Marielle_W

Marielle_W, 5 months ago

The findings are not surprising given what we know about Russian online information manipulation. Nonetheless, it's yet another cautionary message to not interpret Russian social media posts as authentic speech.

@politicalscience #commodon #Russia #disinformation #socialmedia #FIMI

Marielle_W, 6 months ago

Receiving this prize truly is an honour, and I'm particularly grateful to the institutions (and mentors!) that have supported me in pursuing research across established disciplinary boundaries, including:

Maastricht University (FASoS), University of Helsinki (HCAS & Aleksanteri Institute), Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS), NWO, Helsingin Sanomat Foundation, Leibniz IOS Regensburg, Leibniz Institute for Media Research (Hans Bredow Institute).

Marielle_W, 6 months ago

Such awards tend to reinforce the idea of 'individual excellence' in academic research and push collaboration to the background. I'm immensely grateful to my co-authors, collaborators and network.

The best research emerges when we think together #TeamScience

@politicalscience #commodon #Russia #platforms #socialmedia #censorship #disinformation #propaganda #media

Marielle_W, 6 months ago

The papers are submitted to reputable journals and look good enough to be sent out for review. Without knowledge of the Russian context, a reviewer may not notice. Here are some red flags that a paper may be problematic (and, in any case, should not be published as is):

@politicalscience #commodon #Russia #censorship #disinformation

Marielle_W, 7 months ago

This particular disruptive impact of the sanctions takes effect with a delay but should not be underestimated, if only for the security issues resulting from the suspension of software updates. See also the article by @fa_burkhardt and me for SAIS Review of International Affairs.

https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/handle/document/86799

@politicalscience #Russia #sanctions #tech #DigitalSovereignty

Marielle_W, 7 months ago

Klimarev bursting some bubbles on Russia's ability to fully disconnect from the global internet:

"Им (власти) нужен будет какой-то интернет всё-таки, иначе как нефтью торговать? Они нефтью в российском интернете, что ли, будут торговать? [...] Еще нужно покупать что-то на том же AliExpress."

Indeed.

#commodon #Russia
@politicalscience

Marielle_W, 7 months ago

Fully agree with Klimarev that preventing Russians from using VPNs to access restricted resources (e.g. by limiting search results or protocol-based blocking) is impossible. At the same time, Russia certainly can be successful in making it much harder for most ordinary citizens.

#commodon #Russia #VPN #censorship #DigitalRights
@politicalscience

Marielle_W, 7 months ago

@lokshin @politicalscience Absolutely, especially if we consider data security along with whether users are able to access blocked resources (emphasis in much of Western assessments is on the latter)

Marielle_W, 7 months ago

The intensive week of lectures and group work in Padova builds upon the virtual component before the summer. To learn more about the Blended Intensive Programme coordinated by the Digital Constitutionalism Network, check out the blog post on the virtual part.

https://platform-governance.org/2023/zemki-pgmt-participates-in-interdisciplinary-erasmus-blended-intensive-programme-on-digital-constitutionalism-and-platform-governance/

#commodon #InterGovernance #PlatformGovernance #InternetFreedom #DigitalRights
@politicalscience

Marielle_W, 7 months ago

The BIP is organised by Claudia Padovani, Andrea Pettrachin, Edoardo Celeste and Dennis Redeker with contributions by various members of the Digital Constitutionalism Network, including Mauro Santaniello and Marianne Franklin

#commodon #InterGovernance #PlatformGovernance #InternetFreedom #DigitalRights
@politicalscience

Marielle_W, 8 months ago

International rankings play an active role in defining the issue they claim to capture and giving the issue salience. As internet access expanded globally, the past two decades have seen a proliferation of indexes comparing the state of internet freedom around the globe.

We examine the politics of these rankings, incl. Freedom House’s FoTN, that have become powerful “global pattern-setters” for how internet freedom is understood and are used as tools of political or diplomatic influence.

Marielle_W, 8 months ago

We adopt a relational approach to explain how & why such a complex landscape of internet freedom rankings has emerged and identify how the ranking organisations’ varying approaches to capturing internet freedom have played a role in defining and legitimating it as a global issue.

#DigitalRights #FoTN #surveillance #Internet #SocialMedia #platforms #IR #rankings #commodon @politicalscience

Marielle_W, 8 months ago

Since both the uses of the internet and discussions about what freedom means in relation to it have developed so rapidly, ranking organisations have had to continually respond to these developments, negotiating their authority in relation to other actors in their field.

As we approach the annual media event that surrounds the launch of FoTN, our article can serve as a useful primer for what internet freedom rankings can - and cannot - tell us.

#commodon @politicalscience @politicalscience

Marielle_W, 8 months ago

The idea of returning Dzerzhinsky to Lubyanka Sqaure was floated on various occassion (and for various purposes). In 2021, the city of Moscow even organised an online vote for residents to decide whose statue should be placed on the square in front of the FSB building: returning the toppled Dzerzhinsky, or erecting a statue of Aleksandr Nevsky instead. But the vote was cancelled mid-way.

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/02/26/moscow-mayor-scraps-vote-on-soviet-secret-police-chief-statue-a73093

#Russia #repression #MemoryPolitics
@politicalscience

Marielle_W, 8 months ago

The political usage of the memory of Nevsky, by the way, is not without its issues either as it has been used by a tandem of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to promote a conservative idea of a 'Russian world' (see also the chapter linked here)

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-mono/10.4324/9781351007207-4/aleksandr-nevskii-saviour-orthodox-civilisation-mari%C3%ABlle-wijermars?context=ubx&refId=43aea39e-a947-42f6-bdd0-90433c8b9180

#Russia #repression #MemoryPolitics
@politicalscience

Marielle_W, 8 months ago

Attempts to return Dzerzhinsky into the public domain fit into a larger trend of normalising - or even glorifying - state repression. Putin's long-standing promotion of Stolypin carries similar connotations (here's Stolypin spotted by FBK on Putin's yacht in one of their most recent investigations).

https://twitter.com/pevchikh/status/1694355362642637223

#Russia #repression #MemoryPolitics
@politicalscience

Marielle_W, 8 months ago

In his Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly this February, Putin referred to Stolypin as "a patriot and a proponent of a strong Russian state" and cited him to the effect that the State Duma should be patriotic, i.e. should subordinate itself.

Citing Stolypin: “In the cause of defending Russia, all of us must unite and coordinate our efforts, our commitements and our rights for supporting one historical supreme right – the right of Russia to be strong.” No political opposition permitted

Marielle_W, 8 months ago

Favoured by Putin himself, Stolypin got his statue in Moscow already in 2012 (though the statue was not placed on Lubyanka square to fill the empty spot where the toppled Dzerzhinsky used to stand, as Nikita Mikhalkov had proposed as early as 2001 - as I outline in the chapter linked below).

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-mono/10.4324/9781351007207-3/petr-stolypin-making-cultural-memory-mari%C3%ABlle-wijermars?context=ubx&refId=9dd88f6e-2fc2-4764-93e9-6e3c9c1cd6c1

#Russia #repression #MemoryPolitics
@politicalscience