De Gruyter Handbook of Digital Political Communication, published July 2026 I have a chapter in the recently published De Gruyter Handbook of Digital Political Communication. Many thanks to the fantastic editors, Mark Wheeler and & Petros Iosifidis for the invitation, and for pulling together such an excellent volume. My chapter is entitled ‘Ethical Dilemmas in Researching Sousveillance on YouTube Revisited’.

People Make Research, University of Glasgow I am pleased to share the news that the College of Social Sciences Ethics has been nominated for the University of Glasgow's People Make Research Collaboration award. Since taking over as College Ethics Lead in January I have been greatly impressed by the constructive comments, professionalism and rigour demonstrated by members of the CoSS Ethics Committee.

I have three new articles out on the role of social media in the violent disorder seen in Northern Ireland last week. On Friday I was interviewed by Derek Healey for an article in The Sunday Post. We discussed whether further racist violence was likely over the summer, and the role of social media in fuelling this violence. I suggested that there was a playbook where far-right agitators like Tommy Robinson use their online presence to whip up tensions around immigration.

I have three new articles out on the role of social media in the violent disorder seen in Northern Ireland this week. On Wednesday I wrote for the  Conversation UK on how social media had been used by far-right agitators like Tommy Robinson to incite violence in Belfast and other towns. I argued that while more could be done to prevent online hate and misinformation, the toxic discourse around immigration was a bigger problem.

Interview on ZDFheute Nachricten, 10 June Yesterday I was interviewed by German public service broadcaster ZDF about the racist violence in Northern Ireland over the past few days. Anti-immigration protests and related violence have taken place in Belfast and several other towns in the region, sparked by a knife attack by a Sudanese man on Monday night. I commented on the role of far-right agitators and online platforms in the coordination of the protests. Thanks to Joe Evans for the interview. You can view the segment below (from 09:56 onwards).

Book launch event, 24 June 2026 The launch event for Bad News on the Cost of Living Crisis will be held in a few weeks' time. It will be jointly sponsored by the Glasgow University Media Group and Red Pepper Magazine. Please see below for details on the speakers and venue. Details on how to register can be found here: …

Memes posted in aftermath of Nicola Sturgeon interview on Laura Kuenssberg show Yesterday I was interviewed by Steph Brawn (The National). We discussed the public reaction to former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's interview on the BBC Laura Kuenssberg show. Many online commenters have questioned her claims that she was completely unaware of estranged husband Peter Murrell's embezzlement of SNP party funds.

Representing CoSS at Kid Reporters Knowledge Exchange event In March 2026 I represented the College of Social Sciences in the kid Reporters Knowledge Exchange programme. This collaboration between the University of Glasgow and Hillhead Primary School brought 90 school children to campus to learn more about the media, digital storytelling, and the University’s research. My contribution revolved around how to stay safe online.

I am a contributor to a Glasgow University Media Group book published last week. Bad news on the cost of living crisis explores media representations and audience responses to the COLC in the United Kingdom over the past few years. The blurb of the book is below: In this book, the Glasgow University Media Group bring their innovative and forensic three-dimensional methodological approach to understanding the role of media in shaping Britain’s cost of living crisis. 

On Wednesday I was an invited contributor to a panel organised by The Ferret. Entitled AI, misinformation and the Scottish election, the focus was on how best to respond to mis-and disinformation in Scotland. Ali Brian (The Ferret), Digdem Soyaltin Colella (University of Aberdeen) and I discussed a variety of topics, including how bad actors use AI-images to pollute political discourse online, the vectors of misinformation in contemporary Scotland, and how we can rebuild trust in democratic institutions.

Invited lecture at University of Copenhagen Yesterday I delivered a SEMINAR at the University of Copenhagen. Entitled 'Digital contention in divided societies: how online platforms hinder peacebuilding', I gave an overview of the type of intergroup contact facilitated by social media to date. Drawing on key findings from my book Digital Contention in a Divided Society, I argued that online platforms are not shared spaces in which positive peace is likely to emerge.

Order and control claim, UK Home Office Tik Tok secure borders page, A few weeks ago I spoke to Motaz Amer about the UK Home Office posting deportation videos on their TikTok account. We discussed how these videos frame enforcement as entertainment, the ways in which this content further inflames divisions on issues like immigration, and whether government social media accounts should be used for such campaigning.

Yesterday I delivered a guest lecture on the Media and Politics undergraduate course run by the University of Edinburgh. I discussed the mediated nature of flag protests, with a specific focus on my work on the 2013 union flag protests in Northern Ireland, the connective actions of far right movements and the recent anti-immigration protests in the UK. A synopsis of the session is below: …

This week my colleague Catherine Happer and I were interviewed about the normalisation of abuse against journalists in Scotland. The article, published in The National, explored how politicians delegitmise the media and dismiss critical coverage as 'fake news'. There have even been recent incidents of political aides grabbing journalists mid-question. This abuse of journalists is particularly ominous as we enter the final stages of the 2026 Scottish Parliament election.

The eighth review of Digital Contention in a Divided Society has been published in Estudios Irlandeses . Sarah Ritt (University of Vienna) provides a very comprehensive reflection on the book's key themes. Some quotes from the review are below: "Online communities are their own little microcosms. Often either overlooked or blamed for everything wrong with today’s society, the online space has only rather recently become a subject of academic study, probably partly because in order to produce telling results, large datasets need to be retrieved, categorized, and analyzed This is exactly what Paul Reilly does in his monograph…

I was interviewed by Jamie Mann (The Ferret) about AI misinformation and the upcoming Scottish Parliament election. This De-noiser explores the evidence on how AI misinformation has impacted elections to date. From chatbots to deepfakes, there is increasing evidence that bad actors are trying to influence attitudes and voting behaviours. A few quotes from the article are below: Dr Paul Reilly, senior lecturer in communications, media and democracy at the University of Glasgow told The Ferret that “there's a lot of evidence of efforts to subvert or manipulate public discourse”.

Photo by Markus Winkler on Pexels.com Last Friday I spoke to Hamish Morrison of The National. We discussed the Trump administration's use of neo-Nazi references on social media. In the past few weeks, several US agencies have posted content directly referencing white supremacist figures like Willam Gayley Simpson. I suggested that this was both an attempt to distract from the crises facing the Trump administration and a reflection of the attitudes of those close to the president.

Yesterday I gave an invited presentation at an event entitled 'Memory, Conflict & Peace'. It was organised by the University of Glasgow's Memory Lab, an interdisciplinary initiative exploring how memories are made, stored and retrieved by individuals. Featuring a keynote by Prof. Ann Rigney (Utrecht University), the event considered how memory contributes to conflict. It addressed questions such as: How do official narratives sustain nationalism and preparedness for war?

Yesterday, I delivered a presentation at a symposium. The symposium, Leading Curriculum and Assessment Innovation, was organised by the University of Glasgow's Teaching Excellence Network. My presentation was titled ' Is a dissertation the best way to assess international students? Developing the MCS Independent Research Project'. I discussed the challenges I faced developing and implementing the IRP over the past few years.

Elgar Encyclopedia of Political Communication I have an entry in the Elgar Encyclopedia of Political Communication, which was published this week. In ‘Belief Echoes’, I explore how and why people continue to believe false information. This occurs even when the information has been debunked or fact-checked. I draw on examples from my own research on Northern Ireland and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Op-ed in Scotland on Sunday Yesterday I had an op-ed published in Scotland on Sunday. I discussed the toxic immigration debates on social media and the rise of Nigel Farage's Reform party online. My argument was that we should be more sceptical of what we see online. There is already evidence that bots are used to amplify Reform's talking points on this issue.

Photo by Clem_nat reproduced by Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International Yesterday I was delighted to hear that the Media Research Methods team had received the Teaching Team Award. This was part of the annual School of Social Sciences Learning & Teaching Awards. It recognises excellence in teaching at the University of Glasgow. I was one of 19 colleagues to get this the award (the full names are listed below).

T:BUC Engagement Forum Yesterday I was an invited speaker at a Together: Building a United Community (T:BUC) Engagement Forum event. The topic was 'Social Media and its impact on Good Relations'. I spoke about my ongoing research on social media, parades and protests in Northern Ireland (2012-current). I drew on the results of my book (Digital contention in a divided society…

This week I was at Edinburgh Napier University to attend the annual MeCCSA conference. The theme this year was 'Identity and Belonging', with a specific focus on how identities are mediated and mediate themselves. First, I was part of a Glasgow University Media Group panel on the Cost of Living Crisis. I presented an overview of the key findings with…

UN Watchtower, Nicosia John Coster (Documentary Media Centre) interviewed me last week for series 2 of #10DaysofConflictMemory. We discussed my experiences walking the Green Line in Nicosia, Europe's last divided capital city. Last year, I wrote a piece on this topic. It contained some reflections on walking across the buffer zone, between the Greek Cypriot south and Turkish north of the city.

Yesterday I had an op-ed published in the Herald (Glasgow). It discusses the racist rioting seen in Northern Ireland earlier this month. I argued that politicians have to take responsibility for their role in producing a toxic political discourse about immigration. In towns like Ballymena and Larne, there was violence. Politicians framed anti-migrant demonstrations as representing the 'legitimate concerns' of local communities.

By VIEWdigital editor Brian Pelan A number of disabled campaigners and trade unionists held a protest outside the offices of NICVA in Belfast yesterday over a consultation organised by the Department ...

Find out more about VIEWdigital’s new Community Journalism project supported by the National Lottery Community Fund Northern Ireland at a special event at the University of Atypical in Belfast to mark...

On 25 June (9-10:30am GMT), I will be one of the keynote speakers (along with Weiyu Zheng, National University of Singapore) at a webinar as part of the Activism, Democracy & Social Justice series. The focus of my talk will be on how to publish monographs as an early career researcher. I will provide some advice on how to convert PhD theses into books, including things to include in the proposal and how to write for audiences outside academia.

By using AI for a task for which it is particularly ill-equipped—analyzing the testimony of Holocaust survivors—students deepen their own thinking, Jan Burzlaff writes.

Scholarly Facilitation of the Illicit Trade in Cultural Objects: Providing a Veneer of Legitimacy

My article 'The Blame Game? #Brexitriots as an affective ritualized response to civil disorder in Northern Ireland has been published in the International Journal of Communication. This paper focuses on how the April 2021 violence in Northern Ireland were discursively framed on Twitter. I argue that #Brexitriots was an affective ritualised response to civil unrest in Northern Ireland. It demonstrated a lack of knowledge of the grievances fuelling this violence.

I was quoted in an article by The National’s Steph Brawn on the anti-far right summit in Scotland. I argued that there was too much focus on the spectacle of the rise of Reform. The Scottish political mainstream needs to test their policies on issues like immigration and offer viable alternatives. The rise of parties like Reform is due to a breakdown in trust in political institutions, which will take a long time to recover from.

Yesterday I had an op-ed published in The Scotsman. In 'Social media isn't solely to blame for rise of far-right', I argue for a holistic approach. It's too easy to pin the blame solely on online platforms that amplify hate and misinformation. Politicians need to dial down the rhetoric on issues like immigration. It's time to focus on why right-wing extremism resonates with young people rather than solely blame social media algorithms. Many thanks to Charlotte Morris for helping arrange this. It can be read in full here.