iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Journalists and academics must speak up. The atrocities must end. Silence means normalisation.

Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Looking forward to speaking at Aarhus University tomorrow about the visual politics and discursive struggles surrounding 'slopaganda'. The event will be held in Danish and also feature Lotte Philipsen, Ada Ida Fuglsang Poulsen, and Asker Bryld Staunæs. More info: arts.au.dk/aktuelt/arra...

arts.au.dk

Slopagandistisk Billedpolitik: Seminar om AI-slop, billedmagt og politisk æstetik

Seminaret afholdes på dansk og er rettet mod studerende, forskere, kunstnere og praktikere inden for billedteori, medier, politik og retorik samt alle andre nysgerrige.

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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Autoreply on ✔️ Back in August.

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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

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...

mm.dk

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...

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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

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

A photo of Péter Magyar with a supporter in 2024.

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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

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 😉

A screenshot from an explainer video on Slopaganda.
The title card says "Johan Farkas, Associate Professor".

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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

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).

A picture of the two books: 'Mass Communication and American Social Thought' and 'Social Theories of the Press'

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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

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-...

A screenshot of the event description for a free public lecture with Johan Farkas in Malmö on 25 March 2026

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Claes de Vreese @claesdevreese.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

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

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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

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...

dr.dk

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

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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

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/

johanfarkas.com

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…

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evacide @evacide.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

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...

svd.se

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’...

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Søren Torbjørn Svendsen @sorentsvendsen.eurosky.social · 28/02/2026

"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

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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

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...

dr.dk

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.

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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

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...

Entry on 'Propaganda' in the 'IPSA Companion to Political Science:
A Practical Introduction to the 200 Most Important Concepts'

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Commissioner for Human Rights @commissionerhr.coe.int · 23/02/2026

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...

coe.int

Regulate platforms, not children – Commissioner urges caution over social media bans - Commissioner for Human Rights - www.coe.int

Strasbourg 23 February 2026

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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

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."

Book cover for Post-Truth, Fake News and Democracy: Mapping the Politics of Falsehood

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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

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...

techcrunch.com

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."

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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

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...

doi.org

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...

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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

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...

A screenshot of the article 'Stop Fake Hate Profiles on Facebook': Challenges for Crowdsourced Activism on Social Media

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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

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...

youtube.com

Ini Kamoze - Trouble You Trouble Me

YouTube video by Marcio Carrasco

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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

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

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404 Media @404media.co · 25/01/2026

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.

404media.co

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.

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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

To explain authoritarian movements through echo chambers, filter bubbles, and misinformation is to deny their deliberateness.

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Ekaterina (Katja) Pashevich @cosmickate.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

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.

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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

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.

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Kolina Koltai @koltai.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

Our initial analysis is up. The video footage appears to show that the gun was taken away from the man before he was shot. He was UNARMED before any of the shots were fired.

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 24/01/2026

Minneapolis Police Chief O'Hara: "The video speaks for itself. We have identified this person - 37-year-old, white male, resident of the city. The only interaction that we are aware of with law enforcement has been for traffic tickets and we believe he is a lawfully gun owner with a permit to carry"

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 24/01/2026

The Star Tribune reports that federal agents "attempted to order local police from the scene" where a man was shot and killed by feds this morning, but Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara refused and "instructed his officers to preserve the scene."

startribune.com

Live: Man shot and killed by federal agents in south Minneapolis this morning, police chief says

A video appears to shows federal agents wrestling a man to the ground then shooting him.

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

ICE has now carried out two summary executions of innocent people in the streets of an American city. If you work for ICE, there's no denying that's the mission you're supporting now. You don't get to claim in one year or ten or twenty that you didn't know what ICE was doing. You're complicit.

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Wes Burdine @wesburdine.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

They’re fucking murdering us, man

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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

My 2-year-old has started saying: "I'm just doing my job" whenever I thank her for helping out. No idea where she picked it up but it feels like social commentary.

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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

Imagine being a professor and admitting this on Nature.com: "I used it [ChatGPT) as an assistant every day — to write e-mails, draft course descriptions, structure grant applications, revise publications, prepare lectures, create exams and analyse student responses" www.nature.com/articles/d41...

nature.com

When two years of academic work vanished with a single click

After turning off ChatGPT’s ‘data consent’ option, Marcel Bucher lost the work behind grant applications, teaching materials and publication drafts. Here’s what happened next.

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Aftertaf @aftertaf.theknowingbelievers.com · 23/01/2026

Reading material for a better 2026 (within if not without) @jfarkas.bsky.social 👍

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 18/01/2026

These so-called "patriotic" 🇬🇧newspapers who brought you Brexit were never really patriotic at all. They are driven by a disdain for Britain's European neighbours, and a fawning obsession with America. They do not really want 🇬🇧 to be sovereign. They're content being a 🇺🇸vassal.

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Claes de Vreese @claesdevreese.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

Important and well researched piece on the extensive (!) lobbying access of big tech platforms and AI companies. “A government of a sovereign state has a duty to its own citizens, not to the tech bros” www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

theguardian.com

Tech companies’ access to UK ministers dwarfs that of child safety groups

Exclusive: Amazon, Meta and X among firms holding hundreds of meetings with people at heart of government, data shows

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Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

If there's one empirical insight I'd want everyone to understand about American politics, it's this: America's problems are solved problems. Just not here. What would change if the US simply matched the average of 31 peer democracies? Not Denmark or Norway. Just the middle of the pack. 🧵

Screenshot of a data visualization titled “The Cost of American Exceptionalism,” subtitled “What would change if the U.S. matched the OECD average?” The page explains that each card shows how outcomes would change if the U.S. matched the average of 31 peer democracies. Below, a section labeled “Economy & Inequality” displays eight cards comparing U.S. figures to OECD averages. Highlights include: +$19K per household per year in redistributed income and +$96K in redistributed wealth if the top 1% matched OECD shares; a 71% lower CEO-to-worker pay ratio (from 354× to 101×); 50 million more workers with union coverage; 26 million more people with health insurance; $2.1 trillion saved annually in healthcare spending; $691 less per person per year in prescription drug costs; and intergenerational economic mobility being twice as high. Each card shows the U.S. value alongside the OECD average.

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Kean Birch @keanbirch.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

I'm co-chairing the Society for Social Studies of Science @4sweb.bsky.social Conference in Toronto, Oct 2026. #STS #scipol #innovation Theme: "TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures". Open panel submissions portal is open! ls! Deadline: 2nd February 2026 www.4sonline.org/about_the_co...

4sonline.org

About the Conference

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Social Media Lab @socialmedialab.ca · 14/01/2026

U.S. technology companies are seeking support from far-right parties in Europe for their legislative agenda.

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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

The NYT hits us with good old victim blaming: Greenland is a temptress.

An article from the New York Times claiming that Greenland "may be irresistible" to Trump

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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

A quiet joy of academic work: opening your inbox to abstracts from scholars you deeply admire, for an edited volume you can’t wait to read.

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