that we shouldn't worry about the climate impact of AI because humans eat food. techcrunch.com/2026/02/21/s...
Sam Altman would like to remind you that humans use a lot of energy, too | TechCrunch
"It also takes a lot of energy to train a human."
techcrunch.com
New research! Mette Bengtsson and I examine how European fact-checkers rhetorically defend partnerships with platform companies such as Meta (Facebook/Instagram) and ByteDance (TikTok). Published version: doi.org/10.1177/0267... (Free) pre-print: www.johanfarkas.com/wp-content/u...
Defending fact-checking partnerships with platform companies: ‘We can't fight alone against disinformation’ - Johan Farkas, Mette Bengtsson, 2026
This article investigates how professional fact-checkers defend collaborations with major platform companies such as Meta, Alphabet, and ByteDance. Drawing on 1...
doi.org
In Danish: Contributing to this story on how several news outlets wrongly linked a Danish politician to the Epstein files after confusing her with a Norwegian ambassador of the same name. www.berlingske.dk/kultur/mona-...
Mona Juul er »stiktosset«. Men billedfejl i Epstein-dækning kan forfølge hende, uanset hvad hun gør
Formanden for De Konservative er i internationale medier blevet forvekslet med en norsk navnesøster, der optræder i Epstein-filerne. Ifølge eksperter kan den slags digitale koblinger være meget svære ...
berlingske.dk
Sad to learn that the open access journal First Monday will cease to exist after 30 years of internet research. I published one of my very first articles there in 2017. Kudos to the editorial team. Hopes for an open access future. firstmonday.org/ojs/index.ph...
Tech billionaires fuel Donald Trump’s $429mn haul ahead of midterm elections: www.ft.com/content/5038...
Tech billionaires fuel Donald Trump’s $429mn haul ahead of midterm elections
[FREE TO READ] Executives seeking regulatory relief help make lame-duck president a potent political force with record fundraising
ft.com
RIP Sly Dunbar! What a legend. Will put on Ini Kamoze's debut album and pay respect. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j... www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzYq...
Ini Kamoze - Trouble You Trouble Me
YouTube video by Marcio Carrasco
youtube.com
It's the famous kettle logic: - The victim was a terrorist - The victim was wielding a weapon - Nobody wanted to see the victim dead - We already know what happened - We are currently investigating everything
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 6mo agoLeavitt: "Nobody in the White House, including President Trump, wants to see people getting hurt or killed in America's streets. This includes Renee Good, Alex Pretti, the brave men and women of law enforcement, and the many Americans who have been victimized by illegal alien criminals"
"CNN video analysis sheds new light on killing of Alex Pretti" www.cnn.com/2026/01/25/u...
CNN video analysis sheds new light on killing of Alex Pretti | CNN
CNN analyzed cellphone footage of immigration officers fatally shooting Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Taken together, they appear at odds with the Department of Homeland Security’s claims about the kill...
cnn.com
THREAD: 404 Media has been covering ICE and the technology they've been using to surveil and raid "targets", detain people based on a flawed facial recognition app, and lie about violence on the streets. They have established itself as an agency that cannot be trusted to live in or present reality.
DHS Is Lying To You About ICE Shooting a Woman
At least four videos show what really happened when ICE shot a woman in Minneapolis on Wednesday. DHS has established itself as an agency that cannot be trusted to live in or present reality.
404media.co
To explain authoritarian movements through echo chambers, filter bubbles, and misinformation is to deny their deliberateness.
Hank Green@hankgreen.bsky.social · 6mo agoDoes anyone have any idea how we break the echo chambers? No Trump voter in my family will ever know what actually happened to Alex Pretti or Renee Good. They will believe the officers were justified. They will watch Fox News and that will be the end of it.
Why do we still think they don’t know what’s going on? No, people consciously choose to believe what they want. They watch exactly what they choose. Have we considered that they are simply awful people? Or yes, you can say they are traumatized, they had bad childhood, anything can be explained.
Hank Green@hankgreen.bsky.social · 6mo agoDoes anyone have any idea how we break the echo chambers? No Trump voter in my family will ever know what actually happened to Alex Pretti or Renee Good. They will believe the officers were justified. They will watch Fox News and that will be the end of it.
Many rightly call out the insane hypocracy of gun rights advocates justifying murder because the victim carried a gun. Just want to add that authoritarian movements NEVER respect any of the principles they proclaim to follow. It's always only about rights of the in-group to terrorise out-groups.