Fabio Giglietto
Professor of Internet Studies
University of Urbino
Department of Communication Sciences, Humanities and International Studies
About Me
Fabio Giglietto, PhD, is Full Professor of Internet Studies at the Department of Communication Sciences, Humanities and International Studies at the University of Urbino Carlo Bo. He explores the intricate relationships between social systems, media, and digital technologies, focusing on the theory of information, communication, and society. His work has appeared in several journals, including the Journal of Communication, Information, Communication & Society, and Social Media + Society. According to Google Scholar, his publications have been cited over 2200 times.
Professor Giglietto's current research interests include coordinated behavior detection, multimodal narratives, and the challenges of social media data access. He leads the Mapping Italian News Research Program (MINE), which investigates Italian news media coverage and the impact of social media on Italian elections. He is also involved in the EU-funded Horizon Europe project VERAAI, developing AI-based tools to assist journalists and fact-checkers in verifying multimedia content and combating disinformation, with a focus on detecting coordinated behavior and inauthentic networks spreading misleading content. Additionally, he contributes to the EU-funded PROMPT initiative, addressing disinformation narratives across Europe. His recent research includes an analysis of Meta's political content reduction policy and its impact on the reach of Italian Members of Parliament on Facebook, revealing a significant reduction in visibility for mainstream politicians.
This academic year, Professor Giglietto is teaching courses such as Generative AI and Media and Digital Social Network Analysis. These courses reflect his engagement with contemporary issues in digital communication, including the impact of AI on the media system and methods for analyzing online social networks. He actively participates in professional discussions on platforms like BlueSky (@fabiogiglietto.bsky.social) and Mastodon, addressing topics such as platform policies and research methodologies. His work also examines the transformative effects of the Digital Services Act (DSA) on data access for platform research.
Recent Publications
"A Pretty Blunt Approach": Meta's Political Content Reduction Policy and Italian Parliamentarians' Facebook Visibility
Giglietto, F. (2025). "A Pretty Blunt Approach": Meta's Political Content Reduction Policy and Italian Parliamentarians' Facebook Visibility. Center for Open Science. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/8dqag_v2
The State of Social Media Research APIs & Tools in the Digital Service Act Era
Giglietto, F. (2025). The State of Social Media Research APIs & Tools in the Digital Service Act Era. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16269197
Manipolazione dei media ed influenza digitale. Sfide, tecnologie e risposte
Giglietto, F. (2025). Manipolazione dei media ed influenza digitale. Sfide, tecnologie e risposte. .
Viralità
Giglietto, F. (2025). Viralità. .
"A Pretty Blunt Approach": Meta's Political Content Reduction Policy and Italian Parliamentarians' Facebook Visibility
Giglietto, F. (2025). "A Pretty Blunt Approach": Meta's Political Content Reduction Policy and Italian Parliamentarians' Facebook Visibility. Center for Open Science. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/8dqag_v1
Research Projects
vera.ai - VERification Assisted by Artificial Intelligence
An EU-funded Horizon Europe project that developed advanced AI-based tools to assist journalists and fact-checkers in verifying multimedia content and combating disinformation. As Work Package 4 leader, I focused on the detection of coordinated behavior and inauthentic networks spreading misleading content.
Learn more
PROMPT - Predictive Research On Misinformation and Narratives Propagation Trajectories
An EU-funded initiative focused on detecting and analyzing disinformation narratives across Europe, addressing sensitive issues including the war in Ukraine, LGBTQI+ rights, and European elections through the development of language models, monitoring dashboards, and educational resources for fact-checkers and journalists.
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MINE - Mapping Italian News Research Program
A research program investigating Italian news media coverage and the impact of social media on Italian elections, leveraging data from Social Science One and grant funding from the Social Science Research Council (SSRC).
Learn moreNews & Updates
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January 27, 2026
A video analysis has been released examining potentially flawed decisions in the shooting of Pretti.
Read more -
January 07, 2026
A recent study indicates that Meta's political content reduction policy led to a 72% reach reduction for Italian Members of Parliament on Facebook. This effect was detected 10 months prior to Meta's global rollout, with extremist content gaining reach (+14%) while elected officials experienced a loss.
Read more -
January 02, 2026
A new tool, FG's Research Radio, has been developed to generate AI-driven audio deep dives into Computational Social Science papers. Utilizing Google Gemini, the tool pulls directly from a PaperPile reading list and the code is open source.
Read more
Recent Web and News Mentions
Advancing Research on Disinformation and Digital Manipulation: The University of Urbino at two Key Conferences in Brazil
Meet the speakers! - EUDTP 2025 - EuroTech Universities Alliance
How to Detect a Disinformation Campaign - Media Ecosystems Analysis Group
Coordinated Sharing Behavior Detection Conference
L’articolo 21 nella gabbia di Facebook - Terzogiornale
While they're pretty smart, they might occasionally hallucinate a publication or get creative with facts. Take it with a grain of digital salt! 🧂