Rolli
Narrative Intelligence Research

Written by journalists.

First-hand investigations into narrative manipulation, influence operations, and what they mean for communicators, analysts, and security teams.

38 articles5 expert contributorsSince 2020

To contribute, write to us at hello@rolli.ai

Our writers

Intelligence written by journalists

Every post is authored by a practitioner — former intelligence officials, communication directors, journalists, and researchers.

Rolli IQ Research Team
Rolli Newsroom

Analysis and intelligence research published by the Rolli IQ team.

Dr. Anika Patel
Policy Research Director

Harvard Shorenstein Center affiliate. PhD in Political Communication from MIT. Research on disinformation and democratic resilience published in the Harvard Kennedy School Review.

Nick Toso
Co-founder & CEO, Rolli

Co-founder of Rolli. Former CNN en Español Washington DC Bureau Chief and Senior Producer. Building the narrative intelligence layer for organizations that can't afford to be wrong.

Stacey Woelfel
Investigative Journalist

Veteran investigative journalist with expertise in political communication and media analysis. Tracks narrative formation and amplification patterns across major news cycles.

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51 articles
SecurityDEEP DIVE8 min read

When Nation-State Actors Target Corporations: The New Frontier of Influence Operations

Nation-state influence operations have expanded beyond electoral politics. Here's how security teams can identify state-linked campaigns targeting corporate reputation.

Rolli IQ Research TeamRolli Newsroom
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CommunicationsOPINION7 min read

Beyond Mentions and Impressions: The Case for Narrative Authenticity Metrics

Traditional PR metrics (impressions, reach, AVE) fail in adversarial information environments. Communications teams need authenticity-adjusted metrics to make accurate decisions.

Rolli IQ Research TeamRolli Newsroom
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SecurityRESEARCH6 min read

Detecting AI-Generated Disinformation: What's Changed in 2026

LLM-generated content has fundamentally changed the disinformation landscape. Detection now requires behavioral signals, not just text analysis.

Dr. Anika PatelPolicy Research Director
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ResearchANALYSIS7 min read

The Platform Asymmetry Problem: Why Monitoring Twitter/X Alone Isn't Enough

Narratives begin on Telegram, spread to Reddit, amplify on Twitter/X, then hit mainstream media. Teams monitoring only one platform miss the full picture.

Nick TosoCo-founder & CEO, Rolli
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EducationOPINION8 min read

What PR Teams Get Wrong About Social Monitoring

Most PR teams are running a social monitoring program designed for 2015. They're measuring volume and sentiment on a platform landscape that no longer exists, using tools that can't distinguish genuine public concern from manufactured attacks. Here's what needs to change.

Rolli IQ Research TeamRolli Newsroom
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ResearchCASE STUDY10 min read

The 2025 Election Cycle: What Narrative Intelligence Revealed

The November 2025 midterms generated more coordinated narrative activity than any electoral cycle Rolli IQ has tracked. This case study examines the patterns across eight platforms — what was coordinated, what was organic, and what it means for democratic information integrity.

Dr. Anika PatelPolicy Research Director
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Intelligence BriefBRIEFING6 min read

Rolli IQ Monthly Intelligence Brief — March 2026

Key narrative trends, influence operation activity, and intelligence insights from 400+ investigations this month. For communications, security, and research teams.

Nick TosoCo-founder & CEO, Rolli
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SecurityCASE STUDY9 min read

How Influence Operations Targeted Financial Services in 2025

A wave of coordinated campaigns targeted earnings announcements, executive reputations, and regulatory proceedings. Here's what the data showed — and how teams responded.

Rolli IQ Research TeamRolli Newsroom
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EducationGUIDE11 min read

The Communications Team's Complete Guide to Narrative Intelligence

Social monitoring tells you what people are saying. Narrative intelligence tells you what it means — and what's about to happen. Here's how to build that capability.

Rolli IQ Research TeamRolli Newsroom
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EducationEXPLAINER7 min read

Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior: A Practitioner's Explanation

The term appears in every platform's transparency report. But what does it actually mean for communications and security professionals — and how do you detect it?

Dr. Anika PatelPolicy Research Director
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Rolli IQ™ANALYSIS4 min read

Socials leap into action with TSA PreCheck announcement

When the TSA PreCheck expansion announcement dropped, social platforms lit up with reaction — but the signal breakdown revealed sharp differences between organic conversation and coordinated amplification. Rolli IQ tracked the narrative in real time, scoring the amplification within 45 minutes of the spike's onset.

Rolli IQ Research TeamRolli Newsroom
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Rolli IQ™ANALYSIS5 min read

Social Media Yawns at DHS Shutdown

Despite the political stakes, DHS shutdown news generated surprisingly muted organic engagement across major platforms. Rolli IQ's momentum data shows where the story gained traction — and where it didn't — revealing the gap between media coverage and genuine public concern.

Rolli IQ Research TeamSenior Intelligence Analyst
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JournalismCASE STUDY4 min read

Politics follow Olympics to Italy

The Italian Olympic host city became an unlikely focal point for geopolitical narratives this cycle. Journalists tracking the intersection of sport and policy found signal patterns that outlasted the games themselves, pointing to deeper coordination in political narrative seeding.

Stacey WoelfelInvestigative Journalist
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Rolli IQ™ANALYSIS5 min read

Social Users Weigh in on U.S.-Iran Nuclear Talks

As diplomatic back-channels opened on nuclear negotiations, public social conversation diverged dramatically by platform. Rolli IQ mapped the narrative geography across 8 platforms — revealing which voices were driving discourse and which were amplifying it artificially.

Rolli EditorialRolli Newsroom
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EducationGUIDE6 min read

What Is Narrative Intelligence? A Plain-Language Guide

Narrative intelligence is the practice of monitoring how stories form, spread, and shift across digital platforms in real time. Here's what it means, why it matters, and how communications, security, and research teams are using it to make faster, more defensible decisions.

Nick TosoCo-founder & CEO, Rolli
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Rolli IQ™GUIDE5 min read

How to Detect Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior on Social Media

Coordinated inauthentic behavior (CIB) is one of the most persistent threats to the information environment. Here's what the signals look like — and how to find them before they reach mainstream coverage.

Rolli EditorialRolli Newsroom
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EducationGUIDE4 min read

Narrative Intelligence vs. Social Listening: What's the Difference?

Social listening tracks volume and sentiment. Narrative intelligence tracks whether what you're seeing is real. Here's why the distinction matters — and when it becomes critical for your team's credibility with leadership.

Rolli EditorialRolli Newsroom
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Rolli IQ™CASE STUDY6 min read

Inside a Disinformation Campaign: How Rolli IQ Mapped the Narrative Arc

When a coordinated narrative emerged around a contested electoral certification, a Rolli IQ research team tracked the signal from origin to mainstream media adoption — in under six hours. A detailed account of the methodology and findings.

Rolli EditorialRolli Newsroom
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Rolli IQ™GUIDE5 min read

How Authenticity Confidence Scoring Works

Rolli IQ's authenticity confidence score is a 0–100 signal that tells you how likely a piece of content is to come from genuine human activity. Here's how it works — and what it doesn't do — and why the distinction matters for your team.

Nick TosoCo-founder & CEO, Rolli
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Journalism4 min read

Instagram, Facebook Users Harsh Critics of Trump on Greenland

Meta platform users were overwhelmingly opposed to Trump's Greenland push — just 1% positive sentiment on Instagram and Facebook. Twitter/X showed roughly 20% in favor. The gap reveals how platform realignment has created parallel political realities.

Rolli Editorial
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Journalism5 min read

Social Media Eyes Victim, Shooter in Minneapolis

The fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross split social media into two mutually exclusive factual narratives — both citing the same video. Rolli IQ mapped how identical footage became the foundation for opposite conclusions.

Rolli Editorial
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Journalism5 min read

Venezuela Attacks Stirs Social Media, But Raises Old Questions

A reported U.S. military raid capturing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro generated over 13 million engagements in 48 hours. Despite some celebration, negative sentiment dominated — driven by concerns about oil interests, legal authority, and U.S. credibility.

Stacey Woelfel
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Journalism4 min read

After a Difficult Year, Ukraine's Zelenskyy Remains Popular on Social Media

Despite a strained relationship with the Trump Administration throughout 2025, Volodymyr Zelenskyy maintained overwhelmingly positive social media sentiment. Even on right-leaning Twitter/X, discourse about him often pivoted to criticism of Trump's handling of Ukraine.

Rolli Editorial
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Rolli IQ™3 min read

Merry Christmas — or Should We Say Happy Holidays — from Rolli!

Rolli IQ tracked holiday greeting usage across platforms. 'Merry Christmas' dominated with nearly 10,000 mentions and 2.5M engagements; 'Happy Holidays' received roughly half that volume. The data reveals distinct values-based usage patterns rather than a culture war.

Rolli Editorial
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Journalism5 min read

Brown Shooting Stirs Social Media Sympathy, Accusations, Conspiracies

As word of the shooting at Brown University broke, social media erupted with nearly two million engagements in three days. Rolli IQ's Topic Tree broke down the reaction into grief, gun control debate, political blame — and a wave of conspiracy theories.

Stacey Woelfel
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Journalism4 min read

Netflix/Warner Deal Pushes Politics to Back Seat on Social Media

Indiana's redistricting battle — potentially eliminating all Democratic districts — generated a fraction of the engagement driven by Netflix's $83B bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. Rolli IQ shows entertainment dwarfing real political news by 22-to-1.

Stacey Woelfel
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Journalism5 min read

Hegseth Sees Support, Then Scorn on Social Media

Pete Hegseth began the week at 38% positive — above his baseline. By Friday, a SEAL Team 6 strike targeting boat survivors flipped the narrative: negative sentiment hit 68%, bipartisan criticism emerged, and even conservative users largely disengaged.

Stacey Woelfel
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Journalism4 min read

MTG Plans Exit as Social Media Reassesses Her Impact

MTG's resignation announcement triggered an unexpected surge in positive sentiment — up from 2% to 23%. Rolli IQ compared her 2023 and 2025 Topic Trees, revealing a shift from one-dimensional MAGA boosterism to a more complex reassessment of her tenure.

Stacey Woelfel
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Journalism5 min read

Right-Leaning Social Media Is Breaking in Favor of Releasing Epstein Files

Twitter/X — reliably Trump-friendly since 2022 — turned on the president over the Epstein files. Rolli IQ tracked a 1000x increase in mentions and a sharp decline in positive posts as MTG led the charge from the right calling for full disclosure.

Stacey Woelfel
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Journalism4 min read

Call Them the Hated Eight: Democratic Senators Feeling the Wrath Online

When eight Democratic senators voted to end the shutdown on Republican terms — five days after strong electoral gains — social media exploded with 76% negative sentiment. Tim Kaine's mentions rose nearly 100-fold overnight.

Stacey Woelfel
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Journalism5 min read

Blame Canada: From the World Series to Tariffs, the Great White North Is Now a Target

Rolli IQ compared March–October 2024 vs. 2025: mentions of Canada up 300%, trade-related posts up 7–17x, and a sharp shift from neutral policy discussion to angry partisan framing — driven by tariffs, annexation talk, and a Super Bowl Reagan TV ad.

Stacey Woelfel
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Journalism4 min read

No Kings Grows, But Does Social Media Paint an Accurate Picture?

October's No Kings protests drew 7M demonstrators — 40% more than June. But social media engagement grew only 10%, and positive sentiment nearly vanished. Rolli IQ found 'antifa' mentions doubled with 300% higher engagement — a coordinated counter-narrative in action.

Stacey Woelfel
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Journalism4 min read

Bad Who? Super Bowl Backlash Makes Singer Into Household Name

The NFL's announcement that Bad Bunny would headline Super Bowl LX ignited a firestorm. Rolli IQ tracked a 1,300% surge in English-language engagement — driven by anger at his selection and misinformation about his U.S. citizenship.

Stacey Woelfel
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Rolli IQ™4 min read

What If the Supreme Court Started a New Term and No One Noticed?

Five major Trump Administration cases on the docket — tariffs, transgender rights, redistricting, campaign finance — and barely a ripple on social media. The data reveals a public that reacts to rulings, not to cases being granted cert.

Rolli Editorial
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Rolli IQ™5 min read

Shutdown Looms and Social Media Is Tackling It Differently Than Last Time

Rolli IQ compared the 2025 shutdown buildup to 2018: engagement is 7x higher, emotions have collapsed into pure anger and disgust, and the focus has shifted from federal workers to healthcare as the defining issue.

Rolli Editorial
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Rolli IQ™5 min read

Kimmel's Coming Back — But Which Embattled Host Won the Social Media Late Night Wars?

Kimmel's suspension generated 16.5M engagements in five days — more than double Colbert's cancellation. Rolli IQ reveals why: the Kimmel story was driven by political identity, not entertainment business, making it a perfect social media accelerant.

Rolli Editorial
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Rolli IQ™4 min read

Food Price Increases Are Riling Conservatives on Social Media Just as Much as Liberals

Despite Twitter/X's documented right-leaning tilt, Rolli IQ found nearly 80% negative sentiment about food and consumer prices — including from pro-Trump accounts. Even Grok's own AI analysis pointed to administration policy.

Rolli Editorial
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Rolli IQ™5 min read

The War in Gaza Is Nearly Two Years Old and Social Media Is Piling Up Against Israel

Rolli IQ compared October 2023 — when social media backed Israel after the Hamas attacks — to September 2025. The reversal is near-total. 'Genocide,' 'atrocities,' and 'starvation' now dominate in one of the platform's most lopsided sentiment maps ever produced.

Rolli Editorial
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Rolli IQ™5 min read

Is J.D. Vance Ready to Move Into the Oval Office?

Rampant health rumors about Trump drove speculation about his VP. Rolli IQ tracked Vance from January's optimism to 100-day unpopularity, to a late-summer bump driven ironically by Gavin Newsom's taunting posts. International allies showed almost no support.

Rolli Editorial
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Rolli IQ™4 min read

Rolli IQ Examines Gavin Newsom's Aggressive Social Media Campaign Against Trump

Newsom's all-caps mockery and AI parody images dwarf all other potential 2028 Democratic candidates — even AOC. Rolli IQ shows he's running far ahead in name recognition and engagement, even if most of that engagement is negative.

Rolli Editorial
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Rolli IQ™5 min read

Are Trump's Controversial Policy Moves Drowning Out the Epstein Story?

14M+ Epstein engagements running 89% negative. Rolli IQ tested whether the LA National Guard deployment, DC policing takeover, and Putin summit were distracting the public. Only the Putin meeting briefly surpassed Epstein volume — and even then, the story rebounded.

Rolli Editorial
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Rolli IQ™4 min read

Rolli IQ Explores the Labubu Phenomenon: Organic or Manufactured?

A $10 keychain sparked a global craze after Lisa from BLACKPINK was spotted with one. Rolli IQ's authenticity analysis found only 11% of amplification came from top accounts — well within organic range. Pop Mart's Labubu line hit $418M in sales growing 726% YoY.

Rolli Editorial
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Research7 min read

Investigating Science Misinformation and Coordinated Campaigns on Social Media

Using the Fukushima wastewater release as a case study, researchers examine how coordinated social media campaigns distort scientific consensus — and what the signal patterns look like when coordination is present versus absent.

Yuki Cui & Zhouhan Chen
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Education5 min read

AI's Impact on Search Traffic — and How Experts Can Stay Visible

As AI systems replace traditional search for millions of users, the old playbook for expert visibility is breaking down. This guide examines how AI citation works and what journalists, researchers, and communications professionals can do to stay findable.

Rolli Editorial
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Rolli IQ™5 min read

1 Meme Coin, 72 Hours, 422,071 Tweets, and a $10 Billion Market Cap

Rolli IQ tracked the social media explosion around a single meme coin from zero to $10B market cap in 72 hours. The velocity curve looks nothing like organic retail interest — a case study in financial narrative manipulation.

Rolli Editorial
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Education5 min read

Job Losses and PR: The Growing Imbalance Between Journalism and Public Relations

As newsrooms shed journalists at record rates, the PR-to-journalist ratio has reached levels that fundamentally change how information flows. What the imbalance means for communications teams and the integrity of the information ecosystem.

Rolli Editorial
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Education4 min read

Rolli vs. HARO, Qwoted, Cision & Muck Rack: The Best Alternative for Experts

HARO is gone. Qwoted, Cision, and Muck Rack serve platforms, not experts. This comparison breaks down what each service actually delivers for experts seeking media visibility — and where Rolli's journalist network fills the gap.

Rolli Editorial
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Research6 min read

#No2ULEZ: How a Climate Policy Became a Hated Target

London's Ultra Low Emission Zone sparked one of the most coordinated anti-policy campaigns in recent UK social media history. Rolli IQ reveals the hallmarks of coordinated amplification — and how a legitimate policy debate got hijacked by inauthentic network activity.

Rolli Editorial
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Research6 min read

#SchuldenDE: An Anti-Ukrainian Disinformation Campaign on X

A coordinated German-language hashtag blamed Ukrainian refugees for Germany's debt crisis. Rolli IQ documented the network signatures, account activation patterns, and cross-platform amplification that confirm this as a textbook influence operation.

Rolli Editorial
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Research5 min read

#BanTheADL: An Organic Movement or a Coordinated Campaign?

When #BanTheADL trended on X, the question wasn't whether the sentiment was real — it was whether the volume was. Rolli IQ examines the network topology and account behavior to determine what portion was organic and what was coordinated.

Rolli Editorial
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Showing all 51 articles. More coming soon — write to us at hello@rolli.ai to contribute.

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