Fan Yang

Fan Yang

@fanyang.bsky.social

Research fellow at melbourne law school node of ARC centre of excellence for automated decision-making society (adm+s) Study AI, labour, migration, disinformation web: fanyang.fan based in Naarm

212 followers96 following36 posts

Fan Yang
@fanyang.bsky.social

Ive been speaking to folks doing data labelling for AI models. The picture they paint is rather bleak. - more black boxes built into managerial mechanism weakening workers’ bargaining power - consider AI training as big tech & business one-off purchase of worker’s knowledge to replace them

The Conversation AUNZ@aunz.theconversation.com

Interviews with data workers in China and Australia reveal the precarious, exploitative conditions of this new branch of the gig economy.

theconversation.comAn AI job boom? Here’s what the tedious, temporary work in data labelling is actually like
Fan Yang
@fanyang.bsky.social

- state can work with tech & business to maintain vulnerable workers in the poorly paid, exploitative industry, in a way to exploit their vulnerabilities - AI efficiency basically means to outsource redundant work to cheap labour without so far realising full automation. This model is precarious.

Fan Yang
@fanyang.bsky.social

The governing class in the developed economy has achieved “efficiency” as they wished while the human cost is distributed to the working class and the underdeveloped economies.

Fan Yang
@fanyang.bsky.social

Robbie barely had any typos before.

robbie@coolrobbie.bsky.social

I've been learning R recently, and given my familiarity with Python I wanted to tell you all about skills I have recently practiced: - givign up - headaches

Fan Yang reposted

Dan
@dannno0o.bsky.social

Replying to @dannno0o.bsky.social

After showing how LLMs animate this paradox in their technical operation, I argue that these systems are (of course) political as the idea of a complete “model” offers the fantasy of a closed system that provides each subject a stable identity and the opportunity to attain absolute knowledge (2/2).

Fan Yang reposted

Dan
@dannno0o.bsky.social

So happy to have my first journal article published today! I argue that LLMs animate a paradox in which similarity only emerges through difference. I show how this paradox is operationalised by LLMs as they generate a natural language response (1/2) link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Fan Yang
@fanyang.bsky.social

RECapture team on 'We're fighting disinformation in all the wrong ways.' Regulating disinformation merely as ‘content’ to be prevented or corrected is unproductive and limiting. The real task is to interrogate the system that feeds it. www.crikey.com.au/2025/10/27/f...

crikey.com.auWe're fighting disinformation in all the wrong waysRegulating disinformation merely as ‘content’ to be prevented or corrected is unproductive and limiting. The real task is to interrogate the system that feeds it.
Fan Yang
@fanyang.bsky.social

RECapture team submitted to the Inquiry into the 2025 federal election. We provided our high-level and operational recommendations for improving trust and security in digital campaigns for Australian elections. @coolrobbie.bsky.social et al. Link to our submission doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

doi.orgAustralian political advertising and disinformation on Chinese-language media services: Four recommendations for improving trust and security in digital campaigns for Australian electionsOur report details recommendations provided to the Inquiry into the 2025 federal election for the Australian Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters.  The report is based on our res...

Fan Yang reposted

C. C. Turner (she/they)
@ccturner.bsky.social

"By appearing as opinion, disinformation passes itself off as a personal viewpoint rather than AS A COVER FOR DECEPTIVE INFLUENCE” (my emphasis) — great article in @crikey.com.au by @fanyang.bsky.social Robbie Fordyce & Luke Heemsbergen #auspol

Crikey@crikey.com.au

A study of falsehoods spread during the Voice referendum and 2025 federal election on Chinese and American platforms reveals why Australia must change its approach to tackling disinformation.

crikey.com.auWe're fighting disinformation in all the wrong ways
Fan Yang
@fanyang.bsky.social

Our paper on the Voice referendum on WeChat shows policymakers & factchecker might be fighting the wrong battle against disinfo. Our case & numbers show how disinfo works on the ground. Check out the paper (w. Luke Heemsbergen & @coolrobbie.bsky.social) url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/fLyrCxnMJ5...

url.au.m.mimecastprotect.comContextualizing critical disinformation during the 2023 Voice referendum on WeChat: Manipulating knowledge gaps and whitewashing Indigenous rights | HKS Misinformation ReviewOutside China, WeChat is a conduit for translating and circulating English-language information among the Chinese diaspora. Australian domestic political campaigns exploit the gaps between platform go...

Fan Yang reposted

Frank Pasquale
@frankpasquale.bsky.social

We’ve “watched the web mutate from democratic commons into a gamified engine of manipulation and misinformation. The dream of a cooperative knowledge society has faded into an architecture of monetized attention and algorithmic control.” lareviewofbooks.org/article/mind...

lareviewofbooks.orgMindless Machines, Mindless Myths | Los Angeles Review of BooksErik J. Larson thinks about “Mindless: The Human Condition in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,” which traces Robert Skidelsky’s philosophical reckoning with AI, automation, and the illusion of prog...

Fan Yang reposted

Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP)
@mdap-unimelb.bsky.social

Next @wearehades.bsky.social seminar looks amaze, featuring MDAP's resident ‪historian, data-nerd, map maker, & cat lover @emily-fitzgerald.bsky.social Monday 8 September, 2pm, online, all welcome! Register rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/same-d...

HADES@wearehades.bsky.social

While maps may appear as an objective narrative, the mapmaker is telling a story – using data, design & presentation. In this seminar we'll explore different maps made using the same data and question the stories maps tell – and what we can learn from them! rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/same-d...

rduevents.unimelb.edu.auSame data, different stories: How different maps can change the data narrativeA geographic map can be powerful data visualisation, used to explore concepts of place, location, and distance that are inherent in much humanities...
Fan Yang
@fanyang.bsky.social

That’s zimomo!

nicholas carah@nnniccc.bsky.social

From Darkness to Hypervisibility! A one day symposium on the promotional and creator cultures of social media at UQ in November. CFP and details here: hass.uq.edu.au/event/sessio... @bradyjay.bsky.social @antmandan.bsky.social

hass.uq.edu.auDarkness to hyper-visibility: exploring promotional and creator cultures of social mediaThis one-day symposium explores the visibility games at the heart of social media’s promotional and creator cultures. From influencers and everyday users to advertisers and automated algorithms, every...

Fan Yang reposted

Dang Nguyen
@digitaldang.bsky.social

Only a couple weeks to go until my mate @katemannell.bsky.social and I have a yarn with our fellow panelists about the infrastructures of noise @aussts.bsky.social 2025 conference. Thanks to @blueskychris.bsky.social, there’ll be a streaming link on the day: www.eventbrite.com.au/e/aussts-202...

eventbrite.com.auAusSTS 2025 Day 1 Keynote "Infrastructures of Noise"Join AusSTS online for the first keynote of 'Signals and noises' with Dang Nguyen, Fabian Offert, Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal & Kate Mannell.

Fan Yang reposted

Timothy Neale
@tdneale.bsky.social

Great seminar from Andy! If you missed it, you can watch it here:

Deakin Science and Society Network@deakinssn.bsky.social

The SSN and Andy Lakoff going live in 5 - jump on and join us! www.youtube.com/live/400Pt5R... @tdneale.bsky.social

youtube.comSSN seminar: "Planning for the Wrong Pandemic" with Andrew LakoffJoin the SSN for this hybrid seminar with Andrew Lakoff, Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, who visiting us from the University of Southern California. Andrew will be discussing his new book "Pl...

Fan Yang reposted

ADM+S Centre
@admscentre.org.au

In this investigative report, ADM+S researchers Fan Yang, Robbie Fordyce, with Luke Heemsbergen worked with ABC, to uncover political disinformation on Chinese social media platform RedNote @fanyang.bsky.social @coolrobbie.bsky.social sky.social bit.ly/41KYczP

bit.lyA deepfake Dutton speaks Mandarin on Chinese social media platformA series of attacks on Australian political parties on emerging Chinese social media platform RedNote raise concerns about misinformation, disinformation and the risk of foreign interference ahead of ...

Fan Yang reposted

Marc Owen Jones
@marcowenjones.bsky.social

Replying to @marcowenjones.bsky.social

News media’s legitimization of disinformation: propaganda and the length of the Uluru Statement Victoria Fielding, Robert Boucaut, Catherine Son & Alexander H. Beare - [Open Access] www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

tandfonline.comNews media’s legitimization of disinformation: propaganda and the length of the Uluru StatementNews media notionally plays an important role in democracy by disseminating quality information which the public needs to make democratic decisions in their best interests. Yet, news media can also...

Fan Yang reposted

Kim TallBear
@kimtallbear.bsky.social

Donna Haraway leading #StandUpForScience at #UCSC. Situating science in helping us live together in better ways. She's giving deets on cuts to science, incl #Indigenous science, ag, USAID, medicine, dangers to farm workers, dangers of data loss. Donna's a master at connecting all the relations. ❤️

Fan Yang reposted

Ana Brandusescu
@anabrandusescu.bsky.social

AI Countergovernance: Lessons Learned from Canada and Paris "We learned three lessons from Canada’s failure to pass national AI legislation. These lessons can be applied to oppose unaccountable state-led AI governance around the world."

techpolicy.pressAI Countergovernance: Lessons Learned from Canada and Paris | TechPolicy.PressThe Paris AI Action Summit showed that “participatory AI” and “public interest AI” are often co-opted by government and industry to advance their agendas.

Fan Yang reposted

Anthony McCosker
@amccosker.bsky.social

One way to understand what is at stake in an AI-driven society is to look at the increasing Data Divide that is marginalising the voices of civil society, not-for-profits and all organisations and collectives working toward social innovation. New paper!! journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

journals.sagepub.comDeepening the data divide: Marginalised perspectives and non-profit priorities in Australian data sharing reforms - Xiaofang Yao, Anthony McCosker, Yong-Bin Kang, 2025This paper investigates open public data and data sharing reforms in Australia (2018–2022) and their potential role in deepening the ‘data divide’. In the conte...
Fan Yang
@fanyang.bsky.social

Disinformation among non-English speaking communities circulated within enclosed social media channels / platforms has long been an issue outside the purview of public agencies or US tech companies. Our study found that combatting disinformation efforts are … theconversation.com/elections-me...

theconversation.comElections mean more misinformation. Here’s what we know about how it spreads in migrant communitiesMigrants, especially those who speak English as a second language, are disproportionately targeted by mis- and disinformation. Research shows what might help.
Fan Yang
@fanyang.bsky.social

Often conducted by family members or community members with high levels of political, media and digital literacy. However, such efforts are limited by their scale and gender, family, and generational dynamics. Women and junior family members often take the responsibility of debunking disinfo…

Fan Yang
@fanyang.bsky.social

Particularly on the matters of human rights, equity, and environment, on the matters that they particularly care about. Informal disinformation debunking is often voluntary and emotional taxing.

Fan Yang reposted

michael veale
@michae.lv

EU AI Office presents proposal for general purpose model training data summary template. For scraped data, nothing more detailed than top 5-10% of domain names (not URLs). Given platforms (same domain) & tiny rights holders, not sure this helps. Slides via Contexte www.contexte.com/actualite/me...

Fan Yang
@fanyang.bsky.social

I have written a blog post on RedNote. - What is the app? - It's history - Userbase? - Interactions between Chinese and American users on the app - It's algorithm Check out the link below. fanyangfan.wordpress.com/2025/01/20/r...

fanyangfan.wordpress.comRedNote / XiaohongshuWith the uncertainty involved in TikTok ban, US-based users are exploring a Chinese app RedNote as an alternative. What is the app and how does it work? This blog post will take you through my obse…

Fan Yang reposted

Remi Kalir
@remikalir.bsky.social

Replying to @remikalir.bsky.social

“In times of climate emergency, this paper calls to reconsider algorithmic harms and resistance by investigating the entire capitalist production line of the AI industry.” Source: “The supply chain capitalism of AI.” www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

tandfonline.comThe supply chain capitalism of AI: a call to (re)think algorithmic harms and resistance through environmental lensArtificial Intelligence (AI) is woven into a supply chain of capital, commodities and human labour that has been neglected in critical debates. Given the current surge in generative AI – which is e...

Fan Yang reposted

Kate Mannell
@katemannell.bsky.social

Delighted to share that our new book ‘The platformization of the family: Towards a research agenda’ is out! Blog post here with more details and a link to the book (it’s open access): digitalchild.org.au/how-is-famil...

digitalchild.org.auHow is family life being ‘platformized’ and why does it matter?  - Digital ChildLast year, a group of researchers across the UK, Europe, and Australia came together to set out a research agenda for studying the platformization of family life.