Philip N. Howard
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Philip N. Howard is a sociologist and communication researcher who studies the impact of information technologies on
democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...
and
social inequality Social inequality occurs when resources in a given society are distributed unevenly, typically through norms of allocation, that engender specific patterns along lines of socially defined categories of persons. It posses and creates gender c ...
. He studies how new information technologies are used in both civic engagement and social control in countries around the world. He is Professor of Internet Studies at the
Oxford Internet Institute The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) is a multi-disciplinary department of social and computer science dedicated to the study of information, communication, and technology, and is part of the Social Sciences Division of the University of Oxford ...
and Balliol College at the
University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...
. He was Director of the
Oxford Internet Institute The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) is a multi-disciplinary department of social and computer science dedicated to the study of information, communication, and technology, and is part of the Social Sciences Division of the University of Oxford ...
from March 2018 to March 26, 2021. He is the author of ten books, including ''New Media Campaigns and The Managed Citizen'', ''The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy'', and ''Pax Technica: How the Internet of Things May Set Us Free or Lock Us Up''. His latest book is ''Lie Machines: How to Save Democracy from Troll Armies, Deceitful Robots, Junk News Operations, and Political Operatives''.


Research

His research has demonstrated that the diffusion of
digital media Digital media is any communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronics device. ' ...
has long-term, often positive, implications for democratic institutions. Through information infrastructure, some young democracies have become more entrenched and durable; some
authoritarian Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic votin ...
regimes have made significant transitions towards democratic institutions and practices; and others have become less authoritarian and hybrid where information technologies support the work of particular actors such as state,
political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...
,
journalists A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
, or civil society groups.


Astroturf campaigns and fake news

Howard was one of the first to investigate the impact of digital media on political campaigning in advanced democracies, and he was the first political scientist to define and study "astroturf" political movements as the managed perception of grassroots support through
astroturfing Astroturfing is the practice of masking the sponsors of a message or organization (e.g., political, advertising, religious or public relations) to make it appear as though it originates from and is supported by grassroots participants. It is a p ...
in his research on the Gore and Bush presidential campaigns. ''New Media Campaigns and the Managed Citizen'' (2005) is about how politicians and lobbyists in the United States use the internet to manipulate the public and violate privacy. His research on technology and social change has been prescient. The subject's study of the
2016 U.S. presidential election The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial United States presidential election, presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican Party (United States), Republican ticket of businessman Donald ...
did not identify the Russian sources of disinformation that other investigations have alluded to, though Howard later studied the disinformation campaigns launched by the Internet Research Agency.


Digital media and the Arab Spring

Howard wrote presciently about the role of the internet in transforming Political Islam, and is the author of ''The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy'' (2010) which argues that how states respond to new information technologies has become a defining feature of both democracy and authoritarianism. Howard demonstrated that the internet was having an important impact on political Islam. The book was published before the
Arab Spring The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in T ...
, and shows how new social movements in
North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
and the
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
were using
social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
to outmaneuver some of the region's dictators, partly because these regimes lacked effective responses to online evidence of their abuses. Using Charles Ragin's method of " qualitative comparative analysis" Howard investigated technology diffusion and political Islam and explained trends in many countries, with the exception of Tunisia and Egypt. But very shortly the trends in social activism and political Islam he had identified appeared in those two countries as well in the "Arab Spring." ''Democracy's Fourth Wave?'' (2013), with Muzammil M. Hussain, suggests that turning off the Internet, as the Mubarak regime did on January 28, 2011, actually strengthened the revolution by forcing people into the streets to seek information. It sees events like the
Arab Spring The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in T ...
as "early signs of the next big wave of democratization. But this time, it will be wrestled into life in the digital living room of the global community." His research and commentary is regularly featured in the media, including recent contributions about
media politics Media policy / M. politics is a term describing all legislation and political action directed towards regulating the media, especially mass media, and the media industry. Those actions will usually be prompted by pressures from public opinion o ...
in the US, Hungary and around the world
the New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
and
Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
.


Politics and the Internet of Things

In ''Pax Technica'' (2015) he argues that the
Internet of Things The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other comm ...
will be the most important tool of political communication we have ever built. He advocates for more public input in its design and more civic engagement with how this information infrastructure gets used.


Computational propaganda

In the book ''Lie Machines'' (2020) Howard surveys the extent to which large-scale misinformation campaigns have shaped politics. He highlights the roots these developments have in propaganda but mobilizes contemporary data to argue that a host of technologies, techniques, and actors (e.g., AI bots, political activists, conspiracy theorists, national governments, and so forth) are innovating at a rapid pace. ''Lie Machines'' extends Howard's 2014 hypothesis that political elites in democracies would soon be using algorithms over social media to manipulate public opinion, a process he called "computational propaganda." Evidence from Russia, Myanmar, Hungary, Poland, Brazil, and of course the United States, documented in ''Lie Machines'' and scholarly articles and policy reports, further substantiate this hypothesis. For example, his research on political redlining, astroturf campaigns and fake news inspired a decade of work and became particularly relevant during the Brexit referendum and the 2016 U.S. Presidential Campaign. His research has exposed the global impact of bots and trolls on public opinion.


Impact

As Director of the Democracy and Technology Programme at the Oxford Internet Institute, Howard has contributed to more than 130 reports on computational propaganda, political communication, election interference, and the abuse of social media by politicians and foreign governments. Like fellow Canadian researcher
Ronald Deibert Ronald James Deibert (born 1964) is a Canadian professor of political science, philosopher, founder and director of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. He is a co-founder and a principal investigator of ...
of the Citizen Lab, Howard's work is often critical of authoritarian regimes and the use of technology for political manipulation. Howard has testified before the UK Parliament, European Commission, and US Senate on election interference. Howard is sometimes critiqued by the subjects of his research and investigations. After a reporter presented one of the research findings from a report that Dr. Howard was listed as the Primary Investigator on, President
Rodrigo Duterte Rodrigo Roa Duterte (, ; born March 28, 1945), also known as Digong, Rody, and by the initials DU30 and PRRD, is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the chairperson ...
said: “Oxford University? That’s a school for stupid people.” Erik Wemple in
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
and Elizabeth Harrington in The Washington Free Beacon argue that his research is biased against those who voted for President
Donald J. Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
.


Books

* Howard, Philip N. ''Lie Machines: How to Save Democracy from Troll Armies, Deceitful Robots, Junk News Operations, and Political Operatives''. Yale University Press, 2020. * Woolley, Samuel and Philip N. Howard. ''Computational Propaganda: Political Parties, Politicians, and Political Manipulation on Social Media.'' Oxford University Press, 2018. * Howard, Philip N. ''Pax Technica: How the Internet of Things May Set Us Free or Lock Us Up''. Yale University Press, 2015. Also published in German and Chinese. * Howard, Philip N. (editor). ''State Power 2.0: Authoritarian Entrenchment and Civic Engagement Worldwide.'' Ashgate Press, 2013. * Howard, Philip N. (coauthor). ''Democracy's Fourth Wave? Digital Media and the Arab Spring.'' Oxford University Press, 2013. * Howard, Philip N. ''Castells and the Media.'' Polity Press, 2011. * Howard, Philip N. ''The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Information Technology and Political Islam.'' Oxford University Press, 2011. * Howard, Philip N. (editor). ''Handbook of Internet Politics.'' Routledge, 2009. * Howard, Philip N. ''New Media Campaigns and the Managed Citizen.'' Cambridge University Press, 2006. * Howard, Philip N. (editor). ''Society Online: The Internet in Context.'' Sage, 2004.


Essays and journalism

*
Hungary's Crackdown on the Press
" New York Times (2014) *
Let's Make Candidates Pledge Not to Use Bots
" Reuters (2015) *
Politics won’t know what hit it: The Internet of Things is poised to change democracy itself
" Politico (2015) *
Bots Unite to Automate the Presidential Election
" Wired Magazine (2016) *
Facebook and Twitter's Real Sin Goes Beyond Spreading Fake News
" Reuters (2016)


References


External links

*
Oxford University faculty page for Philip N. Howard

Philip N. Howard, Director of Programme on Democracy and Technology Program
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Philip N. Canadian academics Canadian sociologists Living people University of Washington faculty 1970 births Fellows of Balliol College, Oxford Alumni of the London School of Economics Academics of the University of Oxford Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences fellows