🚨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

2026 Digital Sherlocks Application Please click the link to complete this form.

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...

Watch the Watchers: Surveillance technologies for political control in Venezuela Despite changes in leadership, Venezuela's extensive surveillance infrastructure remains fully operational.

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

Still watching: How Venezuela deploys surveillance to maintain political control The Atlantic Council's Democracy + Tech Initiative and Conexión Segura y Libre present the most comprehensive analysis to date of Venezuela's massive surveillance system, which is still operational af...

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

Latinos, Media, and Democracy Program (LMDP) 2026 - The AI Edition DDIA’s Latinos, Media, and Democracy Program (LMDP) 2026 - The AI Edition is an 8-week capacity-building program designed to support Latino journalists, content creators, media professionals, and civi...

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

TikTok’s new ownership structure doesn’t solve security concerns for Americans The deal does little to address the systemic challenges of information manipulation, foreign influence, and data exploitation on the platform.

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

Battles Over Truth Rage Online Amid Iran’s Internet Blackout

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.

AI, memes, and hashtags: How China is battling the US online over Venezuela Chinese state media and inauthentic accounts promoted narratives of US decline.

🤖🇻🇪 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

How China and Russia are using Maduro’s capture to sway U.S. discourse Chinese and Russian influence operations have sought to capitalize on the U.S. operation in Venezuela by spreading conspiracy theories, confusion and inflammatory claims, researchers say.

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 untenable balancing act Venezuela’s new acting president must choose between accommodating the Trump administration’s demands and preserving unity among the regime’s Chavista base.

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

How China and Russia are using Maduro’s capture to sway U.S. discourse Chinese and Russian influence operations have sought to capitalize on the U.S. operation in Venezuela by spreading conspiracy theories, confusion and inflammatory claims, researchers say.

🇻🇪 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

#StopTheSteal: Timeline of Social Media and Extremist Activities Leading to 1/6 Insurrection How a convergence of disinformation, domestic extremists and anti-democracy movements reached a horrifying climax at the U.S. Capitol.

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

After Maduro: A new dawn for Venezuela Regional experts unpack the implications of the US military operation to remove Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro from power on January 3.

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

How social media manipulation fuels anti-Ukraine sentiment in Poland How inauthentic social media activity exploits political and security events to seed division between Poland and Ukraine.

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:

How Venezuela became a model for digital authoritarianism This report dives deep into the state of media in Venezuela and the role it played in the country's slide toward authoritarianism.

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...