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Johan Farkas

@jfarkas.bsky.social
8.1K followers 1.4K following 270 posts

Assistant Professor. Author of 'Post-Truth, Fake News and Democracy' (t.ly/1JHye), University of Copenhagen, Firstgen 🎓. he/him. Free access to my work: www.johanfarkas.com/research

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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I have given a few interviews over the past couple of days (in Danish). On the role of platforms in journalism: • Dansk Journalistforbund: djmk.dk/aktuelt/nyhe... On the Cornell 7 case: • P1 Radio (DR): www.dr.dk/lyd/special-... • Jyllands-Posten: jyllands-posten.dk/internationa...
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Tim Marchman @timmarchman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
NEW: Partially unsealed court filings show that ICE has been putting photos of people observing their activities into a Palantir-built database as well as tracking and intimidating them. @regret.bsky.social and @dmehro.bsky.social have the details:
wired.com
ICE Has Been Dumping Protester Photos Into a Palantir Database
DHS agents not only tracked and intimidated people observing ICE activity in Maine, but stored information about them in a Palantir-built database, newly unsealed court filings say.
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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I learned so much from my conversations with science curators and communicators at the Nordic Baltic Science Conference! Huge thanks to Experimentarium and the Nordic Science Centre Association for inviting me. Special thanks to Sheena Laursen and Lisbeth Husted Axelsen (who also took the picture)
Johan Farkas, Assistant Professor at the University of Copenhagen, giving a keynote lecture at the Experimentarium
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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Link to Smotrich's statements: www.timesofisrael.com/smotrich-isr...
timesofisrael.com
Smotrich: Israel must ‘go to war’ in West Bank, ‘do there what we did in Gaza’
Finance minister also calls on Israel to annex 'at least' up to the ceasefire line in Gaza and the Litani River in Lebanon to make enemies 'pay a price' for Oct. 7 and ensuing wars
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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Journalists and academics must speak up. The atrocities must end. Silence means normalisation.
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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
In Danish: Contributing to this article on Trump's latest attack on legacy news media and their counter-move to suspend White House pool coverage. jyllands-posten.dk/internationa...
jyllands-posten.dk
Medierne er gået sammen mod Trump: Præsidentens modsvar ligner noget, man ser i »Rusland og Nordkorea«
Det er ifølge en ekspert især opsigtsvækkende, at Trump tilsyneladende har mistet kontrollen over en gammel ven.
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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 · 18/07/2026
Looking forward to reading it! I've already enjoyed several articles in the special issue 😊
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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 · 26/04/2026
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...
radar.dk
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...
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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 · 14/03/2026
Weekend! 😊
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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Thank you. I think most academics would like to do it. But it takes a lot of work to actually make it happen 😊
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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
A screenshot from the segment 😊
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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
Here is the direct link to my entry on 'Propaganda': doi.org/10.1007/978-...
doi.org
Propaganda
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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
The review is available here: journalofcommunication.ro/index.php/jo... The introduction chapter of the book is available here: www.johanfarkas.com/post-truth-f...
journalofcommunication.ro
View of Book review of Post-Truth, Fake News and Democracy: Mapping the Politics of Falsehood (second edition), by Johan Farkas and Jannick Schou, Routledge, 2024, 219 pages
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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
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-...
berlingske.dk
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 ...
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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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Philip Di Salvo @philipdisalvo.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Tech billionaires fuel Donald Trump’s $429mn haul ahead of midterm elections: www.ft.com/content/5038...
ft.com
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
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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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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
It's only escalating... www.404media.co/elite-the-pa...
404media.co
‘ELITE’: The Palantir App ICE Uses to Find Neighborhoods to Raid
Internal ICE material and testimony from an official obtained by 404 Media provides the clearest link yet between the technological infrastructure Palantir is building for ICE and the agency’s activit...
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Johan Farkas @jfarkas.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
Resharing this one year later.
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Social Media Lab @socialmedialab.ca · 25/01/2026
"CNN video analysis sheds new light on killing of Alex Pretti" www.cnn.com/2026/01/25/u...
cnn.com
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...
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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
I'm definitely missing out on some content I enjoy because of the switch (deleting YT on my phone). But it's definitely worth it for me. And I've also found new creators i didn't know before
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