Melanie Smith
2022
Melanie leads ISD’s Digital Analysis Unit, which combines large-scale social media data collection and advanced open-source investigation techniques to study disinformation, hate and extremism. Melanie leads a team of digital analysts to deliver research on topics like state-sponsored information operations, public health misinformation and online conspiracy movements. Melanie was previously the Director of Analysis at US social media analytics firm Graphika, where she oversaw the production of strategic intelligence on a range of online harms to Silicon Valley clients and academic partners. This research was presented to the World Health Organization and the US House Intelligence Committee, and covered by media outlets such as NPR, CNN, and the Washington Post. Melanie is also an Associate Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation based at King’s College London.
This cannot be thought of as a conference or a summit. The stakes are simply too high and the data/conversation and methods to drive action more valuable/motivating than any gathering I have attended. I took more than 100 pages of notes and have shared them with my CBS News leadership team, anchors, producers, and correspondents. Nothing about this gathering was easy. The agony around this topic is real. But no one curious about it could ask for a more devoted, rational, or unflinching look into this dark but decipherable world.
