🚨DEADLINE EXTENDED 🚨 Good news: There's more time to apply to our 2026 cohort! We've extended the Digital Sherlocks deadline to 21 April @ 23:59 ET. Apply now: bit.ly/47JLw02

🚨DEADLINE EXTENDED 🚨 Good news: There's more time to apply to our 2026 cohort! We've extended the Digital Sherlocks deadline to 21 April @ 23:59 ET. Apply now: bit.ly/47JLw02

If you’re working in journalism, research, or civil society and trying to make sense of what’s happening online...Digital Sherlocks is for you. Applications for our 2026 cohort close soon. Apply now: bit.ly/47JLw02

#ICYMI: Applications are due April 14th @ 23:59 ET 🚨 🔗 bit.ly/47JLw02

Applications are now open for @dfrlab.bsky.social's Digital Sherlocks 2026 program🕵️‍♀️ Join a global cohort learning how to investigate online information, track influence operations, and strengthen information integrity. 🗓 Apply by April 14 🔗 form.jotform.com/260633500818...

1/ I have exciting news: @dfrlab.bsky.social ‘s Digital Sherlocks is back! 🎉 This one is personal — as a #DigitalSherlocks alumna myself, managing and relaunching the program is a special moment. For the first time, we are also partnering with @penn-mediated.bsky.social !

1/5 BERLIN: On Apr 1, JHR hosted an urgent conversation on #transnationalrepression w the Canadian Embassy in Germany & @atlanticcouncil.bsky.social's @dfrlab.bsky.social. ft. a powerhouse panel that has endured the lived reality of TNR + bravely continues to speak truth to power. 👇 📸: Jens Schicke

Applications are now open for Digital Sherlocks 2026 🕵️‍♀️ Join a global cohort learning how to investigate online information, track influence operations, and strengthen information integrity. 🗓 Apply by April 14 🔗 bit.ly/47JLw02

Read the report at @dfrlab.bsky.social. Share it with policymakers, human rights advocates, and anyone working on Venezuela's transition. dfrlab.org/wp-content/u...

Venezuela's surveillance state did not fall with Maduro. The system is still running under Delcy Rodríguez. A joint research between @conexionsegura.bsky.social and the @atlanticcouncil.bsky.social's Democracy + Tech Initiative documents the repressive infrastructure. dfrlab.org/2026/03/26/w...

Today @ 10AM ET 🚀 Tune in as @atlanticcouncil.bsky.social's Democracy + Tech Initiative & @conexionsegura.bsky.social launch the most comprehensive analysis to date of Venezuela’s massive surveillance system 🇻🇪 Register: t.co/l2QJPjyzaK

Venezuela’s surveillance system spans AI CCTV, telecom interception, and more 🇻🇪 📞 Join us March 26 for the launch of "Watch the Watchers" where experts will discuss what this means for Venezuela's political future. Register: bit.ly/4uQGrNi

Apply by March 1 for the Latinos, Media, and Democracy Program, in collaboration with the @atlanticcouncil.bsky.social @dfrlab.bsky.social ddia.org/en/LMDP-2026

A new entity controlling TikTok in the US is being sold as a step toward addressing foreign influence and data security concerns, writes Kenton Thibaut. But China’s influence campaigns and access to data on Americans do not rely on TikTok.

Charlie Kirk's shooting drove widespread awareness, transforming him into a household name in Canada. As polarized online discussions spread, the CDMRN launched a joint-investigation with MEO, @disinfowatch.bsky.social, @dfrlab.bsky.social & @pearl-uoft.bsky.social 🧵 #cdnpoli

I discussed Iran’s internet blackout with the New York Times. The information void is actively being filled with influence ops from Iran’s adversaries and allies. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/16/b... @dfrlab.bsky.social

@nosumacero.bsky.social joins Osavul for a conversation about Venezuela's complex information environment, unpacking the intricate relationship between power, narratives, and technology in Venezuela's ongoing struggle for freedom and democracy 🇻🇪 🎥 bit.ly/4jQLWqf

🚨 How do we move beyond tracking individual incidents to understanding how influence actually works? A new report w/ @disinfo.eu @checkfirst.network @viginum.bsky.social, Cassini, @diplo.de @eudiplomacy.bsky.social offers a framework to analyze #FIMI at the operational level. 🔗 bit.ly/49UtAkx

Spoke to the Washington Post for this article about @dfrlab.bsky.social’s research into the online chaos that followed Maduro’s capture.

🤖🇻🇪 Following #MadurosCapture, Chinese state-linked actors pushed a deliberate narrative online: the US is an destabilizing hegemon while Beijing is a defender of international law. @kentonthibaut.bsky.social unpacks the digital narrative battle fueled by memes & AI: bit.ly/49xWLIZ

Russia and China have launched influence operations to quickly capitalize on controversy — this time surrounding the U.S. operation to seize the Venezuelan president — by spreading conspiracy theories and disingenuous content, researchers said.

#ICYMI: @washingtonpost.com reports on how foreign actors reframed the Venezuela operation globally, drawing on new insights from DFRLab's @laylam.bsky.social @buziashvili.bsky.social @kentonthibaut.bsky.social & @nosumacero.bsky.social 🇻🇪

Russia’s influence networks didn’t wait. Within hours of #NicolásMadurosCapture, pro-Kremlin actors launched coordinated narratives aimed at diluting US credibility online. 🔎 Analysis from @buziashvili.bsky.social tracks how it unfolded: bit.ly/4aOM5YI

Delcy Rodríguez's role as Venezuela's acting president is an impossible balancing act: satisfy Trump's demands, maintain support from the Chavista coalition, and keep alliances with China, Cuba, Iran, and Russia. www.atlanticcouncil.org/dispatches/d... @atlanticcouncil.bsky.social

🇻🇪 A new @washingtonpost.com exclusive spotlights how Russia & China launched coordinated influence campaigns after #NicolásMadurosCapture, drawing on DFRLab insight from @nosumacero.bsky.social @buziashvili.bsky.social @kentonthibaut.bsky.social & @laylam.bsky.social: wapo.st/4qch5qj

My team at the @dfrlab.bsky.social put this together after the insurrection, analyzing all the #stopthesteal data we had been tracking since the previous September.

2026 is just getting started, but the information threats we’re facing didn’t begin this year. Before looking ahead, here’s what the DFRLab learned in 2025...and why those lessons matter now: bit.ly/4pvwTmX

What comes after #Maduro? 🇻🇪 Join the @atlanticcouncil.bsky.social on Jan 6 for expert insights on Venezuela’s path forward featuring @nosumacero.bsky.social, Senior Research Fellow at the DFRLab's Democracy+Tech Initiative. Register now: bit.ly/4jrcjmp

My colleagues at the @dfrlab.bsky.social look at how inauthentic social media activity exploits political and security events to seed division between Poland and Ukraine:

The DFRLab has long tracked the digital means that aided in Venezuela's descent into autocracy. As Venezuela enters a pivotal moment, it is worth revisiting how Maduro weaponized digital tools. See 2024 report: "Venezuela: A Playbook for Digital Repression” www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-res...

I’ll be moderating this discussion on Wednesday on lessons from Moldova’s elections. Anyone who cares about information or election integrity should be closing watching what is unfolding in Moldova.

Join us today @ 8:30 AM ET | 2:30 PM CET for key lessons from Moldova’s 2025 elections w/ DFRLab's @buziashvili.bsky.social @victoriaolari.bsky.social & @laylam.bsky.social bit.ly/49cY1lG

📅 Dec 17 | 8:30 AM ET What can #Moldova2025Elections teach us about countering foreign information manipulation? Join DFRLab’s @victoriaolari.bsky.social & @buziashvili.bsky.social for a discussion and report launch under the FIMI ISAC’s FDEI project: bit.ly/49cY1lG

🇲🇩 Facing dynamically evolving propaganda threats, Moldova’s information space is under sustained pressure. Our latest report w/ INFO OPS Poland examines how foreign actors exploit polarization & media fragmentation to shape public opinion bit.ly/4pV46cj

🇨🇦In Toronto, the DFRLab joined @globalaffairs.canada.ca’s Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM Canada) & @utoronto.ca for the G7 Digital Transnational Repression Detection Academy Symposium launching a new initiative, strengthening how G7+ partners detect & counter digital transnational repression.

🇺🇦 Despite developing remarkable resilience since 2014, #Ukraine’s information space remains deeply contested. Our latest report w/ INFO OPS Poland shows how years of conflict have reshaped the information environment: bit.ly/4pypCDt

🇦🇲Our latest report under #ProjectMUGA w/ INFO OPS Poland Foundation digs into the fault lines that make Armenia especially vulnerable to foreign influence, and how Russia is exploiting this moment of political and social transition. Read now: bit.ly/4peZ0XH

📅Today @ 9AM ET Join the Democracy+Tech Initiative as we explore how digital identity is reshaping governance across Africa: bit.ly/3K4IPxk Have questions for the panelists? Visit askac.org to share your insight 💬

📅Nov 19 @ 9AM | Digital identity systems are transforming governance across Africa while raising big questions about privacy, inclusion & power. Join DFRLab's Democracy+Tech Initiative as we explore how digital identity is reshaping governance, elections & rights across the continent bit.ly/3K4IPxk

Congratulations to the entire team at @dfrlab.bsky.social for the release of "Authoritarian reach and democratic response: A tactical framework to counter and prevent transnational repression (TNR)."

#TransnationalRepression is reshaping how authoritarian regimes project power & target critics abroad. @marcuskolga.bsky.social @imleeszefung.bsky.social @kentonthibaut.bsky.social @nosumacero.bsky.social & @lisandranovo.bsky.social introduce a framework to counter these operations: bit.ly/3Xgfz9I

Grokipedia sounds way too much like the pro-Kremlin Wikipedia knockoff Runiversalis, which @buziashvili.bsky.social and I wrote about for @dfrlab.bsky.social in 2022. dfrlab.org/2022/09/01/p...

Almost as large as the 2023 Russian TikTok operation @dfrlab.bsky.social and BBC Verify uncovered targeting former Ukrainian Def Min Oleksii Reznikov, though arguably more sophisticated, as the Moldova op used full-blown AI-generated videos rather than AI-generated voiceover audio.

⏳ Loading… The DFRLab’s #DigitalSherlocks program is preparing for its next chapter 🔎 After a pause, we are excited to share that the program will return in 2026. For future announcements and updates, subscribe to the DFRLab’s #TheSource: bit.ly/47qKvKp

Today @dfrlab.bsky.social published an investigation into REST, a newly launched “media outlet” targeting Moldova ahead of its elxn. Our forensic analysis shows REST’s infrastructure and workflow is linked to milblogger channel Rybar, whose creator is sanctioned by the EU dfrlab.org/2025/09/23/s...

🚨With #MoldovanElections around the corner, the information war is in full swing. The DFRLab has tracked the operations in play... here are 5 investigations to know before the Sept 28 vote 👇

20 years ago, the WSIS captured lightning in a bottle. Now, with the WSIS+20 review on the horizon, the stakes for global digital governance are higher than ever. DTI’s @kkomaitis.bsky.social calls this a pivotal moment for the internet’s future: bit.ly/4lTlvQL

First Telegram bots. Now TikTok. DFRLab exposes how Kremlin-aligned influencers are using #TikTok’s audiovisual power to sell a “revived” #Mariupol, portraying Russian rule as peaceful, and discrediting Ukraine. 📱 New from Iryna Adam: bit.ly/4m51g2e

🇨🇴 Colombia’s oldest guerrilla group the #ELN, has quietly built a digital empire across X, Meta, and more. Uncover how they've evaded platform bans, while spreading Kremlin-backed narratives & building an "alternative media" brand identity: 🔎: bit.ly/3GPNqC4

The latest report from the DFRLab & OpenMinds, pulls back the curtain on a Telegram-based operation that quietly supported Russia’s occupation of Ukraine...one comment at a time 🇺🇦📱 Read the full report: bit.ly/4lz2nHx Summary: bit.ly/3GRVamS