A panel of experts explore ways in which the weaponisation of online spaces adversely affects scholars at risk and policy responses to these threats in an event organised by the Centre for International Security.
Across the world, researchers, journalists, and human rights activists are increasingly coming under attack for the work they do. Programmes like Scholars at Risk have allowed some researchers to seek safety from persecution in other countries. However, in the age of social media platforms, amplified by machine-learning algorithms and expanding digital surveillance, the risks scholars face often do not end when they are in exile. Digital repression through online harassment, threats, disinformation campaigns, and the leaking of private information means that they remain vulnerable to attacks even once they have relocated to other countries.
This event aims to explore ways in which the weaponisation of online spaces, such as social media with the expanding proliferation of AI-assisted false and misleading information, are adversely affecting scholars at risk. How does foreign information manipulation and interference online currently leverage social media platforms, and what particular vulnerabilities do scholars at risk face when navigating online spaces? What are the most commonly used techniques of digital repression employed against scholars at risk?
Looking at the other side, what are the tools available on these platforms that can empower scholars and watchdogs in their work (AdLibrary, CrowdTangle)?
The panel will also explore policy responses. How can algorithm transparency and observability empower researchers and contribute to preventing digital repression and hybrid threats? What do European responses to disinformation campaigns look like? How can social media platforms contribute towards ensuring safety for scholars at risk?
Join us for a conversation on these themes with Sabrina Spieleder (European External Action Service), John Albert (tech policy reporter, formerly AlgorithmWatch), and Charlotte Freihse (Bertelsmann Stiftung). The discussion will be moderated by Viktoria Boiko (Practice Fellow at the Center for International Security). This event is hosted by the Centre for International Security and supported by funds from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
Speakers
Panel
Sabrina Spieleder is the team leader for Policy, Strategy and Global Priority Issues in the Strategic Communications and Information Analysis Division of the European External Action Service. As such, she works to advance the EU’s policy framework to prevent, deter and respond to foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI). This includes in particular the close cooperation with international partners as well as stakeholders from private industry and civil society. Before joining the EEAS, Sabrina worked as a policy officer at the German Federal Foreign Office, as well on the topic of foreign information manipulation and interference.
John Albert is a tech policy reporter and digital rights advocate working in the field of platform governance. Until recently, he was Policy and Advocacy Manager at the Berlin-based NGO AlgorithmWatch, where he covered the EU’s Digital Services Act negotiations and early implementation phase, and advocated for a robust transparency regime to empower vetted researchers with access to platform data. He has previously worked as a documentary filmmaker and rock music teacher, and holds master’s degrees in journalism from Columbia University and public policy from the Hertie School in Berlin.
Charlotte Freihse is a project manager in the Bertelsmann Stiftung's Upgrade Democracy project, where she focuses primarily on platform governance and disinformation, as well as the impact of digital technologies on public opinion-forming and discourse. Before joining the foundation, she was a freelance journalist in the newsroom of Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). In parallel, she was a research assistant in the European research project NETHATE and developed a categorization system for intervention measures against online hate speech with the University of Jena and Das NETTZ. Charlotte holds a Master's degree in Peace and Conflict Studies with a focus on digital technologies in conflicts as well as peace processes.
Moderator
Viktoria Boiko is a practice fellow at the Centre for International Security and has been a research fellow since 2016 at the National Institute for Strategic Studies in Kyiv. Her main areas of research are cybersecurity and transnational security, human and civil rights, privacy and data protection, disinformation and the influence of new technologies on decision making. Viktoria studied EU Governance (Legal and Economic Integration) at the College of Europe and International Relations at the Estonian School of diplomacy. She has been a participant of the Program on Cyber Security Studies (PCSS) at the George C. Marshall Center for Security Studies as attended the MITRE Risk Management Framework and Cyber Resiliency workshop titled "Building a National Cyber Information-Sharing Ecosystem in Ukraine".
