We are alarmed by reports that Germany is on the verge of a catastrophic about-face, reversing its longstanding and principled opposition to the EU’s Chat Control proposal which, if passed, could spell the end of the right to privacy in Europe. signal.org/blog/pdfs/ge...

How much did Elon's takeover reshape Twitter/X? How did the partisan tilt of social media use change from 2020 to 2024? The ANES 2024 data is out — and this thread answers all your burning questions! 🔥

After the far-right mass rally in London, Britain must learn lessons from abroad – and fast | Cas Mudde

I'm just going to keep noting that the owner and operator of Twitter -- the social media that too many politicians and pundits use to determine what's "normal" -- keeps on pushing the white supremacist Great Replacement Theory that has been the motivation for multiple mass shootings in this country.

Am Fall Brosius-Gersdorf hat die extreme Rechte getestet, wie gehorsam die Konservativen sind. Ab heute steht fest: Sie hören bedingungslos, das Schreckgespenst "AfD-Umfragewerte" diktiert damit die Politik. Ein unterschätzter Schritt im Weg in den Autoritarismus. www.tagesschau.de/inland/innen...

Sie haben nicht mal mit ihr sprechen wollen. Versteht die #Union das unter #Anstand und #Bürgerlichkeit? „Die Unionsfraktion habe sich darüber aber nicht mit ihr austauschen wollen: "Eine Einladung in eine Fraktionssitzung hat sie bis zuletzt nicht ausgesprochen."“ www.zeit.de/politik/deut...

no one should feel obligated to read a single thing about the sydney sweeney ad. but if you must — make it this clear-eyed @cwarzel.bsky.social piece on how the attention economy inexorably gins up controversies that leave everyone madder and dumber than before www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Europe’s summer of humiliation. A sobering read by Marc de Vos on Europe’s self imposed capitulation

Innenminister Alexander Dobrindt überlegt, die US-Software Palantir in Deutschland einzusetzen. Das ist ein Überwachungstool rechter Tech-Oligarchen.

Können die bitte alle die Arbeiten von @siljahausermann.bsky.social, @tabouchadi.bsky.social, und @markuswagner.bsky.social et al. lesen? Diese sozialdemokratischen #Carcrashes tun ja wirklich nur noch weh mitanzusehen… 🫣

I've had this headline rattling around in my brain since January and I finally wrote it. Been hearing too many people in the startup world buying into the neoractionary nonsense that maybe a little light fascism is good for silicon valley. It's not. It's very, very bad.

I'm sure they'll sell this to themselves in No.10 as killing populism. It'll do no such thing. He is sacrificing the single greatest electoral and political opportunity he had: to stand up in four years time and show people that serious government works.

Given the local election results in the UK, a short #thread - based on much of our own research - on the vicious cycle of radical right support that we have seen in many countries. 1) When radical right parties (such as Reform) are electorally successful established parties move right on immigration

Do you want all your Facebook and Instagram photos, posts and data to be used by Meta to train AI? If not, then *now* is the time to object. This article explains how. datenschutz-hamburg.de/news/meta-st...

Deutschland 2025: Die WDR-Intendantin Katrin Vernau will anfangen, verfassungsfeindliche Positionen in ihre Sendungen einzubauen. Auftrag als ÖR, als Journalistin und als Demokratin völlig missachtet. Eine Schande für unser Land.

Important story that might be buried under another day of Trump induced market turmoil - there is mounting evidence that Russian actors had at least knowledge of some of the terror attacks that heavily influenced Germany‘s election campaign before they happened:

Exceptionally long, but familiarly pompous and uniformed, puff piece on the “good” nativism of Mette Frederiksen in Denmark. Completely ignores most basic data and, of course, any academic research. Some quick points 🧵

Not to be outdone by the U.S., Germany goes batshit crazy too! 🤯

1- Food for thougs re- the whole Le Pen case.While much attention centers on her 5-year ineligibility for public office, I believe it's imperative to focus on the gravity of her actions:

💥 Extended Deadline Alert! 💥 There’s still time to submit panels and papers for the inaugural ECPR E&D Conference! We’ve curated an exceptional lineup of speakers, making it a fantastic opportunity to connect with colleagues and share your research. Don’t miss out — submit your work by 10 March!

Desinformationsforschung „in einer Krise“: Eine Studie kommt zu dem Schluss, dass die Auswirkung von Desinformation auf den Ausgang von Wahlen nicht eindeutig nachzuweisen ist. Warnungen vor Desinformation haben aber negative Folgen netzpolitik.org/2025/meta-st...

🗳️ Germany: Left, centre, and right at the federal elections since 1949, updated with the official 2025 preliminary results

"Quent warnt vor Prophezeiungen, dass die AfD bei einer Bundestagswahl in vier Jahren stärkste Kraft werden könnte. «Das ist ja im Grunde das AfD-Rezept, sie macht sich selbst größer als sie eigentlich ist». Die Mehrheit lehne die AfD nach wie vor ab." www.zeit.de/news/2025-02...

AfD overwhelmingly won votes from non-voters and the centre-right. This is a standard pattern. It is a myth that the radical right are mainly winning disaffected centre-left voters.

Could not agree more. Problem is that normalization itself is becoming normalized.

Thanks to the @isdglobal.bsky.social policy team for the support! Key points I tried to make: 🔒 Privacy-by-design is vital for online safety; Regulators: 👮‍♂️✋ don't simply adopt law enforcement view on E2EE 📣 do call out platforms hiding behind E2EE when risks are based on their public functionalities

“The ubiquitous notion that the immigration crisis was tearing Europe apart represented an overreaction to the agitation of a xenophobic minority. Just as the press tends to exag. elect. gains by anti-immigrant parties, it tends to mistake outbursts by extremists for broad shifts in public opinion.”

Meta drops content moderation which users want! ⛔ New data show that users (n=2000 Danes) both disagree with some of the announced changes (like referring to religious groups as stupid) *and* dislike some policies being kept. We need voices from users on this. And especially from non-US users.

"Fact-checking is deeply embedded in the ideals of free speech. No fact-checker has been given the authority to take down content. Fact-checkers would rather see inaccurate content contextualized and labeled, so it can remain part of the public record and debate." www.poynter.org/commentary/2...

Robinson is not a mere figurehead, so let me rephrase that for you: the richest man on the planet and advisor of of the president elect, has graduated from the #radicalright and is now quite openly supporting proper right-wing extremism

If you want to speedrun this cursed timeline give the brilliant dystopian novel Optimal by @intelwire.bsky.social a read > www.optimalnovel.com

If there is hope for democracy, it's elderly nuns sitting in the cold, swaying to a Christmas song adapted for political purposes, demanding impeachment of a president with evidently authoritarian ambitions. Extraordinary scenes in Seoul:

Der bescheuerte neue § 73 Abs. 7 AsylG könnte uns jetzt mit Blick auf Syrien ordentlich in den Arsch beißen. Reminder: Die Ampel hatte mit ihrem Sicherheitspaket einer Kampagne von BILD & Co nachgegeben und die Regeln für die Aberkennung eines Schutzstatus nach Reisen ins Heimatland verschärft. 1/

Come work on tech research @hrw.org! Vacancy for a senior researcher, working with me, @deblbrown.bsky.social, @notzachcampbell.bsky.social. Scope to shape the role - expertise in platforms, internet infrastructure, data exploitation a bonus. Closes 5 Jan. job-boards.greenhouse.io/humanrightsw...

A very insightful & accessible collection on digital P/CVE, expertly curated by Linda. Some thoughts of mine on the Metaverse (p101-4): we need a healthy dose of scepticism before investing civil society resources in pet projects of tech CEOs, not just in P/CVE space. modus-zad.de/wp-content/u...

THREAD The Humanities and their use within the sciences. It is common to separate the Humanities from the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects. Today we look at how they can intersect and how one provides succor or inspiration to the other. 1/18

As usual, the British debate heal are on the assumption that the only alternative to the NHS is the US system.

Intelligence and national security experts I've spoken to over the years regularly say the same thing. North America has a *homegrown* extremism issue, and outside forces like Russia exploit and exacerbate these existing divisions rather than creating them in the first place.

🚨 SPECIAL ISSUE ALERT 🚨 Working on disinformation and (generative) AI? I am editing a special issue with Aqsa Farooq as part of our EDMO work. 🗓️ Deadline: December 31, 2024 Please share 🫶🏼 #disinformation #academicsky #commsky #polcom #csssky edmo.eu/edmo-news/ca...

In case you missed it, the Australian parliament has passed legislation banning young people from using "social media" without any indication of: 1️⃣ What falls in or out of that category? 2️⃣ How such a ban will be enforced? 3️⃣ What specific outcomes they seek to improve? 4️⃣ How the'll measure success?

How X assesses the risks of its own platform, in one handy overview. (From its own DSA risk assessment released today) transparency.x.com/content/dam/...

Just to make sure that our new generation of researchers does not get less attention than more senior scholars, I have made a starter pack with PhD researchers in Political Science go.bsky.app/MYHYycU

For decades they've been claiming this is exactly what George Soros has been doing, in secret. Elon's net worth: $264 billion Soros' net worth: $7.2 billion, 2.7% of Elon's. Every accusation is both confession and statement of intent.

While European Union politicians mostly eschew Donald Trump's racist, xenophobic rhetoric to describe immigrants, in the cold, hard light of policy their positions are not all so different. 🔗 www.politico.eu/article/dona...

This is one that I genuinely think will be printed in history books one day to show how insane American media culture became. CBS News presenting ethnic cleansing as a housing policy to be compared with home construction tax incentives.

In #Thüringen wurden die Rechte der Abgeordneten & des Gesamtparlaments gebrochen. Seit Jahren wissen wir, wie die #AfD im #Parlament arbeitet. Einzelne Szenarien wurden ausgearbeitet. Wer den Ernst immer noch nicht verstanden hat, lese dieses Interview. www.mdr.de/nachrichten/...

#AfD is probably best described as “far right” and, if anything, more “extreme right” than “radical right”. Using “populist” or “right-wing populist” is problematic, as it is insufficient at best and euphemistic at worst.

This is an enormous scandal and reason for all academics to withhold labor from Taylor and Francis/Routledge