By George Sanders
October 12, 2026
What does it mean when members of a society exist in different realities? When our worlds are so curated that we can鈥檛 agree on what is true?
That鈥檚 some of what disinformation researcher and author Ren茅e DiResta sought to uncover when she gave the Fall 2026 John P. McGovern Lecture in Family, Health, and Human Values. Hosted by the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) and the Department of English on Oct. 8, DiResta鈥檚 discussion, "Power, Propaganda, and Knowledge Systems: Democratic Integrity for the AI Age," brought together students, faculty, and community members to explore how artificial intelligence (AI) has spread across the internet and how it shapes everything from politics to body image.
DiResta is an associate research professor at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy, who studies adversarial abuse online, ranging from state actors running influence operations to spammers, scammers, and issues related to child safety. She spoke on the different influences across social media and their throughlines to traditional media. She explored how AI has been used by people across the globe to spread misinformation and discontent with the political system in the United States for profit and how this adds new layers of political messaging that can be used as propaganda.
鈥淔or much of media history, the audience was a recipient only. Social media changed that,鈥� DiResta said.
DiResta drew on her research and consulting to offer insights. At the request of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, she led outside teams investigating both the Russia-linked Internet Research Agency's multi-year effort to manipulate American society and elections and the GRU influence campaign deployed alongside its hack-and-leak operations in the 2016 election.
She talked about how many traditional media and news outlets repackage details and content from social media for different audiences, leading to an environment that pushes belief first, evidence fulfillment second. Algorithms deliver curated content based on things we鈥檝e liked or engaged with on social media, reinforcing already-held beliefs. Additionally, using meme culture as a method of political messaging helps to reinforce in-group ties and aiding in collective sense-making when dealing with the uncertainty of the modern political climate.
鈥淩eal and true are no longer the same thing,鈥� she said. 鈥淓vidence is cheap and credibility is expensive.鈥�
鈥淩enee DiResta鈥檚 discussion was timely and important,鈥� said Daniel P. O鈥機onnor, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. 鈥淲e need to be cautious that what we see online may not be as true as we think it is. This discussion reminds us that we need to be more educated media consumers.鈥�
The John P. McGovern Endowment was established in 1999 and supports the John P. McGovern Annual Award Lectureship in Family, Health, and Human Values. The series focuses on speakers with notable expertise in those areas. Each speaker is presented with the John P. McGovern Award Medallion.