Making sense of our connected world
Beyond Big Tech: National strategies for platform alternatives
China, Russia and India are building national platform alternatives to reduce their dependence on Big Tech. What can Europe learn from their strategies?
Debunking assumptions about disinformation: Rethinking what we think we know
Exploring definitions, algorithmic amplification, and detection, this article challenges assumptions about disinformation and calls for stronger research evidence.
Do Community Notes have a party preference?
This article explores whether Community Notes effectively combat disinformation or mirror political biases, analysing distribution and rating patterns.
What could German digital policy look like after the Bundestag election?
What are the digital policy positions of Germany’s parties for the 2025 Bundestag election?
Do Alice Weidel and the AfD benefit from Musk’s attention on X?
Elon Musk has expressed support for Alice Weidel, while her reach on X has grown significantly. Could these developments be connected?
Why access rights to platform data for researchers restrict, not promote, academic freedom
New German and EU digital laws grant researchers access rights to platform data, but narrow definitions of research risk undermining academic freedom.
Surveillance
The state monitors its citizens, Internet companies monitor their users – and finally we monitor ourselves and each other. Who is monitoring whom and why? What positive effects can surveillance have and when does it become a danger for a democratic society? Questions like these were posed by students of the Humboldt University of Berlin in the seminar “Tracing Surveillance – On the Trace of Surveillance” led by HIIG researcher Thomas Christian Bächle. In the contributions to this dossier they discuss their views on state and economic power and surveillance technologies.
How COVID-19 impacts digital technologies
The current lockdown is boosting online activity – everything is increasingly shifting to the digital sphere. In this dossier we ask if, how and why the Corona pandemic will affect key subjects of digital technologies. What does this mean for the regulation of content on digital platforms? How is Covid-19 activating the digital society? How does it transform our online culture? How safe are tracing apps? What lessons can be learned regarding cyber security? Busy times for our researchers!
