Fabio Giglietto

Fabio Giglietto

Full Professor of Internet Studies

University of Urbino

fabio.giglietto@uniurb.it

Department of Communication Sciences, Humanities and International Studies

About Me

Fabio Giglietto is Full Professor of Internet Studies at the Università di Urbino Carlo Bo, where he teaches Generative AI and Media and Digital Social Network Analysis. He earned his doctorate at the same institution. His scientific activity is located at the intersection of computational social science, analysis of digital platforms and political communication, with a specific focus on the study of information disorders and coordinated behaviour on social media.

He is the founder and coordinator of the Mapping Italian News Research Program (MINE)https://mine.uniurb.it/ — active at the University of Urbino since 2017. MINE investigates Italian media coverage and the impact of social media on electoral processes, public opinion and health information, and has hosted a succession of externally funded sub-projects supported by the Open Society Foundations, the Social Science Research Council (with Facebook data via Social Science One), the Italian MUR, the Gates Foundation, the Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia, and the European Commission (see the Competitive research projects table below). Within MINE, Giglietto co-developed CooRnet (with Nicola Righetti and Luca Rossi), the open-source R package that introduced the Coordinated Link Sharing Behavior (CLSB) detection method, applied internationally by researchers, journalists and fact-checkers. CooRnet is now discontinued at the operational level following the shutdown of Meta's CrowdTangle on 14 August 2024; the CLSB methodology it introduced lives on in the downstream CooRTweet R package (Righetti & Balluff, 2023–), independently maintained.

On the European front, he served as WP4 Leader of the Horizon Europe project vera.ai (concluded October 2025), which developed AI-based tools for countering disinformation, and as Partner on PROMPT (European Commission, DG CNECT; concluded February 2026), dedicated to monitoring disinformation narratives in Europe. All externally funded MINE sub-projects have now concluded; the MINE programme itself remains active as the institutional umbrella for his ongoing research line, with no active external grant at present.

He is a member of the International Communication Association (ICA), the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) and the Italian Association for Political Communication. He has participated in the board of Research Committee 51 on Sociocybernetics of the International Sociological Association. He is a founding partner (socio fondatore) of Digit Srl (https://digit.srl/), a benefit-corporation spin-off of the University of Urbino Carlo Bo that develops digital platforms for sustainability, civic participation, social innovation and scientific dissemination.

This bio is automatically generated by AI using aggregated data from publications, research activities, and academic profiles.

Recent Publications

Measuring partisan community dynamics: a longitudinal analysis of affective engagement in pro-Bolsonaro Facebook networks

Marino, G., Paroni, B., & Giglietto, F. (2026). Measuring partisan community dynamics: a longitudinal analysis of affective engagement in pro-Bolsonaro Facebook networks. Information, Communication & Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2026.2696929

VERA-AI Alert: Self-updating detection of coordinated sharing behaviour on Facebook

Giglietto, F. (2026). VERA-AI Alert: Self-updating detection of coordinated sharing behaviour on Facebook. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21234935

Navigating Coordination and Inauthentic Behaviour

Giglietto, F., Graham, T., & Righetti, N. (2026). Navigating Coordination and Inauthentic Behaviour. The Routledge Companion to Social Media and Politics. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003359524-24

Beyond the share button: How partisan alignment, journalistic quality, and algorithmic governance shape what millions see on Facebook

Giglietto, F., & Marino, G. (2026). Beyond the share button: How partisan alignment, journalistic quality, and algorithmic governance shape what millions see on Facebook. Platforms & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/29768624261452529

From the Wild West to the Walled Garden

Giglietto, F., & Puschmann, C. (2026). From the Wild West to the Walled Garden. M/C Journal. https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.3257

Research Projects

MINE — Mapping Italian News Research Program

MINE — Mapping Italian News Research Program

Research programme active at the University of Urbino since 2017, investigating Italian media coverage and the impact of social media on electoral processes, public opinion and health information. MINE has hosted a succession of externally funded sub-projects (listed separately below). All sub-grants are now concluded; the programme remains active as the institutional and intellectual umbrella for the PI's ongoing research line, with no active external grant at present.

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PROMPT — Predictive Research On Misinformation and Narratives Propagation Trajectories

PROMPT — Predictive Research On Misinformation and Narratives Propagation Trajectories

European Commission project (DG CNECT) dedicated to monitoring disinformation narratives in 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. MINE sub-project.

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vera.ai — VERification Assisted by Artificial Intelligence

vera.ai — VERification Assisted by Artificial Intelligence

Horizon Europe project developing AI-based tools to assist journalists and fact-checkers in verifying multimedia content and countering disinformation. As WP4 Leader, Fabio Giglietto led the work package focused on detection of coordinated behaviour and inauthentic networks spreading misleading content. MINE sub-project.

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📚 FG's #toread

News & Updates

  • July 27, 2026

    How audiences perceive generative AI and interpret synthetic media remains a critical area of investigation as artificial intelligence becomes more integrated into the information ecosystem. Recent papers explore this landscape, including an investigation by Nicolas Mattis, Kimon Kieslich, and Claes Holger de Vreese into how task-specific AI disclosures shape trustworthiness, alongside work by Morgan Wack and Stephen Prochaska examining how audience interpretations influence the impact of deepfakes in Kenya.

    Read more
  • July 24, 2026

    The multi-faceted nature of global political polarization and digital influence is the subject of several new research contributions. A study by Max Falkenberg et al. advocates for a more integrated and globally equitable understanding of polarization, complemented by Gregory Eady et al.'s work on mapping the ideological alignment of news media, politicians, and the public through social media sharing.

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  • July 22, 2026

    A new longitudinal study co-authored by Fabio Giglietto, Giada Marino, and Bruna Paroni investigates the dynamics of partisan communities on social media. Published in Information, Communication & Society, the research analyzes affective engagement within pro-Bolsonaro Facebook networks to understand how political devotions and network structures are sustained over time.

    Read more
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Recent Web and News Mentions

SMSociety 2026 Conference Programme

socialmediaandsociety.org Jun 01, 2026
Fabio Giglietto is featured as a panelist for the 'Meta Content Library Community Roundtable' at the International Conference on Social Media & Society 2026.

L'articolo 21 nella gabbia di Facebook

terzogiornale.it Jan 19, 2026
An opinion piece analyzing digital free speech in Italy that heavily cites Fabio Giglietto's research on the impacts of Facebook's political content reduction policy.
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While they're pretty smart, they might occasionally hallucinate a publication or get creative with facts. Take it with a grain of digital salt! 🧂