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Emilio Ferrara
NationalityItalian-American
Known forDetection of social bots, analysis of misinformation on social media platforms
Awards2016 DARPA Young Faculty Award, 2017 Complex Systems Society Junior Scientific Award, 2019 Viterbi Junior Faculty Research Award, 2022 Research.com Rising Stars of Science
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Messina, TU Wien, Royal Holloway, University of London
ThesisMining and Analysis of Online Social Networks
Doctoral advisorGiacomo Fiumara, Alessandro Provetti
Other advisorsAlbert Paccanaro, Georg Gottlob, Filippo Menczer
Academic work
DisciplineComputer Science, Machine Learning, Network Science, Computational Social Science, Data Science
InstitutionsUniversity of Southern California, Indiana University
Websitewww.emilio.ferrara.name

Emilio Ferrara is an Italian-American computer scientist, researcher, and professor in the field of data science and social networks. As of 2022, he serves as a Full Professor at the University of Southern California (USC), in the Viterbi School of Engineering[1] and USC Annenberg School for Communication,[2] where he conducts research on computational social science, network science, and machine learning. Ferrara is known for his work in the detection of social bots and the analysis of misinformation on social media platforms.[3]

Early life, education, and career

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Emilio Ferrara received his Bachelor's degree, Master's degree, and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Messina.[4] During his doctoral studies, Ferrara spent one semester at the Technical University of Vienna and two semesters at the Royal Holloway, University of London. While a visiting Ph.D. student at the TU Vienna, Ferrara studied data mining in the research group of Professor Georg Gottlob. At Royal Holloway, University of London, he studied machine learning under the supervision of Professor Alberto Paccanaro.[4]

After completing his doctoral studies, Ferrara held various academic positions[clarification needed], first at Indiana University and then at the University of Southern California, where, in 2022, he was promoted to Full Professor.

Research

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Ferrara's research focuses on computational social science, network science, and machine learning, with an emphasis on understanding and modeling human behavior in online social networks. He has made significant contributions to the areas of social bot detection,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] political manipulation,[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] the analysis of misinformation,[22][23][24][25][16][26] disinformation,[27][28][29][30][31] and conspiracy theories,[32][23][33][34][35] the dynamics of emotional contagion on social media platforms,[36][37][38] and generative AI bias.[39]

Awards and honors

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Emilio Ferrara has received numerous awards and honors for his research, including:

  • The 2016 DARPA Young Faculty Award[40]
  • The 2017 Complex Systems Society Junior Scientific Award[41]
  • The 2019 Viterbi Junior Faculty Research Award[42]
  • The 2022 Research.com Rising Stars of Science[43]

Influence on US Senate investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US Election

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Ferrara's research contributed to the understanding of the extent and impact of foreign interference in the 2016 US Presidential election.[44] His paper titled "Social bots distort the 2016 US Presidential election online discussion," which was the only peer-reviewed paper published before the November 8, 2016 election, investigated the influence operations carried out by Russia's Internet Research Agency by means of social bots on Twitter.[45]

The paper suggested that social bots had a notable impact on the dynamics of the online conversation surrounding the election, potentially manipulating public opinion and shaping the discourse. This work provided insights into how social bots were utilized as a tool for information warfare and highlighted the potential consequences of their unchecked proliferation on social media platforms.

Ferrara's findings attracted the attention of the US Senate, which cited his research during the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.[46] His work contributed to the understanding of the scope and tactics used by foreign actors to sway public opinion and played a role in shaping the response to this challenge to the democratic process.

Twitter vs. Musk Litigation

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Ferrara served as an expert trial witness for the Delaware Court of Chancery on the subject of false and spam accounts in the context of the litigation between Twitter and Elon Musk.[44][47]

References

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  1. ^ "USC - Viterbi School of Engineering - Viterbi Faculty Directory". viterbi.usc.edu.
  2. ^ "Emilio Ferrara". annenberg.usc.edu.
  3. ^ Guglielmi, Giorgia (28 October 2020). "The next-generation bots interfering with the US election". Nature. 587 (7832): 21. Bibcode:2020Natur.587...21G. doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03034-5. PMID 33116324. S2CID 226052075.
  4. ^ a b "Emilio Ferrara - The Mathematics Genealogy Project". www.mathgenealogy.org.
  5. ^ Review, MIT Technology (2014-07-30). "This Algorithm Tells You If A Twitter Account Is a Spam Bot". Mashable. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  6. ^ "Barack Obama Is Probably a Robot, and Other Lessons from 'Bot Or Not'". www.vice.com. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  7. ^ "An Algorithm To Identify Social Bot On Twitter Inc". www.valuewalk.com. 2014-07-29. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  8. ^ "For 'Massive' Twitter Followings, A Virtual Reality". International Business Times. 2015-02-03. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  9. ^ Andrews, Natalie. "Pro-Trump Twitter Bots at Center of Nevada Mystery". WSJ. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  10. ^ "AI can distinguish between bots and humans based on Twitter activity". New Scientist. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  11. ^ Whipple, Tom. "Laziness is sure sign it's not a bot". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  12. ^ "Twitter: Researchers develop AI-based system to detect Twitter bots". Gadgets Now. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  13. ^ California, University of Southern. "Fake Tweets, real consequences for the election". phys.org. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  14. ^ Ghoshal, Arkadev (2016-11-08). "US elections 2016: Researchers show how Twitter bots are trying to influence the poll in favour of Trump". www.ibtimes.co.in. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  15. ^ "US Presidential Elections 2016: Bot-generated fake tweets influencing US election outcome, says new study". The Indian Express. 2016-11-08. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  16. ^ a b "Bots Invade Twitter, Spreads Misinformation On US Election". EconoTimes. 2016-11-09. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  17. ^ "20% of All Election Related Tweets Came From Non-Humans". Futurism. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  18. ^ "Study reports that nearly 20% of election-related tweets were 'algorithmically driven'". Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  19. ^ "Election 2016 Belongs to the Twitter Bots". www.vice.com. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  20. ^ "How the Bot-y Politic Influenced This Election". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  21. ^ Bomey, Nathan. "Were voters manipulated by QAnon a force behind Trump's 'red wave' in 2020 election?". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  22. ^ "Fear, Misinformation, and Social Media Complicate Ebola Fight". Time. 2014-10-08. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  23. ^ a b Ball, Philip; Maxmen, Amy (2020-05-27). "The epic battle against coronavirus misinformation and conspiracy theories". Nature. 581 (7809): 371–374. doi:10.1038/d41586-020-01452-z.
  24. ^ Ouellette, Jennifer (2018-11-21). "Study: It only takes a few seconds for bots to spread misinformation". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  25. ^ Manjoo, Farhad (2017-05-31). "How Twitter Is Being Gamed to Feed Misinformation". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  26. ^ Biggs, John (29 September 2017). "Researcher Emilio Ferrara talks about the rise of fake news and botnets". TechCrunch.
  27. ^ "Study: Bots have turned Twitter into a powerful political disinformation platform". VentureBeat. 2017-07-10. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  28. ^ "Social Media Is Used To Spread Coronavirus Disinformation, And Patient Groups Are Fighting Back". KCUR - Kansas City news and NPR. 2020-09-21. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  29. ^ "Get ready for more humanlike bots, better deep-fake videos and wall-to-wall disinformation in 2020 race". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  30. ^ Metz, Cade (2020-10-29). "Twitter Bots Poised to Spread Disinformation Before Election". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  31. ^ "Twitter Bots Promote Right-Wing Conspiracies, Paper Shows". Defense One. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  32. ^ Ferrara, Emilio (2020-10-28). "On Twitter, bots spread conspiracy theories and QAnon talking points". The Conversation. Retrieved 2023-09-11.
  33. ^ scimino (2020-10-28). "Election 2020 chatter on Twitter busy with bots and conspiracy theorists". USC News. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  34. ^ "USC study says bots and conspiracy theorists infest Twitter chatter around upcoming election". www.audacy.com. 2020-10-28. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  35. ^ "Study identifies thousands of Twitter bots amplifying conspiracy theories ahead of the U.S. elections". VentureBeat. 2020-10-28. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  36. ^ "Twitter Emotions Are Contagious, Says New Study, But At Least The Positive Ones Are More So Than The Negative Ones". Bustle. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  37. ^ California, University of Southern. "Positive emotions more contagious than negative ones on Twitter". phys.org. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  38. ^ "Emotions in Tweets Are Contagious: Study". NDTV.com. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  39. ^ Ferrara, Emilio (2023-07-19). "Eliminating bias in AI may be impossible -- a computer scientist explains how to tame it instead". The Conversation. Retrieved 2023-09-11.
  40. ^ "DARPA Young Faculty Awardees Class of 2016" (PDF).
  41. ^ "Emilio Ferrara receives Junior Scientific Award at CSS'16". CNetS. 22 September 2016.
  42. ^ "VSOE Research Award". USC Viterbi | School of Engineering.
  43. ^ "Emilio Ferrara: H-index & Awards - Academic Profile". Research.com.
  44. ^ a b "Musk now gets chance to defeat Twitter's many fake accounts". AP NEWS. 2022-10-28. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  45. ^ Ferrara, Emilio. "How Twitter bots affected the US presidential campaign". The Conversation.
  46. ^ "REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE UNITED STATES SENATE ON RUSSIAN ACTIVE MEASURE'S CAMPAIGNS AND INTERFERENCE IN THE 2016 U.S. ELECTION, VOLUME 2: RUSSIA'S USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA WITH ADDITIONAL VIEWS" (PDF).
  47. ^ "Musk wars with Twitter over his buyout deal - on Twitter". Daily Herald. 2022-05-17. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
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