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 earned his doctorate and now teaches Generative AI and Media and Digital Social Network Analysis. His scientific activity explores the intersection of computational social science, the analysis of digital platforms, and political communication. His research focuses specifically on understanding information disorders and coordinated behavior across social media, contributing significantly to the academic discourse on these critical contemporary issues.
He is the founder and coordinator of the Mapping Italian News Research Program (MINE), active at the University of Urbino since 2017. MINE serves as an institutional umbrella for his research line, having hosted a succession of externally funded sub-projects that investigated Italian media coverage and the impact of social media on electoral processes, public opinion, and health information. Within MINE, Fabio co-developed CooRnet, an open-source R package that introduced the influential Coordinated Link Sharing Behavior (CLSB) detection method. Following the shutdown of Meta's CrowdTangle in August 2024, CooRnet is now operationally discontinued; however, the CLSB methodology lives on through the independently maintained CooRTweet R package. While all externally funded MINE sub-projects have concluded, the program itself remains active.
On the European front, Fabio served as WP4 Leader for the Horizon Europe project vera.ai, which concluded in October 2025 after developing AI-based tools for countering disinformation. He also contributed as a Partner on PROMPT, a European Commission project dedicated to monitoring disinformation narratives, which concluded in February 2026. Professionally, Fabio is a member of the International Communication Association (ICA), the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR), and the Italian Association for Political Communication. He has also actively participated on the board of Research Committee 51 on Sociocybernetics of the International Sociological Association.
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
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
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
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 moreRecent academic discourse highlighted delves into the multifaceted impact of Artificial Intelligence, including its political economy and the pursuit of accountability, the imaginative landscapes it fosters in Silicon Valley, and its economic implications. Other shared research examines the framing of generative AI and large language models in news media, the influence of state media control on LLMs, and Google’s AI Overviews. Discussions also consider the necessity of social theory as a structural prior for agentic AI systems.
Read moreA systematic review of social science studies analyzing social media data from 2010-2024 was among the recent papers highlighted. Other significant research covers multi-platform analysis of electoral discourse as a research infrastructure problem, the dynamics of far-right alternative influence networks on YouTube, and the relationship between online discourse and offline activities of groups like the Proud Boys. The collection also features discussions on the decline of public debate following changes on platforms like Twitter, how Brazilian parliamentarians establish epistemic authority in crises, and strategies micro-influencers employ to navigate platform culture demands.
Read moreA collection of papers exploring various aspects of misinformation and conspiracy theories was recently shared. These include studies on how individuals engage in symbolic boundary work within "Great Reset" debates across social media platforms, and the 'hostile misinformation effect' and how ideological congruence impacts the assessment of misinformation. Further insights were provided on media's role in disseminating conspiracy beliefs during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, an international expert assessment of challenges and interventions in digital media, and applications of climate psychology to the study of misinformation.
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