Penn Media Accountability Project (PennMAP)

PennMAP is an interdisciplinary, nonpartisan research project of the Computational Social Science Lab at the University of Pennsylvania dedicated to enhancing media transparency and accountability at the scale of the entire information ecosystem.

Misinformation in media is believed to have harmful effects on public opinion, political polarization, and ultimately democratic decision making. And yet, much remains unknown regarding the prevalence of misinformation and its effects on society.

To address this problem, PennMAP is building technology to detect patterns of bias and misinformation in media from across the political spectrum and spanning television, radio, social media, and the broader web. We will also track consumption of information via television, desktop computers, and mobile devices, as well as its effects on individual and collective beliefs and understanding.