Impact of Misinformation on Elections in Liberal Democracies: Assessing the Role of Community-Based Fact-Checking and Digital Regulations
Misinformation has become a pervasive issue, particularly during elections, where it can undermine democratic processes and influence voter behavior. The goal of this research is to assess the impact of misinformation on elections in liberal democracies, with a focus on the role of community-based fact-checking and digital regulation through the Digital Services Act (DSA). To achieve this, claims and background truths used to debunk those claims will be collected from fact-checked articles and metadata published by platforms under DSA during the 2025 German federal election period. By applying computational methods, the effectiveness of community-based fact-checking will be analyzed to counter misinformation. On the other hand, examining how platforms moderate content under the DSA, especially during election periods, will help to assess the role of digital regulation in curbing misinformation. The project’s outcomes aim to provide insights into the effectiveness of community-based fact checking and content moderation strategies, offering recommendations for improving the digital information ecosystem. These findings will contribute to ongoing discussions on enhancing electoral integrity and strengthening democratic values in the digital age. Ultimately, the research will propose practical recommendations for policymakers, tech companies, and civil society, offering evidence-based solutions to better manage misinformation and protect the electoral process in liberal democracies.
Main Research Topics
- Fact-Checking
- Misinformation
- Content Moderation
- Social Media Analysis
- Semantic Web
Curriculum Vitae
- PhD University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany – March 2026
- Master of Science in Computer Science, University of Trento, Trento, Italy – March 2019
- Bachelor of Technology in Information Technology, BIT Sindri, India – July 2015
Publications and Presentations
- Shahi, G. K., Tessa, B., Trujillo, A., & Cresci, S. (2025). A year of the DSA transparency database: What it (does not) reveal about platform moderation during the 2024 European Parliament election. In Workshop Proceedings of the 19th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM 2025).
- Shahi, G. K., & Mejova, Y. (2025). Too little, too late: Moderation of misinformation around the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. In Proceedings of the 17th ACM Web Science Conference (WebSci 2025), New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
- Shahi, G. K., & Majchrzak, T. A. (2025). Defining, understanding, and detecting online toxicity: Challenges and machine learning approaches. In Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing.
- Shahi, G. K., Dirkson, A., & Majchrzak, T. A. (2021). An exploratory study of COVID-19 misinformation on Twitter. Online Social Networks and Media, 22, 100104.
- Shahi, G. K., & Hale, S. A. (2025). WhatsApp tiplines and multilingual claims in the 2021 Indian Assembly elections. Online Social Networks and Media.