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The Center for Computation and Data Sciences (CCDS) presents A Research Talk with Sam Jackson, Assistant Professor at the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity at the University at Albany

Thursday, April 7th at 3 PM (eastern). The talk will be in-person and on Zoom. The location will be Hinds Hall room 347 (Katzer).

The (Tweet) Storm Is Upon Us: A Look at QAnon on Twitter

For the past few years, the QAnon conspiracy theory has been a pernicious force in American public life. Many spaces on the internet have been important for the development and spread of the conspiracy theory, including “dark” social media sites like 8chan/8kun and more widely used sites like YouTube and Facebook. Using a novel dataset of more than 100 million tweets related to QAnon collected between July 2018 and the present, this talk will explore patterns and themes present in this activity. This dataset reveals a range of activity from vigorous support for the ideas promoted by “Q” to the most strident opposition and dismissal of those ideas. Along the way, I describe some of the specific methodological challenges that arose in this project. Finally, I note some of the ways that this dataset and the analyses we are performing can inform public conversations about conspiracy theories and “alternative” knowledge communities.
 
Sam Jackson is an assistant professor in the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity at the University at Albany, which also houses UAlbany’s iSchool. His research focuses on antigovernment extremism in the U.S., conspiracy theories, extremism online, and contentious activity on the internet more broadly. He earned his Ph.D. from the Social Science Doctoral Program in the Maxwell School in 2018; while completing his Ph.D., he was also an affiliate of CCDS and worked on the Illuminating project. His book, Oath Keepers: Patriotism and the Edge of Violence in a Right-Wing Antigovernment Group, was published by Columbia University Press in 2020.