Cybersafety

This is a non-exxaustive list of my publications related to understanding and countering cybersafety and other socio-technical issues. Many of these papers are written in collaboration with the iDRAMA Lab crew and were in part funded by the EU through the ENCASE project.

Mohammad Hammas Saeed, Kostantinos Papadamou, Jeremy Blackburn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Gianluca Stringhini
TUBERAIDER: Attributing Coordinated Hate Attacks on YouTube Videos to their Source Communities
18th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM 2024)
pdf

Jay Patel, Pujan Paudel, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Gianluca Stringhini, Jeremy Blackburn
iDRAMA-Scored-2024: A Dataset of the Scored Social Media Platform from 2020 to 2023
18th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, Dataset Paper (ICWSM 2024)
pdf

Pujan Paudel, Jeremy Blackburn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Gianluca Stringhini, Savvas Zannettou
Lambretta: Learning to Rank for Twitter Soft Moderation
44th IEEE Symposium on Security & Privacy (S&P 2023)
pdf

Alexandros Efstratiou, Jeremy Blackburn, Tristan Caulfield, Gianluca Stringhini, Savvas Zannettou, Emiliano De Cristofaro
Non-Polar Opposites: Analyzing the Relationship Between Echo Chambers and Hostile Intergroup Interactions on Reddit
17th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM 2023)
pdf

Satrio Baskoro Yudhoatmojo, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Jeremy Blackburn
Understanding the Use of e-Prints on Reddit and 4chan’s Politically Incorrect Board
15th ACM Web Science Conference 2023 (WebSci 2023)
best paper
pdf

Utkucan Balci, Chen Ling, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Megan Squire, Gianluca Stringhini, Jeremy Blackburn
Beyond Fish and Bicycles: Exploring the Varieties of Online Women’s Ideological Spaces
15th ACM Web Science Conference 2023 (WebSci 2023)
pdf

Wai Man Si, Jeremy Blackburn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Gianluca Stringhini, Savvas Zannettou, Yang Zhang
Why So Toxic? Measuring and Triggering Toxic Behavior in Open-Domain Chatbots
29th ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (ACM CCS 2022)
honorable mention
pdf
media coverage FastCompany

Alexandros Efstratiou and Emiliano De Cristofaro
Adherence to Misinformation on Social Media Through Socio-Cognitive and Group-Based Processes
25th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW 2022)
pdf

Haris Bin Zia, A. Raman, I. Castro, I. Anaobi, Emiliano De Cristofaro, N. Sastry, Gareth Tyson
Toxicity in the Decentralized Web and the Potential for Model Sharing
ACM International Conference on Measurement and Modeling of Computer Systems (SIGMETRICS 2022)
pdf

Mohammad Hammas Saeed, Shiza Ali, Jeremy Blackburn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Savvas Zannettou, and Gianluca Stringhini
TROLLMAGNIFIER: Detecting State-Sponsored Troll Accounts on Reddit
43th IEEE Symposium on Security & Privacy (S&P 2022)
pdf
media coverage Wired

Chen Ling, Jeremy Blackburn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Gianluca Stringhini
Slapping Cats, Bopping Heads, and Oreo Shakes: Understanding Indicators of Virality in TikTok Short Videos
14th ACM Web Science Conference (ACM WebSci 2022)
pdf

Antonis Papasavva, Max Aliapoulios, Cameron Ballard, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Gianluca Stringhini, Savvas Zannettou, and Jeremy Blackburn
The Gospel According to Q: Understanding the QAnon Conspiracy from the Perspective of Canonical Information
16th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM 2022)
pdf
media coverage New Scientist

Kostantinos Papadamou, Savvas Zannettou, Jeremy Blackburn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Gianluca Stringhini, and Michael Sirivianos
“It is just a flu”: Assessing the Effect of Watch History on YouTube’s Pseudoscientific Video Recommendations
16th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM 2022)
pdf

Anaobi Ishaku, Igancio Castro, Aravindh Raman, Haris Bin Zia, Emiliano De Cristofaro, N. Sastry, Gareth Tyson
Exploring Content Moderation in the Decentralised Web: The Pleroma Case
17th International Conference on emerging Networking EXperiments and Technologies (ACM CoNext 2021)
pdf

Yuping Wang, Savvas Zannettou, Jeremy Blackburn, Barry Bradlyn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, and Gianluca Stringhini
A Multi-Platform Analysis of Political News Discussion and Sharing on Web Communities
2021 IEEE International Conference on Big Data (IEEE BigData 2021)
pdf

Periwinkle Doerfler, Andrea Forte, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Gianluca Stringhini, Jeremy Blackburn, and Damon McCoy
“I’m a Professor, which isn’t usually a dangerous job”: Internet-Facilitated Harassment and its Impact on Researchers
24th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW 2021)
impact recognition award
pdf

Manoel Horta Ribeiro, Shagun Jhaver, Savvas Zannettou, Jeremy Blackburn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Gianluca Stringhini, and Robert West
Do Platform Migrations Compromise Content Moderation? Evidence from r/The_Donald and r/Incels
24th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW 2021)
honorable mention
pdf video
media coverage WaPo, El Pais, The Brink, Wired

Kostantinos Papadamou, Savvas Zannettou, Jeremy Blackburn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Gianluca Stringhini, and Michael Sirivianos
“How over is it?” Understanding the Incel Community on YouTube
24th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW 2021)
pdf video

Chen Ling, Ihab AbuHilal, Jeremy Blackburn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Savvas Zannettou, and Gianluca Stringhini
Dissecting the Meme Magic: Understanding Indicators of Virality in Image Memes
24th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW 2021)
pdf video
media coverage Input Magazine

Shiza Ali, Mohammad Hammas Saeed, Esraa Aldreabi, Jeremy Blackburn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Savvas Zannettou, and Gianluca Stringhini
Understanding the Effect of Deplatforming on Social Networks
13th ACM Web Science Conference (ACM WebSci 2021)
pdf

Antonis Papasavva, Jeremy Blackburn, Gianluca Stringhini, Savvas Zannettou, and Emiliano De Cristofaro
“Is it a Qoincidence?”: An Exploratory Study of QAnon on Voat
30th The Web Conference (WWW 2021)
pdf video
media coverage Wired, Echosec, The Daily Beast

Max Aliapoulios, Emmi Bevensee, Jeremy Blackburn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Gianluca Stringhini, and Savvas Zannettou
A Large Open Dataset from the Parler Social Network
15th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM 2021)
pdf
media coverage USA Today, The Conversation, Business Insider-1, Business Insider-2

Manoel Horta Ribeiro, Jeremy Blackburn, Barry Bradlyn, Emiliano De Cristofaro Gianluca Stringhini, Summer Long, Stephanie Greenberg, Savvas Zannettou
The Evolution of the Manosphere Across the Web
15th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM 2021)
pdf
media coverage Newsweek, MIT Tech, Daily Mail

Yuping Wang, Fatemeh Tahmasbi, Jeremy Blackburn, Barry Bradlyn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, David Magerman, Savvas Zannettou, and Gianluca Stringhini
Understanding the Use of Fauxtography on Social Media
15th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM 2021)
pdf video

Antonis Papasavva, Savvas Zannettou, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Gianluca Stringhini, Jeremy Blackburn
Raiders of the Lost Kek: 3.5 Years of Augmented 4chan Posts from the Politically Incorrect Board
14th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM 2020)
pdf video

Alexandros Mittos, Savvas Zannettou, Jeremy Blackburn, and Emiliano De Cristofaro
Analyzing Genetic Testing Discourse on the Web Through the Lens of Twitter, Reddit, and 4chan
ACM Transactions on the Web (TWEB), Volume 13, Issue 4, August 2020
pdf

Savvas Zannettou, Barry Bradlyn, Tristan Caulfield, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Gianluca Stringhini, and Jeremy Blackburn
Characterizing the Use of Images in State-Sponsored Information Warfare Operations by Russian Trolls on Twitter
14th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM 2020)
full version

Alexandros Mittos, Savvas Zannettou, Jeremy Blackburn, and Emiliano De Cristofaro
“And We Will Fight For Our Race! A Measurement Study of Genetic Testing Conversations on Reddit and 4chan
14th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM 2020)
full version video
media coverage The Times, StatNews

Enrico Mariconti, Guillermo Suarez-Tangil, Jeremy Blackburn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Nicolas Kourtellis, Ilias Leontiadis, Jordi Luque Serrano, and Gianluca Stringhini
“You Know What to Do”: Proactive Detection of YouTube Videos Targeted by Coordinated Hate Attacks
22nd ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW 2019)
pdf

Aravindh Raman, Sagar Joglekar, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Nishanth Sastry, Gareth Tyson
Challenges in the Decentralized Web: The Mastodon Case
19th ACM Internet Measurement Conference (IMC 2019)
pdf video

Despoina Chatzakou, Ilias Leontiadis, Jeremy Blackburn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Gianluca Stringhini, Athena Vakali, and Nicolas Kourtellis
Detecting Cyberbullying and Cyberaggression in Social Media
ACM Transactions on the Web (TWEB), Vol. 13, No. 3, 2019
pdf
media coverage The Register, BBC, NewsBusters, SkyNews

Savvas Zannettou, Tristan Caulfield, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Michael Sirivianos, Gianluca Stringhini, and Jeremy Blackburn
Disinformation Warfare: Understanding State-Sponsored Trolls on Twitter & Their Influence on the Web
4th WebConf Workshop on CyberSafety, Online Harassment, and Misinformation (CyberSafety 2019)
best paper
pdf

Juan Echeverria, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Nicolas Kourtellis, Ilias Leontiadis, Gianluca Stringhini, Shi Zhou
LOBO – Evaluation of Generalization Deficiencies in Twitter Bot Classifiers
34th Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC 2018)
pdf

Savvas Zannettou, Tristan Caulfield, Jeremy Blackburn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Michael Sirivianos, Gianluca Stringhini, and Guillermo Suarez-Tangil
On the Origins of Memes by Means of Fringe Web Communities
18th ACM Internet Measurement Conference (IMC 2018)
distinguished paper
pdf code
media coverage BBC Trending, BBC News, MIT Technology Review, CBS News, The Independent, VICE, Business Insider, The Daily Dot, Quartz, El Pais, MotherJones, InfoWars, Thinkprogress, Iflscience, Hornet, Bellingcat

Savvas Zannettou, Jeremy Blackburn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Michael Sirivianos, Gianluca Stringhini
Understanding Web Archiving Services and Their (Mis)Use on Social Media
12th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM 2018)
full version

Savvas Zannettou, Barry Bradlyn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Haewoon Kwak, Michael Sirivianos, Gianluca Stringhini, Jeremy Blackburn
What is Gab? A Bastion of Free Speech or an Alt-Right Echo Chamber?
3rd WWW Workshop on Computational Methods for CyberSafety (CyberSafety 2018)
pdf

Savvas Zannettou, Tristan Caulfield, Emiliano De Cristofaro, N. Kourtellis, I. Leontiadis, M. Sirivianos, Gianluca Stringhini, Jeremy Blackburn
The Web Centipede: Understanding How Web Communities Influence Each Other Through the Lens of Mainstream and Alternative News Sources
17th ACM Internet Measurement Conference (IMC 2017)
pdf blog
media coverage Nature, The Atlantic, La Repubblica (in Italian), Ansa (in Italian), Sky News, Hacker News, BoingBoing, Phys.org, Naked Security

Muhammad Ikram, Lucky Onwuzurike, Shehroze Farooqi, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Arik Friedman, Guillaume Jourjon, Dali Kaafar, M. Zubair Shafiq
Measuring, Characterizing, and Detecting Facebook Like Farms
ACM Transactions on Privacy and Security, Vol. 20, No. 4 (ACM TOPS 2017)

Despoina Chatzakou, Nicolas Kourtellis, Jeremy Blackburn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Gianluca Stringhini, Athena Vakali
Mean Birds: Detecting Aggression and Bullying on Twitter
9th International ACM Web Science Conference (ACM WebSci 2017), also appeared as a poster at WWW 2017
pdf

Gabriel Hine, Jeremiah Onaolapo, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Nicolas Kourtellis, Ilias Leontiadis, Gianluca Stringhini, Jeremy Blackburn
Kek, Cucks, and God Emperor Trump: A Measurement Study of 4chan’s Politically Incorrect Forum and Its Effects on the Web
11th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM 2017)
best paper runner-up
full version blog
media coverage Nature, Motherboard, The Independent, The Conversation, MIT Technology Review, Vice, La Stampa (in Italian), La Repubblica (in Italian), BoingBoing, Pacific Standard

Despoina Chatzakou, Nicolas Kourtellis, Jeremy Blackburn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Gianluca Stringhini, Athena Vakali
Hate is not binary: Studying abusive behavior of #GamerGate on Twitter
28th ACM Conference on Hypertext and Social Media (ACM HyperText 2017)
pdf

Shehroze Farooqi, Muhammad Ikram, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Arik Friedman, Guillaume Jourjon, Dali Kaafar, M. Zubair Shafiq, Fareed Zaffar
Characterizing Key Stakeholders in an Online Black-Hat Marketplace
12th IEEE/APWG Symposium on Electronic Crime Research (eCrime 2017)
pdf

Despoina Chatzakou, Nicolas Kourtellis, Jeremy Blackburn, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Gianluca Stringhini, Athena Vakali
Measuring #GamerGate: A Tale of Hate, Sexism, and Bullying
2nd WWW Workshop on Computational Methods for CyberSafety (CyberSafety 2017)
pdf

Rishab Nithyanand, Sheharbano Khattak, Mobin Javed, Narseo Vallina-Rodriguez, Marjan Falahrastegar, Julia E. Powles, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Hamed Haddadi, Steven J. Murdoch
Ad-Blocking and Counter Blocking: A Slice of the Arms Races
6th USENIX Workshop on Free and Open Communications on the Internet (FOCI 2016)
pdf

Abdelberi Chaabane, Terence Chen, Mathieu Cunche, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Arik Friedman, Dali Kaafar
Censorship in the Wild: Analyzing Web Filtering in Syria
14th ACM Internet Measurement Conference (IMC 2014)
best paper runner-up
full version
media coverage The Register, MIT Tech Review, Boing Boing, ACM Tech News, Physics Central, Motherboard, The Conversation

Emiliano De Cristofaro, Arik Friedman, Guillaume Jourjon, Dali Kaafar, M. Zubair Shafiq
Paying for Likes? Understanding Facebook Like Fraud Using Honeypots
14th ACM Internet Measurement Conference (IMC 2014)
pdf
media coverage MIT Tech Review, Pacific Standard, The Telegraph, ACM Tech News, Yahoo Finance, Zero Hedge, Media Post, The New Republic