University of Urbino
Department of Communication Sciences, Humanities and International Studies
Fabio Giglietto is a Full Professor of Internet Studies at the Università di Urbino Carlo Bo, where he also earned his doctorate. Working at the intersection of computational social science, political communication, and digital platform analysis, his research focuses on information disorders and coordinated behavior on social media. In the classroom, he shares his expertise with students by teaching courses on Generative AI and Media as well as Digital Social Network Analysis. His academic work seeks to understand how digital technologies and platforms shape contemporary public discourse, elections, and information ecosystems.
He is the founder and coordinator of the Mapping Italian News Research Program (MINE), established in 2017. While all of its externally funded sub-projects have now concluded, MINE remains active as the institutional umbrella for his ongoing research line, having previously hosted a succession of sub-projects on elections, public opinion, and health information. Within this program, Giglietto co-developed CooRnet, an open-source R package that pioneered the Coordinated Link Sharing Behavior (CLSB) detection method. Although CooRnet was discontinued following the shutdown of Meta's CrowdTangle in August 2024, the CLSB methodology continues to thrive through CooRTweet, a downstream, independently maintained R package that extends coordinated behavior detection to other platforms.
Giglietto's recent European engagements include serving as the Work Package 4 Leader for the Horizon Europe project vera.ai, which concluded in late 2025, and as a partner on the PROMPT project, which concluded in early 2026. Beyond his academic research, he is a founding partner (socio fondatore) of Digit Srl, a benefit-corporation spin-off of the University of Urbino Carlo Bo that designs digital platforms dedicated to sustainability, civic participation, social innovation, and scientific dissemination. He is also actively involved in the global scientific community as a member of the International Communication Association, the Association of Internet Researchers, the Italian Association for Political Communication, and has served on the board of the International Sociological Association's Research Committee 51 on Sociocybernetics.
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
Giglietto, F. (2026). VERA-AI Alert: Self-updating detection of coordinated sharing behaviour on Facebook. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21234935
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
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
Giglietto, F., & Puschmann, C. (2026). From the Wild West to the Walled Garden. M/C Journal. https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.3257
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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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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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.
Learn moreUnderstanding and countering digital propaganda remains a primary focus of global communication research. Newly highlighted work by Ramos et al. advocates for narrative monitoring to elevate disinformation countermeasures beyond traditional fact-checking. Complementing this, research from Karlsson explores how media narratives during digital election interference shape polarization, while Beacken et al. investigate the intersection of generative AI, propaganda, and digital authoritarianism across six democratically weakened nations.
Read moreInnovations and critical assessments in digital research methods are reshaping how scholars analyze modern media ecosystems. A study by Zheng et al. introduces TubeStats and TokStats, novel tools designed to extract random samples from YouTube and TikTok for academic study. Addressing structural measurement issues, Schemer et al. investigate how methodological choices regarding partisan slant and affective polarization influence research findings, while Mosca and Paxton examine the rhetorical use of 'fake news' as a strategic weapon in mainstream Italian newspapers.
Read moreRecent academic literature draws critical attention to platform governance and the methodologies of digital research. Key contributions include an analysis of platform-mediated research and API access politics by Cullen et al., alongside a study by Bouchaud and Ramaciotti exposing how X's Community Notes system may systematically undermoderate polarizing content during elections. Furthering this policy debate, Bechmann and Crosset et al. offer critical frameworks for platform collective behavior and content moderation under current European and US legislation.
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