PRC disinformation in the UK: What do we know?

We were joined by three experts in Chinese disinformation from the University of Oxford for a 45-minute briefing in which they laid out their most recent findings of disinformation and inauthentic amplification of PRC diplomats on Twitter, and what we do and don’t know about pro-PRC disinformation online.

The Democracy and Technology team from the Oxford Internet Institute have played a leading role in uncovering evidence of PRC-backed disinformation targeting the UK on social media. The briefing was delivered by Marcel Schliebs, Hannah Bailey and Philip Howard.

Marcel Schliebs is a Researcher at the University of Oxford and social data scientist at the Programme on Democracy and Technology. His research is located at the intersection of political science, statistics and computer science, and focuses on the effects of disinformation and microtargeting on political attitudes and behavior.. Marcel holds a BA in Political Science from Zeppelin University and a MSc in Social Data Science from the University of Oxford.

Hannah Bailey is a Researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute’s Programme on Democracy and Technology, with a focus on social data science. Her research examines the PRC’s use of state-sponsored digital disinformation. In particular, she focusses on the effect of the PRC’s digital disinformation campaigns on international audiences by assessing how they interact with this disinformation. She holds a BSc in Politics and Philosophy from the London School of Economics, as well as two MScs, in Contemporary Chinese Studies, and in the Social Science of the Internet, both from Oxford University. She has also studied Mandarin at Fudan University (Shanghai).

Philip N. Howard is a professor and writer. He teaches at the University of Oxford and directs the Programme on Democracy and Technology. He writes about information politics and international affairs, and he is the author of ten books, and his research and commentary writing has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, and many international media outlets. Foreign Policy magazine named him a “Global Thinker” for 2018 and the National Democratic Institute awarded him their “Democracy Prize” for pioneering the social science of fake news. He has testified before the US Senate, UK House of Parliament, and European Commission on the causes and consequences of fake news and misinformation. His latest book is Lie Machines: How to Save Democracy from Troll Armies, Deceitful Robots, Junk News Operations, and Political Operatives.