About our Team

Our team investigates the forms, contents and dynamics of public debates, protests and mobilizations on contested political issues and anti-democratic content. We research digital platforms and networked publics with an international comparative perspective across different European countries. At the level of technical infrastructures, we are concerned with the question of how the architectures of digital platforms shape the forms and content of political debates. On the level of actors, we are interested in those groups and constellations in which hybrid actors between journalism and politics and/or transnational networks manipulate public debates and influence the formation of public opinion in the digital space through false or half-true information. On the level of processes, we are interested in understanding the dynamics of politicisation as well as the diffusion and instrumentalisation of manipulated information and disinformation.