@andre-k-rodarte
Postdoc at the Digital Democracy Center (SDU) | PhD from Uni of Texas at Austin | My research explores political representation, propaganda, and populism in the digital age He/him | Bot-ish andrerodarte.com
In the second panel of today, first @andre-k-rodarte.bsky.social and I presented first insights from a recent project studying (1) the susceptibility to misinformation across the complex system through which misinformation flows (www.nature.com/articles/s44...)
Such an incredible symposium, thank you for putting this together!
Thrilled to collaborate with @curdknupfer.bsky.social on a new project about propaganda and democratic backsliding, and even more so to be surrounded by DDC colleagues who can make academic life more interesting ✨
More to come! Onwards : )
First DDC Brown Bag Lunch talk of 2026:
This Thursday (Feb 19th), @curdknupfer.bsky.social and @andre-k-rodarte.bsky.social present ideas and ongoing research on "Connective Factions".
If you are at SDU, grab some lunch and join us in Dynamo, at 12!
@lenafrescamente.bsky.social and @andre-k-rodarte.bsky.social presenting research on multi level misinfo and the state of the art of research on it!
Happy to share the material we made, all “open source science”! 😜
The speaker, a young women, stands in front of the screen, with pictures from Teheran, Vienna, and Denmark 🇩🇰
Absolutely fascinating talk by Maryam Khaleghipour - including with rich insights into how to study communication in Iran - and her very cool research on the targets of online attacks
✨NEW DDC TEAM MEMBER✨
Last week, André Rodarte began his new position as postdoctoral researcher here with us at the Digital Democracy Centre.
We are thrilled to have him with us. 😊
Velkommen til Odense og SDU, @andre-k-rodarte.bsky.social!
I had a great time presenting our project about Ephemerality and strategic message deletion of extremist messages on Telegram channels at #dgpuk2025, together with @gongbaobao.bsky.social. It was the first time & we got great feedback.
[New pub from New Media & Society] Excited to share my recent paper here as I just joined this platform! "On the Fly: How Japanese Social Media 'Watchers' Improvise to Counter Misinformation," co-authored w/ Ahmer Arif & @andre-k-rodarte.bsky.social
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
How did they bring this ‘conservative gentleman into life’?
Instagram suggested that I started a chat with “TruthAI”, an AI by “MAGA fan page”. It ended up being an insightful chat for sure
Strange times to be a media researcher in the US. The list of "prohibited technologies on state-owned equipment" just keeps getting longer...
Looking forward to it! Thank you for this opportunity
Exciting news!
Looking forward to it!
The impact of academic research is not always immediate or easy to measure, especially beyond its theoretical contributions, as it can take years to materialize. After 12 years of research & partnerships in the Territory of Good, I received yet another piece of news that filled my heart with joy:
A German election fought between Kremlin bots, AI, and Musk/ X.
In understanding #disinformation campaigns it is important to not only focus on voting decisions.
It is as much about delegitimizing the election and fueling polarization.
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/w...
BBC just released damning research on AI assistants' news accuracy.
Results: 51% of AI responses had significant issues. 19% introduced errors when citing BBC. 13% misquoted or made up BBC content entirely. 🤐🤐
www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/... via @ezraeeman.bsky.social
⏰Xmas came early this year!🎄 My final dissertation paper officially out in @polcommjournal.bsky.social!
We test the role of algorithms in shaping the cost of reaching voters. We find: who sees political ads & at what price depends NOT just on targeting choices.🧵
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
I am incredibly thankful for Dr. Gina Masullo, @favstats.eu, Torie Hyunsik Kim, and Kaiya Soorholtz for their feedback and suggestions
We also show that poor regions of the country lacked local candidates. Although Brazilian candidates are allowed to campaign across their state of origin, they mostly focused on rich, populous cities, leading to the formation of what we called “regions of representative scarcity”
We show that minority candidates who lacked campaign resources received lower engagement on social media —or in some cases, didn’t campaign on these platforms at all. These findings point to social media reproducing, rather than subverting, existing forms of exclusion in Brazil.
🚨 Thrilled to share that the paper I co-authored with
@jolukito.bsky.social, "Does Social Media Level the Political Field or Reinforce Existing Inequalities?", has been published in @polcommjournal.bsky.social
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Thanks Stef Pukallus for editing our chapter. You can read more here:
The chapter explores how peace communication was subverted in the ascension of this totalitarian project, creating the conditions for the invasion of the capital on January 8th.
Theoretically, we discuss computational propaganda in light of Claude Lefort's political thinking
During Bolsonaro’s last months in power, reports emerged of alleged plots for a coup d'etat, including plans to assassinate political rivals.
To understand how propaganda paved the way for the rise of the far-right in Brazil, Sam Woolley and I wrote:
www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edi...
Para onde vai o Brasil?
1/6. Há quase uma década, o Brasil passa por um realinhamento das forças políticas. Nesse período, tivemos as manifestações de 2013, o impeachment de Dilma, a eleição de Bolsonaro e o retorno de Lula. A energia política desses eventos se disseminou e chegou aos municípios. +