Projects

The INFRADEM project explores how digital infrastructures can be redesigned to strengthen democracy. It brings together an interdisciplinary consortium from the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Germany to investigate how cloud computing, AI systems, satellite internet, and social media can be transformed into infrastructures that support democratic transformation.

Funded by

• Volkswagen Stiftung

SHIFT examines the impact of disinformation on societal trust in 13 European countries and develops scalable, evidence-based countermeasures for policymakers, the media, and civil society. To strengthen societal resilience and contain narratives that have already been disseminated at an earlier stage, targeted counter-narratives are developed in real digital environments and tested using A/B testing and iterative optimization.

Funded by

• European Commission

Disinformation spreads across all platforms and languages, and also affects Turkish- and Russian-speaking communities within Germany. Existing AI systems still do not adequately capture linguistic and cultural nuance. The kuKI project aims to develop a monitoring system for Telegram, YouTube, and TikTok, an AI pipeline for narrative detection, and a disinformation knowledge graph to visualize topics, actors, and campaigns.

Funded by

• Bundesministerium für Forschung, Technologie und Raumfahrt

The project “Digital Seismograph: Monitoring Terrorism” tracks and analyzes current developments in far-right terrorism online through systematic monitoring in addition to qualitative, quantitative, and OSINT-driven investigations. The insights gained are used to provide analysis and evidence-based recommendations for policymakers, security authorities, and platform operators.

The 2025 Federal Election Monitoring Project tracks and analyzes disinformation and digital campaigns related to the snap federal election in 2025 through systematic online monitoring. It examines content on major digital platforms, primarily on Telegram, but also on X, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube. Focus is placed on both foreign interference and anti-democratic activities by far-right actors.

The re|con project tracks and analyzes current online developments with a focus on conspiracy narratives through systematic monitoring and modern study design. It also develops theory-driven analyses and evidence-based policy recommendations for civil society, media, and government.