ZEVEDI Young Investigator from January until December 2024
Since April 2023, Dr Nora Jansen is a post-doc researcher at the Chair of Information Systems and Information Management at Goethe University. Apart from being a Young Investigator, she is also part of the ZEVEDI project group Big Data and AI in German Security Authorities (KISib)» and took part in the ZEVEDI project group Digitisation of Corporate Communications (DigUKom)» last year. Her research interest lies in the analysis of mis- and disinformation. During her time at Cardiff University (July 2020 to March 2023), Dr Jansen worked very practically oriented and gathered valuable experiences in the analysis of mis- and disinformation. In total, she wrote over 50 confidential policy reports for governmental agencies. This also included the consulting of governments, such as the German Government in terms of disinformation campaigns during the German Election 2021.
In her dissertation, Nora Jansen focused on the diffusion of information and dealt with the real-time detection of buzzes (e.g., online firestorms and lovestorms), in particular. During her time as a PhD student, she spent a research year at the University of Adelaide, South Australia, and together with her Australian colleagues, she investigated reaction strategies to online firestorms.
Nora Jansen did her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in ‘Management of Information Systems’ at the Technische Universität Darmstadt. During her Master’s degree, she studied one year abroad at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.
Project
Regulating Disinformation in Books and in Action (ReDBAc) will investigate the design and delivery of new legal instruments and regulations to govern the creation and spread of mis- and disinformation. Over the last several years, mis- and disinformation has established itself as a societal problem able to command significant political and public attention. Multiple studies have evidenced how mis- and disinforming communications enabled by the configuration of the contemporary media ecosystem as part of the digital transformation, are impacting democratic elections, reactions to terror attacks, and public health interventions relating to the global coronavirus pandemic, amongst other issues. In response to which, governments and agencies around the world are in the process of configuring new legal and regulatory instruments as they seek to manage and mitigate the harms induced by the spread of mis- and disinformation. As exemplars of regulatory and legal innovation, the development of these instruments is proving both challenging and contentious, as their designers struggle with how to protect from mis- and disinforming harms, whilst simultaneously protecting rights to freedom of expression.
The purpose of ReDBAc is to understand and analyse these efforts of how and why countries are developing different logics and practices to control distorting and deceptive communication. The main focus will be on the European Union shaping the policy landscape for its member states, such as Germany. The adoption of the comparative ‘in books’ and ‘in action’ approach also reflects how, to date, most scholarly attention has attended to bad actors and their communicative acts, as opposed to ‘what works’ in controlling the authoring and amplification of misleading and manipulated messages on social media. That is why ReDBAc specifically focuses on the ‘in books’ and ‘in action’ strands in terms of regulating disinformation.
Dr. Nora Jansen’s profile at Goethe-Universität Frankfurt a.M.»
The DSA came into force: What does this mean for the fight against disinformation in Germany
Interdisciplinary workshop
Thursday, 21 November 2024, 1:00 – 4:30 pm
Goethe-Universität Frankfurt
Campus Westend
Over the past years, ‘disinformation’ has established itself as a societal problem able to command significant political and public attention. At the same time, governments and agencies around the world are in the process of configuring new legal and regulatory instruments as they seek to manage and mitigate the harms induced by disinformation communications. In the EU, the ‘Digital Services Act (DSA)’ is an example of this, which is being implemented in Germany through the corresponding national accompanying law – the so-called ‘Digitale Dienste Gesetz (DDG)’. When it comes to regulating disinformation, there are basically three challenges: (1) What is the definition of disinformation?, (2) Who is responsible for regulating disinformation? and (3) How to effectively combat disinformation?
In this workshop, speakers from different disciplines will address the 3W questions and answer the question of what the new regulations mean for the fight against disinformation in Germany from their respective perspectives. The workshop is organised by Dr Nora Jansen as part of her ‘Young Investigator’ fellowship at the Centre Responsible Digitality (ZEVEDI).
Referentinnen
Hanna Katharina
Müller (Federal Ministry of the Interior and for Home Affairs)
Hanna Katharina Müller has been working at the Federal Ministry of the Interior and for Home Affairs since January 2019, where she heads the Division HIII4 ‘Political Systems; Hybrid Threats, Disinformation’. Division HIII4 is responsible for the cross-departmental management of hybrid threats. Since June 2024, she has also headed the newly established project group ‘Central Office for the Recognition of Foreign Information Manipulation (ZEAM)’. From 2012, she was Senior Manager for Greater China at the Federation of German Industries (BDI) in the International Markets Department and the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business (APA). In 2016, she was entrusted with setting up and managing the first BDI representative office in China/Beijing.
Tahireh Panahi (University of Kassel)
Tahireh Audrey Panahi is a fully qualified lawyer, researcher and speaker. She works as a research assistant at the Department of ‘Public Law, IT Law and Environmental Law’ at the University of Kassel and is involved in the BMBF project ‘Dynamics of Disinformation Recognising and Combating (DYNAMO)’. Her research focuses on disinformation research, particularly in the area of EU platform regulation. Tahireh also appears as a speaker at conferences and events to talk about disinformation and its impact on democracies.
Thomas Schocke (Federal Network Agency)
Thomas Schocke is a legal officer at the German ‘Digital Services Coordinator (DSC)’ in the Federal Network Agency. He is responsible for the ‘National Supervision’ division, whose tasks include conducting supervisory proceedings against providers of intermediary services for violations of the ‘Digital Services Act’. He also deals with the impact of systemic risks posed by digital services. One focus is on protecting the integrity of democratic processes, especially political elections. As part of this activity, he represented the DSC in the ad hoc working group ‘Elections’ of the European Board for Digital Services for the 2024 European elections.
Mauritius Dorn (Institute Strategic Dialogue (ISD))
Mauritius Dorn is Director of Public Affairs at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) Germany. He coordinates digital policy recommendations and heads AHEAD.tech – a project funded by the Mercator Foundation to research and minimise systemic risks for elections. He also supports the Digital Policy Lab (DPL). Previously, Mauritius taught as a trainer in the ISD project Business Council for Democracy (#BC4D) on hate speech, disinformation and conspiracy narratives. In his work for ISD Germany, he co-authored the reports ‘Bundestagswahl 2021 – Eine Evaluation der Regeln gegen digitale Bedrohungen’ and ‘Digitale Gewalt und Disinformation gegen Spitzenkandidat:innen vor der Bundestagswahl 2021’, among others.
Interdisciplinary workshop as part of ZEVEDI Young Investigator-Fellowships by Nora Jansen.
Please register at
jansen@wiwi.uni-frankfurt.de
All further information will be sent to you after registration.
