NUS Centre for Trusted Internet and Community

30/10/2025

More than 40 participants from universities, government agencies, and the public joined the Information Gyroscope (iGYRO) Workshop on Multimodal Misinformation: Memes, Models, and Participation on 22 October 2025.

Organised by Assoc Prof Kokil Jaidka and moderated by Dr Cai Menguan, the workshop explored how misinformation spreads through visuals, symbols, and cultural narratives. Speakers Dr Marko Skorić (City University of Hong Kong), Dr Saifuddin Ahmed and Ms Ruolan Deng (NTU), Dr Qi Peng, Dr Rituparna, and Sahajpreet Singh (NUS CTIC), and Ms Gao Chang Clare (Nanyang Girls’ High School) examined how memes act as cultural codes that resist fact-checking, how deepfakes undermine trust, and how explainable AI can detect and interpret multimodal misinformation.

💡 A key takeaway: tackling misinformation requires more than technology — it calls for collaboration across disciplines, sensitivity to culture, and digital literacy to strengthen digital resilience.

🙏 Thank you to everyone who joined us for this thought-provoking exchange.

29/10/2025

In their latest Straits Times commentary, NUS Professors Simon Chesterman and Chen Tsuhan unpack the complex politics and technical intricacies behind the proposed sale of TikTok and why transferring ownership won’t mean transferring control. From filter bubbles to the myth of algorithmic neutrality, they highlight that real accountability depends on transparency, cooperation, and information literacy.

At CTIC’s Information Gyroscope (iGYRO) project, researchers are bringing together expertise across computer science, behavioural economics, and policy to build digital resilience and nurture understanding, not division. https://ctic.nus.edu.sg/igyro/

🔗 Read the full article on NUSNews: https://bit.ly/4752A0t

America may soon own TikTok but not what really matters: the algorithm that decides what we watch, think and share. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

08/10/2025

🔍Workshop Alert: Multimodal Misinformation – Memes, Models, and Participation

From memes as cultural shibboleths to deepfakes that erode political trust, multimodal misinformation is reshaping how we interpret and engage with online content.

Join us as leading scholars and researchers from CityU, NTU, and NUS share insights on the cultural, political, and technical dimensions of this global challenge — and explore new tools and approaches for building digital resilience.

🗓️ 22 October 2025, 2:00–4:15 PM
📍 Innovation 4.0, NUS
✅ Organised by NUS CTIC under the Information Gyroscope (iGYRO) project

👉 Register now: https://igyro22oct.eventbrite.sg

22/09/2025

On CNA’s Asia Now, Prof. Simon Chesterman discusses the rise of AI-driven deepfake extortion, warning that the real threat lies not only in the technology itself but in the speed and scale at which harmful content spreads. He explains that while laws often intervene after the damage is done, governments and platforms must act faster to protect victims and build trust online.

Through the Information Gyroscope (iGYRO) project at NUS, Simon shares that his team is tracking global legislation to tackle misinformation and to answer the bigger question: not whether AI should be regulated, but how to balance free expression while safeguarding people from digital harms.

📺 Catch the full CNA interview here: https://bit.ly/4nEu56z

Malaysian police are investigating several reports of lawmakers being targeted by a blackmail campaign involving fake pornographic videos made using artifici...

15/09/2025

🚨 Hot off the press! We are proud to share our September 2025 Newsletter. This issue recaps a dynamic year of research, partnerships, and events—from advancing the Information Gyroscope (iGYRO) programme and launching the Digital Wellbeing Indicator Framework (DWIF), to hosting the iGYRO Symposium, the Oxford Handbook workshop, and SICSS Singapore 2025.

It also features exclusive interviews with our researchers, highlighting their work and perspectives on tackling today’s digital challenges.

📖 Read the full newsletter here: https://nus.edu/4nw17Wb

03/09/2025

Prof. Simon Chesterman’s latest article, “Lawful but Awful: Evolving Legislative Responses to Address Online Misinformation, Disinformation, and Mal-Information in the Age of Generative AI”, is out in the American Journal of Comparative Law. It explores how governments worldwide are tackling online misinformation—from “fake news” to AI-generated content. Early laws emerged mostly in less free, lower-income countries, often focused on national security and public health, but Western states are now catching up. The key takeaway: the question is no longer whether to regulate “lawful but awful” content, but how.

Read the full article here!

Abstract. “Fake news” is an old problem. In recent years, however, increasing usage of social media as a source of information, the spread of unverified me

24/07/2025

That’s a wrap on SICSS Singapore 2025! 🌏 From 7 to 14 July, early-career scholars from across Asia and beyond gathered at NUS to explore how computational tools and social science frameworks can help tackle real-world challenges—from ethical AI and online harms to synthetic population modelling.

With a powerhouse line-up of experts in public health, AI ethics, media studies, and computational social science, participants gained hands-on experience and fresh insights into the evolving data landscape.

SICSS Singapore 2025 was co-organised by the NUS, Department of Communications & New Media and the NUS Centre for Trusted Internet and Community, and sponsored by the Centre for Computational Social Science and Humanities (CSSH) along with the global SICSS.

Big thanks to all speakers and participants for an inspiring week of inquiry, collaboration, and community! 🙌

Explore the highlights: https://ctic.nus.edu.sg/sicss_2025.html

04/07/2025

🎙️ 3 in 4 people in Singapore can’t tell a deepfake from the real thing — yet most are confident they can.

With AI-generated deepfakes getting more convincing, the risks of scams and misinformation are growing fast. Associate Professor Terence Sim spoke with Money FM 89.3 about why overconfidence leaves us vulnerable — and what individuals, tech platforms, and policymakers can do to stay ahead.

His key message:
✔️ Deepfake detection is getting harder
✔️ Public awareness and cyber hygiene are essential
✔️ A whole-of-nation approach is needed to counter deepfake threats

🎧 Listen to the full interview to learn more about safeguarding against scams and misinformation. https://bit.ly/3Icj7pm

3 out of 4 people in Singapore can’t tell a deepfake from the real thing, even though most are confident they can. That’s one of the eye-opening findings from the Cyber Security Agency’s latest survey, which also reveals that while more Singaporeans are adopting cyber hygiene habits like insta...

01/07/2025

🌍 Join the Conversation at UN WSIS 2025! 🌍

We invite you to take part in the upcoming UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) 2025, Session 222: "Information Society at Times of Risk", organised by RIMMA CoE in cooperation with CAST-CCIT. The session will explore how the Information Society navigates risks and crises — from natural disasters to technological disruptions and humanitarian challenges.

Professor Audrey Yue, Assistant Professor Jun Yu, and Dr. Renae Loh from our CTIC team will be part of this international roundtable discussion, bringing their expertise to the table.

The roundtable is open for both on-site and remote participation, providing a unique opportunity to hear from global experts and contribute to this important dialogue.

🗓️ Date: 11 July 2025
📍 Location: Geneva, Switzerland & Online
🔗 Register to join: https://www.itu.int/net4/wsis/forum/2025/Agenda/Session/222

13/06/2025

🎉Congratulations to Dr. Eka Nugraha Putra on the launch of his latest book, Free Speech in Indonesia: Legal Issues and Public Interest Litigation, published as part of the Routledge Contemporary Southeast Asia Series.

The book examines how Indonesia’s Criminal Code (KUHP) and the Information and Electronic Transaction Law (ITE Law) define and limit the space for free expression—particularly in cases involving defamation and hate speech. Through legal analysis and real case studies, Dr. Putra explores the tension between Indonesia’s international human rights commitments and the increasing restrictions on civil liberties.

A thoughtful read for anyone interested in Southeast Asia, human rights, and media law. 👉 https://bit.ly/4kw1LSz

05/06/2025

Excited to share our work presented at : TART: An Open-Source Tool-Augmented Framework for Explainable Table-based Reasoning, led by Xinyuan Lu, with Prof. Preslav Nakov, Assoc. Prof. Kan Min-Yen, and team.

Working with tables is still a challenge for many LLMs, especially when it comes to structure understanding and precise numerical reasoning. We introduce TART, a tool-augmented framework that enhances LLMs with:

🗂️ A Table Formatter for accurate data representation
🔧 A Tool Maker to generate task-specific computational tools
💡 An Explanation Generator to ensure transparency in reasoning

We also introduce TOOLTAB, a new benchmark designed to train LLMs specifically for tool integration with tables. In our experiments, TART paired with CodeLlama hits 90% of GPT-3.5-turbo’s performance — and the resources are available for the research community.

🔗 GitHub: github.com/XinyuanLu00/TART
📄 Paper: aclanthology.org/2025.findings-naacl.244.pdf