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Social Media Analysis

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Report
Social Media Can Provide Insights About Chemical Weapons Incidents
Social media can be collected instantly, can tap into a massive pool of observers, and is remotely accessible. Researchers developed a new approach for analyzing social media data to derive insights about chemical incidents. They used chemical weapons employment in Syria as a test case.
Mar 21, 2022
Essay
How to Avoid Extremism on Social Media
Extremist groups have been trolling the internet for decades, and they have learned to temper their words and disguise their intentions. A new scorecard can help users—or parents, or advertisers, or the social media companies themselves—understand when they might be interacting with extremist content.
May 3, 2022

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Report
Comparing Taliban Social Media Usage by Language: Who's Speaking and What's Being Said
Focusing on the economy, relationships with other militant groups and neighboring countries, and women's status in Afghan society, the authors examined whether Taliban social media messaging across various regional languages was similar or different.
Apr 25, 2023
Commentary
The Ukrainian Army Is Leveraging Online Influencers. Can the U.S. Military?
Much has been said about Ukraine's astounding success in the information battlefield. How might the U.S. military emulate Ukraine's success to not only help win wars, but also to address its flagging campaign to recruit new members?
Mar 1, 2023
Announcement
Ray Block Joins RAND as Inaugural Michael D. Rich Chair for Countering Truth Decay
Ray Block, a respected academic in the field of political science and African American studies, will join the RAND Corporation as its inaugural Michael D. Rich Chair for Countering Truth Decay effective February 27.
Feb 22, 2023
Report
The U.S. Air Force Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Values on Social Media: A Proof-of-Concept Examination of How Air Force–Affiliated Accounts Represent the Service Online
This report presents a proof-of-concept to assess the online behavior of U.S. Air Force (USAF)-affiliated users over social media, specifically in regard to USAF diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
Feb 22, 2023
Commentary
America May Not Be Ready for the Looming Tsunami of Deepfakes
Images and videos have been falsified since the first photographs were taken. But deepfakes are fundamentally different. Their realism, and the scale and ease with which they can be produced, make them incredibly potent disinformation tools.
Nov 10, 2022
Commentary
Elon Musk May Have a Point About Bots on Twitter
Twitter has a deep bench of engineers working for the company. They have access to trillions of data points on their over 300 million monthly active users. Why has a company this size struggled to clean up its platform?
Sep 23, 2022
Announcement
Fake RAND Report on 'Weakening Germany'
A supposedly leaked RAND report about a bizarre U.S. conspiracy to “weaken Germany” is fake. Genuine RAND research, analysis, and commentary on the war in Ukraine may be found at rand.org.
Sep 14, 2022
Journal Article
Information Warfare: Methods to Counter Disinformation
We consider the nature of disinformation and its use in the hybrid warfare domain, before examining the problem through frames of planning approach, truth theory, systems thinking, and military strategy.
Sep 8, 2022
Blog
Back to School, Vaccinating Kids, Space Security: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on the well-being of America's educators, the effort to vaccinate kids and teens, security in outer space, and more.
Sep 2, 2022
Commentary
Facebook Misinformation Is Bad Enough. The Metaverse Will Be Worse
Virtual reality environments such as the metaverse will enable psychological and emotional manipulation of users at a level unimaginable in today's media. We must not wait until these technologies are fully realized to consider appropriate guardrails for them. We can reap the benefits of the metaverse while minimizing its potential for great harm.
Aug 22, 2022
Research Brief
A U.S. National Strategy Is Needed to Counter Violent Extremism
Users in the United States are overwhelmingly responsible for racially and ethnically motivated violent extremism (REMVE) discourse online. Strategies that focus on organizations or individuals likely will not work to counter REMVE because the movement is diffuse and leaderless.
Aug 22, 2022
Report
An Exploratory Examination of Agent-Based Modeling for the Study of Social Movements
The authors of this report explore the use of agent-based modeling as a method for studying the effects of information and communications technologies on the formation, maintenance, and dissolution of social movements over time.
Aug 16, 2022
Report
The Threat of Deepfakes
Various AI technologies are ripe for use in disinformation campaigns. Deepfake videos represent an obvious threat, but voice cloning, deepfake images, and generative text also merit concern. And websites now offer access to deepfake services.
Jul 6, 2022
Report
Map of Online Violent Extremist Rhetoric Can Inform Counter-Efforts
An analysis of White identity terrorism and racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism discourse on social media finds that this content is largely created and fueled by users in the United States. A national strategy to counter these threats is needed.
Jun 7, 2022
Report
Russia's Information Warfare with the West
Popular portrayals of the Russian disinformation machine imply an organized and well-resourced operation, but evidence suggests that it is neither. Nonetheless, Russian social media activity can be harmful to U.S. interests and is likely to evolve.
Jun 7, 2022
Blog
Combating Disinformation by Bolstering Truth and Trust
For Jessica Cecil, founder and former head of the Trusted News Initiative, today feels a bit like the Dark Ages after the fall of the Roman Empire, in which agreed-upon facts endure in only a few isolated places of elite discussion and there is no common language of politics. She spoke about the need for governments, companies, news organizations, and relevant civil society groups to work together to combat disinformation at a meeting of RAND Europe's Council of Advisors.
May 24, 2022
Commentary
'Truth Decay' in Europe Is Real, but Its Advance Can Be Slowed
Though present in Europe, the evidence suggests that trends of Truth Decay are not as widespread or as pronounced as they are in the United States. There is still time for policymakers to intervene and limit their growth.
May 17, 2022
Periodical
RAND Review: May-June 2022
The cover story explores what prison-based programs are available to help incarcerated parents and their children. Another feature examines ways to help social media users navigate the online extremist ecosystem.
May 11, 2022
Report
Leveraging Machine Learning for Operation Assessment
This report shows how machine learning (ML) can support assessment of military operations by describing and illustrating the use of ML in systematically extracting assessment-relevant insights from intelligence, operational, and media reporting.
May 9, 2022
Blog
How Data Can Help Refugees, Homelessness in L.A., Harm Reduction: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on tapping into Facebook data to help refugees, addressing homelessness in Los Angeles, understanding burnout among health care providers, and more.
May 6, 2022

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Researcher Spotlight

Ryan Andrew Brown

Senior Behavioral/Social Scientist

Ryan Andrew Brown is a senior behavioral/social scientist at the RAND Corporation. Brown's work concerns the role of culture and social networks in driving risk-taking, violence, and other destructive and self-destructive behaviors. His current work focuses on the individual, social, and…
Mark Cabling

Analyst

Mark Cabling is an analyst in health and wellbeing at RAND Europe working on healthcare innovation research. He is involved in projects that involve rapid evidence assessments for clients such as Sanofi and Merck Europe that explore the indirect burden of seasonal influenza and R&D cost…

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