Fabio Giglietto
Full Professor of Internet Studies
University of Urbino
Department of Communication Sciences, Humanities and International Studies
About Me
Fabio Giglietto is a Full Professor of Internet Studies at the Università di Urbino Carlo Bo, where he also earned his doctorate. His scientific activity is situated at the intersection of computational social science, analysis of digital platforms, and political communication. Professor Giglietto's research focuses specifically on understanding information disorders and coordinated behavior across social media platforms. He actively shares his expertise through teaching, currently leading courses on Generative AI and Media and Digital Social Network Analysis, reflecting his engagement with contemporary challenges in digital communication.
He is the founder and coordinator of the Mapping Italian News Research Program (MINE), an initiative established at the University of Urbino in 2017. MINE serves as an overarching framework for his research line, which has explored Italian media coverage and the impact of social media on electoral processes, public opinion, and health information through a succession of externally funded sub-projects. Within MINE, Professor Giglietto co-developed CooRnet, an open-source R package that introduced the Coordinated Link Sharing Behavior (CLSB) detection method. While CooRnet is now operationally discontinued following the August 2024 shutdown of Meta's CrowdTangle, its foundational CLSB methodology continues to inform downstream tools like the independently maintained CooRTweet R package.
On the European front, Professor Giglietto has held significant roles, including serving as the WP4 Leader for the Horizon Europe project vera.ai, which concluded in October 2025, focusing on developing AI-based tools to counter disinformation. He was also a Partner on PROMPT, a European Commission project that concluded in February 2026, dedicated to monitoring disinformation narratives across Europe. Although all externally funded MINE sub-projects have concluded, the MINE program remains active as the institutional umbrella for his ongoing research line. He maintains active memberships in the International Communication Association (ICA), the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR), and the Italian Association for Political Communication, and has contributed to the board of ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics.
Recent Publications
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
Synthetic seduction: Evolving visual persuasion in coordinated online gambling promotion with generative {AI}
Giglietto, F., Terenzi, M., Chakraborty, A., & Marino, G. (2026). Synthetic seduction: Evolving visual persuasion in coordinated online gambling promotion with generative {AI}. Countering Disinformation in the Era of Generative AI. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-11782-3_4
"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. .
Research Projects
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
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
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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Recent Web and News Mentions
ilrestodelcarlino.it
Indagine urbinate: "Così l’algoritmo influenza il voto" - Il Resto del Carlino
CS2Italy
La schedatura dei docenti, l’antifascismo e il tarlo della scuola del ’68 - Centro Studi Sereno Regis
Facebook premia gli estremisti: la ricerca dell'Università di Urbino - Lumsanews
While they're pretty smart, they might occasionally hallucinate a publication or get creative with facts. Take it with a grain of digital salt! 🧂