“What separates benign foreign influence from malign interference? And if foreign-owned platforms like TikTok are used for both interference and influence, how should we respond?” In this piece for Brookings, Diana Fu, associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto and Emile Dirks, research associate at the Citizen Lab, discuss issues like soft […]

July 17, 2024

In response to the United Nations’ call for input to the report of the Special Rapporteur, we made a submission underlining the challenges faced by women human rights defenders (WHRDs) who live in exile or in the diaspora, and the threats they encounter. 

Emile Dirks, Research Associate at the Citizen Lab, prepared a written submission for the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) about the state of human rights in the country. The CECC was established by Congress in October 2000, with the legislative mandate to monitor human rights and the development of the rule of law in China, […]

April 2, 2024

In a new study, Citizen Lab sheds light on the massive security threats facing Latin Americans. Citizen Lab and Open Technology Fund (OTF) fellow Beau Kujath in collaboration with SocialTIC finds that mobile applications in Latin America puts millions of users at a security and privacy risk. Beau’s research focuses on three types of mobile […]

January 12, 2024

Siena Anstis, senior legal advisor at the Citizen Lab, highlights the urgent need for an international treaty to tackle digital transnational repression in her article “Regulating Transnational Dissident Cyber Espionage,” published by the Cambridge University Press’ journal International and Comparative Law.  In the article, Anstis argues that the absence of an international law to prevent […]

In an interview with As It Happens with Nil Köksal, Chris Howden on CBC Radio, Citizen Lab Director Ron Deibert discussed Jamal Khashoggi’s widow Hanan Elatr’s lawsuit against Israeli spyware company NSO. Hanan Elatr Khashoggi claimed in a civil lawsuit lodged with the Northern District of Virginia that NSO “intentionally targeted” her devices and “caused […]

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