Technology’s Impact on Social Transformation

Harvard’s Media Manipulation Research Initiative Concludes After Four-Year Run

The Technology and Social Change Project (TaSC), a pioneering research initiative that examined how media manipulation tactics can control public discourse and destabilize societies, has concluded its four-year tenure at Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center as of September 2023.

Under the leadership of Dr. Joan Donovan, TaSC established itself as an influential academic endeavor focused on understanding the increasingly relevant intersection of technology, misinformation, and social impact. The project’s core mission involved researching media manipulation campaigns and developing methodologies to identify and counter their effects.

TaSC gained recognition for its practical approach to combating digital misinformation. The team regularly conducted workshops for journalists, policy experts, technology professionals, and civil society organizations, providing them with tools and frameworks to detect, document, and debunk coordinated media manipulation efforts.

The project brought together a diverse team of researchers and experts. As of August 2023, the initiative was co-led by Dr. Latanya Sweeney, Professor of the Practice of Government and Technology at Harvard, who served as co-principal investigator alongside Donovan. Brandi Collins-Dexter acted as Associate Director, while Emily Dreyfuss managed content as Senior Managing Editor.

The research team included several senior researchers, including Dr. Robert Faris and Brian Friedberg, who brought academic rigor to the project’s investigations. Project Manager Megan O’Neil oversaw operations, while postdoctoral fellow Dr. Marya Mtshali and research fellows Jennifer Nilsen and Eesha Ramanujam contributed specialized expertise. Research assistants Daniel Baymiller and Talia Berniker rounded out the multidisciplinary team.

TaSC’s work came at a critical time in the media landscape. Over the past four years, concerns about disinformation, computational propaganda, and coordinated inauthentic behavior on digital platforms have escalated dramatically. The project’s research has helped illuminate how bad actors leverage social media, messaging apps, and other digital channels to manipulate public opinion and disrupt democratic processes.

The initiative’s conclusion comes amid growing recognition of media manipulation as a significant societal challenge. During its operation from 2019 to 2023, TaSC witnessed and documented the proliferation of conspiracy theories, the weaponization of social media during elections worldwide, and the rise of increasingly sophisticated disinformation tactics.

Harvard’s Shorenstein Center, which housed the project, has long been a hub for exploring media, politics, and public policy. The TaSC initiative complemented the center’s broader mission of understanding how media shapes governance and society in the digital age.

While the project itself has concluded, its methodologies and research findings continue to influence how researchers, journalists, and policy makers approach the problem of media manipulation. Many team members are expected to continue their work in this field through other academic institutions and research initiatives.

The TaSC archives remain available through the Shorenstein Center, preserving the project’s contributions to understanding and combating media manipulation. This body of work represents an important chapter in the ongoing effort to protect public discourse from manipulation and ensure information integrity in an increasingly complex digital ecosystem.

As social media platforms continue to evolve and new technologies like artificial intelligence create even more sophisticated possibilities for manipulation, the foundational research conducted by TaSC will likely serve as a valuable resource for future efforts to safeguard public conversation and democratic values.