Young Mie Kim

Young Mie Kim will work on a project that aims to theoretically and empirically address the question of how algorithms—a data-driven logic created by the constant loop between individual choices and machines’ feedback—influence the distribution of political information and the representation in political participation. The project fills the current void in research by providing a broad theoretical framework with rigorous empirical analysis and by offering insight for evidence-based policy solutions. The project is primarily based on the unique observational data Kim has collected since the 2016 US elections that tracks individuals’ online behavior as well as their offline political behavior. 

The project consolidates Kim’s prior research on targeted undisclosed digital disinformation campaigns (e.g. Stealth Media, Kim et al., 2018 ) with the focus of vulnerable populations and expands her research program to the role algorithms play in amplifying or alleviating problems fundamental to democracy. 

Kim is a professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and faculty affiliate of the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and also an Andrew Carnegie Fellow (2019-2020). Her research on Russian election interference in the US presidential election was cited by the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.