Kate Starbird
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katestarbird.bsky.social
Kate Starbird
@katestarbird.bsky.social
89K followers 2.9K following 4K posts

Researcher of online rumors & disinformation. Former basketball player. Prof at University of Washington, HCDE. Co-founder of the UW Center for an Informed Public. Personal account: Views may not reflect those of my employer. #RageAgainstTheBullshitMachine .. more

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Catherine Evelyn Starbird is an American computer scientist and former women's professional basketball player.

Source: Wikipedia
Communication & Media Studies 30%
Sociology 18%
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katestarbird.bsky.social
Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · Mar 27
On Feb 24, I gave a lecture at UW explaining what my team's decade-plus research on online rumors during crises reveals about the right wing "bullshit machine." Fittingly, a lightning strike impacted the original audio. Here's a fixed version w/ the full transcript: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjiG...
A Spotlight on Rumors
YouTube video by UW (University of Washington)
www.youtube.com

katestarbird.bsky.social
Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 7h
Except they absolutely get it. They’re trolling, and it’s clearly working. Their core audiences approve… of the original invasion and the MAGA framing of modern immigration as invasion.

Reposted by Caroline Krafft, Juan Cole, Zen Faulkes , and 2 more

victorerikray.bsky.social
Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 22h
Nearly every mechanism that made my career possible—Ford, NSF, Harvard BiGS—is gone or on the way to the chopping block.
epopppp.bsky.social Beth Popp Berman @epopppp.bsky.social · 22h
This means NSF dissertation improvement grants in the social sciences are simply...not happening.
killgrove.bsky.social Kristina Killgrove @killgrove.bsky.social · 1d
NEW from me - NSF cancels grant scheme for social science research.

Seems the NSF quietly archived ALL calls for DDRIG grants in the SBE directorate. This is a massive blow for PhD students wanting to do cutting-edge social science research. 🏺🧪

Reposted by Kevin J. Anchukaitis, Tom Clark, Mark J. Brandt , and 15 more

epopppp.bsky.social
Beth Popp Berman @epopppp.bsky.social · 22h
This means NSF dissertation improvement grants in the social sciences are simply...not happening.
killgrove.bsky.social Kristina Killgrove @killgrove.bsky.social · 1d
NEW from me - NSF cancels grant scheme for social science research.

Seems the NSF quietly archived ALL calls for DDRIG grants in the SBE directorate. This is a massive blow for PhD students wanting to do cutting-edge social science research. 🏺🧪
Today's biggest science news: Doomed comet explodes | Comet 3I/ATLAS course alteration | Dark matter detected?
Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025: Your daily feed of the biggest discoveries and breakthroughs making headlines.
www.livescience.com

katestarbird.bsky.social
Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 1d
Not bragging or anything, but I didn’t even like him on Sportscenter.

katestarbird.bsky.social
Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 1d
First, they rewired information spaces (exploiting attention dynamics & inherent vulnerabilities of social & digital media). Building upon that advantage, they reconfigured the political systems. Now, they use both to shift values into something that would have been unrecognizable mere months ago.
jacobtlevy.bsky.social Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 1d
It's not just that the United States has stopped trying to promote liberal democratic ideas internationally. It's that the United States is actively trying to promote the contrary. It's trying to turn more countries into Hungary.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
U.S. to Press Europe and Other Allies on ‘Mass Migration,’ Document Says
www.nytimes.com

katestarbird.bsky.social
Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 1d
First, they rewired information spaces (exploiting attention dynamics & inherent vulnerabilities of social & digital media). Building upon that advantage, they reconfigured the political systems. Now, they use both the shift values into something that would have been unrecognizable mere months ago.

Reposted by Mark D. White, Daniel W. Drezner, Robert C. Richards , and 6 more

jacobtlevy.bsky.social
Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 1d
It's not just that the United States has stopped trying to promote liberal democratic ideas internationally. It's that the United States is actively trying to promote the contrary. It's trying to turn more countries into Hungary.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
U.S. to Press Europe and Other Allies on ‘Mass Migration,’ Document Says
www.nytimes.com

katestarbird.bsky.social
Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 1d
Maybe I’ve done too many M9 exercises.

Reposted by Kate Starbird

zoeconomy.bsky.social
Zoë Plakias @zoeconomy.bsky.social · 1d
Everything is so ridiculous and dumb right now (and not just in the US) that I had to laugh at the news of the volcano. Like, really, now?? Read the room, magma!

katestarbird.bsky.social
Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 1d
As someone who lives in Seattle, I find this news disconcerting.

Reposted by Kate Starbird

socialmedialab.ca
Social Media Lab @socialmedialab.ca · 1d
"Fractured Facts: How Generative AI Fuels Anti-Immigrant Misinformation" socialmedialab.ca/2025/11/25/f...
Fractured Facts: How Generative AI Fuels Anti-Immigrant Misinformation - Social Media Lab
Most conversations about AI focus on convenience, like how it drafts emails or speeds up everyday tasks, but the real story runs deeper. As Philip Mai shared at the Pathways to Prosperity Conference i...
socialmedialab.ca

katestarbird.bsky.social
Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 2d
Indeed. We went through a very similar thing, being accused of being the center of the “censorship industrial complex”, interrogated, then defunded. As researchers of conspiracy theories, becoming entangled in one was perhaps productive (for our understanding), but definitely no fun. Disrecommend.

Reposted by Kate Starbird

skiles.blue
John Skiles Skinner @skiles.blue · 2d
They thought we, being radical leftists apparently, would put a "DOGE sucks" type of message onto government websites or into government communication systems

My evidence for that: the right did exactly this to government websites. So they were projecting what they planned to do onto us.
A banneer on the hud.gov website: The Radical Left are going to shut down the government and inflict massive pain on the American people unless they get their $1.5 trillion wish list of demands. The Trump administration wants to keep the government open for the American people.

Reposted by Anne Applebaum, David R. Miller, Kate Starbird , and 2 more

skiles.blue
John Skiles Skinner @skiles.blue · 2d
Being among the first interrogated and ultimately fired by DOGE, I certainly felt we were facing the business end of a right-wing conspiracy theory 🧵
danteatkins.bsky.social Dante Atkins @danteatkins.bsky.social · 2d
DOGE was not a money-saving effort. It was an effort to chase down and prove right-wing conspiracy theories. They went after USAID to prove conspiracy theories about foreign aid. Then they went after SSA to, again, pursue conspiracy theories about Dems paying "illegals" to vote. 1/2
carnage4life.bsky.social Dare Obasanjo @carnage4life.bsky.social · 3d
All DOGE accomplished was purging critical government staff, handing private data to outsiders, and sentencing thousands in developing countries to death by gutting USAID.

I don’t say this lightly: if there were any justice in this world, the people responsible for this devastation would be in jail

katestarbird.bsky.social
Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 2d
OFFS.

katestarbird.bsky.social
Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 2d
and functionally ends the ability for all non-citizen scholars to travel abroad to conferences (often a prerequisite for publication & career advancement) because risk (of detainment) is too high — both in cost (the stories out of those facilities are horrendous) and the probability (not zero).

katestarbird.bsky.social
Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 2d
I feel like I just summoned a spirit from another plane. Thanks Michael!

Reposted by Christopher Wright, David R. Miller, Kate Starbird

brendannyhan.bsky.social
Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 2d
Nothing to worry about, just a US official advising our nuclear-armed adversary how to manipulate the President of the United States, a notoriously weak-minded mark
peark.es George Pearkes @peark.es · 2d
This is really wild stuff tbh
During his call with Ushakov, Witkoff told his Russian counterpart that he had deep respect for Putin and that he had told Trump that it was his belief that Russia has always wanted a peace deal. The US envoy mentioned Zelenskiy’s upcoming visit and suggested that Putin could speak to Trump ahead of that meeting. “Zelenskiy is coming to the White House on Friday,” Witkoff said. “I will go to that because they want me there, but I think if possible we have the call with your boss before that Friday meeting.”  Ushakov asked Witkoff whether it would be “useful” for Putin to call Trump. Witkoff said it would. He also recommended that Putin congratulate Trump for the Gaza peace deal, say that Russia had supported it and that he respects the president as a man of peace. “From that, it’s going to be a really good call,” Witkoff said. Steve Witkoff “Here’s what I think would be amazing,” Witkoff then added. “Maybe he says to President Trump: you know, Steve and Yuri discussed a very similar 20-point plan to peace and that could be something that we think might move the needle a little bit, we’re open to those sorts of things.” Ushakov appeared to take some of the advice on board. Putin “will congratulate” and will say “Mr Trump is a real peace man,” he said.

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Brendan Nyhan, David R. Miller , and 1 more

peark.es
George Pearkes @peark.es · 2d
This is really wild stuff tbh
During his call with Ushakov, Witkoff told his Russian counterpart that he had deep respect for Putin and that he had told Trump that it was his belief that Russia has always wanted a peace deal. The US envoy mentioned Zelenskiy’s upcoming visit and suggested that Putin could speak to Trump ahead of that meeting. “Zelenskiy is coming to the White House on Friday,” Witkoff said. “I will go to that because they want me there, but I think if possible we have the call with your boss before that Friday meeting.”  Ushakov asked Witkoff whether it would be “useful” for Putin to call Trump. Witkoff said it would. He also recommended that Putin congratulate Trump for the Gaza peace deal, say that Russia had supported it and that he respects the president as a man of peace. “From that, it’s going to be a really good call,” Witkoff said. Steve Witkoff “Here’s what I think would be amazing,” Witkoff then added. “Maybe he says to President Trump: you know, Steve and Yuri discussed a very similar 20-point plan to peace and that could be something that we think might move the needle a little bit, we’re open to those sorts of things.” Ushakov appeared to take some of the advice on board. Putin “will congratulate” and will say “Mr Trump is a real peace man,” he said.

katestarbird.bsky.social
Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 2d
Yes! We have a community scholar program. Applications are due in June, I think. But you should check out the CIP website and maybe contact our communications director, Michael Grass, for more info, including on timing.

katestarbird.bsky.social
Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 2d
Dorsey. Then CEO of Twitter. Elon’s predecessor.

Reposted by Mor Naaman

katestarbird.bsky.social
Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 2d
Also damning (and perhaps even more meaningful in retrospect) is how Jack was in there RTing Crystal1Johnson, revealing how the “new elites” of Twitter have long been high on their own supply (of disinformation). Jack just got his from the Gabbard wing of the “left” and now Elon from the hard right
informor.bsky.social Mor Naaman @informor.bsky.social · 2d
Here it is, the most damning academic figure in the history of all figures: Russian IRA accounts deeply embedded in both sides of the 2016 Twitter BLM "discussion" (by @katestarbird.bsky.social & team, 2018).

THIS is what our information ecosystem supports. Twitter just made it 1% more visible.

katestarbird.bsky.social
Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 2d
Also damning (and perhaps even more meaningful in retrospect) is how Jack was in there RTing Crystal1Johnson, revealing how the “new elites” of Twitter have long been high on their own supply (of disinformation). Jack just got his from the Gabbard wing of the “left” and now Elon from the hard right.

Reposted by Shannon Vallor, Elizabeth Saunders, Rebecca Solnit , and 4 more

davey.bsky.social
Davey Alba @davey.bsky.social · 2d
NEW: AI “recipe slop” is overrunning search and social. Food creators say Google’s AI Overviews and glossy fake food pics are drowning out real, tested recipes — collapsing traffic and setting home cooks up for disaster, especially this Thanksgiving.

Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
AI Slop Recipes Are Taking Over the Internet -- And Thanksgiving Dinner
Food bloggers see traffic dip as home cooks turn to AI, inspired by impossible pictures
www.bloomberg.com

Reposted by Mary Feeney, Kate Starbird, Greg Linden

danteatkins.bsky.social
Dante Atkins @danteatkins.bsky.social · 2d
DOGE was not a money-saving effort. It was an effort to chase down and prove right-wing conspiracy theories. They went after USAID to prove conspiracy theories about foreign aid. Then they went after SSA to, again, pursue conspiracy theories about Dems paying "illegals" to vote. 1/2
carnage4life.bsky.social Dare Obasanjo @carnage4life.bsky.social · 3d
All DOGE accomplished was purging critical government staff, handing private data to outsiders, and sentencing thousands in developing countries to death by gutting USAID.

I don’t say this lightly: if there were any justice in this world, the people responsible for this devastation would be in jail
DOGE 'doesn't exist' with eight months left on its charter
U.S. President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency has disbanded with eight months left to its mandate.
www.cnbc.com

Reposted by Kate Starbird

informor.bsky.social
Mor Naaman @informor.bsky.social · 2d
Here it is, the most damning academic figure in the history of all figures: Russian IRA accounts deeply embedded in both sides of the 2016 Twitter BLM "discussion" (by @katestarbird.bsky.social & team, 2018).

THIS is what our information ecosystem supports. Twitter just made it 1% more visible.

Reposted by Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Jean Burgess, Philip N. Cohen , and 11 more

alondra.bsky.social
Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 3d
Honored to serve on Mayor-elect @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social Transition Committee on Technology. For too long, too many New Yorkers have been left behind. NYC deserves governance that centers affordability, equity, and the public good-looking forward to the work ahead. www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news...
NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announces transition committees
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani​ announced Monday the creation of 17 transition advisory committees made up of more than 400 people.
www.cbsnews.com

katestarbird.bsky.social
Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 3d
“…the notion that there might be false labels could give any bad actor the ability to claim they’ve been mislabeled…the final post-truthification of a platform that long ago pivoted [to what] journalist Peter Pomerantsev [describes in] post-Soviet Russia: Nothing is true and everything is possible.”
cwarzel.bsky.social Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 3d
I wrote about the fake account blowup on X this weekend. A genuine post-truth nightmare and proof that these companies have polluted their platforms so thoroughly and traded reality for profit that they've undermined the very idea of what the internet is supposed to be.
That MAGA Account Might Be a Troll From Pakistan
How X blew up its own platform with a new location feature
www.theatlantic.com

Reposted by Kate Starbird

lkfazio.bsky.social
Lisa Fazio @lkfazio.bsky.social · 3d
The Center for an Informed Public is a bright spot in the current gloom about researching our modern information environment. Definitely encourage early career researchers from all sorts of disciplines to apply.
katestarbird.bsky.social Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 3d
The UW Center for an Informed Public is looking for postdocs (for 2026-2028) from across diverse disciplines whose research sheds light on the challenges of our modern information environment, promotes civic health, and/or helps people/communities navigate online spaces: apply.interfolio.com/177901
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com