U.S. House Committee Investigating Indiana University Social Media Study

A U.S. House committee is investigating an Indiana University study that some media outlets have alleged is an attempt to limit free speech on social media. But, Indiana University officials say those reports are a gross mischaracterization of the study’s goals.

In a statement released Tuesday, Texas Republican Representative and the chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space and Technology Lamar Smith said the $1 million National Science Foundation grant given to IU is quote “worse than a simple misuse of public funds.”

He cited recent media reports that say the IU project called Truthy aims to mitigate political propaganda.

IU associate informatics professor Johan Bollen is one of Truthy‘s main researchers. He says the project does not aim to limit free speech. Instead, it analyzes tweets and public posts on other social media sites to detect general trends about how information and ideas are spread.

“We wouldn’t have gotten approval for the grant if we were actually using the results of that research to interact with people because then you are performing an experiment, you’re interfering with people’s activities online,” Bollen says. “That’s simply not allowed.”

Bollen notes the grant application process is rigorous and the project acts independently once a grant is awarded.