The Authenticity Crisis: Renee DiResta on How Propaganda Is Poisoning Alternative Data

Your data is only as good as its source. What if the source is broken by design?In this episode of Institutional Edge, host Angelo Calvello is joined by Renee DiResta, Associate Research Professor at Georgetown's McCourt School of Public Policy and former technical research manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory, to discuss how AI-generated content and algorithmic manipulation are creating an authenticity crisis that threatens institutional investors relying on alternative data. DiResta, who spent seven years as an equity derivatives trader at Jane Street, explains how trust has been reallocated from institutions to influencers, niche creators, and AI bots, producing a collision between volume, velocity, and veracity. For asset managers spending over $2 billion annually scraping the web and social media for data, DiResta warns that AI detection methods cannot reliably verify authenticity, adversarial attacks move faster than defenses, and content moderation has collapsed — making data fidelity a governance and fiduciary duty issue, not just a technical problem.Renee DiResta is Associate Research Professor at Georgetown's McCourt School of Public Policy, where she studies computational propaganda, disinformation, and information warfare. She previously led technical research at the Stanford Internet Observatory and has briefed Congress, the State Department, and world leaders on influence operations. DiResta led the Senate Intelligence Committee's investigation into Russia's Internet Research Agency and testified publicly on its findings. Before her research career, she spent over seven years as an equity derivatives trader and market maker at Jane Street. She is the author of Invisible Rulers. In This Episode: (00:00) Renee DiResta and investment intelligence focus (05:23) Trust reallocation: how credibility shifted from institutions to influencers (07:48) The attention economy: 90-9-1 dynamics, algorithms, and content incentives (12:52) Distrust as default: framing wars and real-time propaganda on social platforms (16:03) AI, deepfakes, and the collapse of content authenticity verification (25:41) The alt data danger: managers ingesting propaganda and unverified signals (33:20) Content moderation collapse, the censorship reframe, and platform failures (39:42) Signal curation, data fidelity, and fiduciary duty for asset managersLike, subscribe, and share this episode with someone who might be interested, and please take time to leave us a review! Dr. Angelo Calvello is a serial innovator and co-founder of multiple investment firms, including Rosetta Analytics and Blue Diamond Asset Management. He leverages his extensive professional network and reputation for authentic thought leadership to curate conversations with genuinely innovative allocators. As the "Dissident" columnist for Institutional Investor and former "Doctor Is In" columnist for Chief Investment Officer (winner of the 2016 Jesse H. Neal Award), Calvello has become a leading voice challenging conventional investment wisdom. Beyond his professional pursuits, Calvello serves as Chairman of the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System's Climate Advisory Panel, Chairman of the Board of Outreach with Lacrosse and Schools (OWLS Lacrosse), a nonprofit organization creating opportunities for at-risk youths in Chicago, and trustee for a Chicago-area police pension fund. His career-long focus on leveraging innovation to deliver superior client outcomes makes him the ideal host for cutting-edge institutional investing conversations.Resources:Renee DiResta — Website/Bio https://www.reneediresta.com/about/ Book: Invisible Rulers: The Peop...