The ways through which non-democratic forces use social media to manipulate minds and change the online opinions and behavior of citizens are a big concern in contemporary societies. The project Beyond Computational Propaganda and Bot Activism: Investigating Social Media Suppression in Authoritarian Regimes (BeyondCBA) focuses on the women, life, freedom, i.e., #MahsaAmini movement to enhance our understanding of such nefarious activities. The #MahsaAmini movement was a nationwide movement in Iran in protest to the brutality and anti-women discourse and rules in Iran, which became the center of attention worldwide. BeyondCBA investigates how the Iranian regimes employ cyber army and manipulative tactics like sharing disinformation to suppress the biggest anti-regime movement in its history. Combining traditional social science research methods with state-of-the-art computational methods, like automated text analysis, this project sheds light on regime manipulative campaigns on four popular social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Telegram.

BeyondCBA will be funded by the Vienna Science and Technology Fund (WWTF) as part of the call "Information and Communication Technology – Digital Humanism – ICT23-002". Hossein Kermani, who has been a postdoctoral researcher at our Department since 2021, will lead the project as principal investigator. In total, WWTF will provide close to € 600.000 for a period of four years.

Beyond Computational Propaganda and Bot Activism: Investigating Social Media Suppression in Authoritarian Regimes (BeyondCBA)

Funding organization: Vienna Science and Technology Fund (Call: Digital Humanism)
PI: Hossein Kermani
Duration: 2024-2028
Funding: € 593.203