Democracy disrupted? Personal information and political influence - Reports

The report analyses how personal information is used in modern political campaigns. After summarising the policy findings from data analytics investigation, it makes ten recommendations in respect of the transparent and lawful use of data analytics in future political campaigns

Informational Autocrats - Academic Sources

The paper analyses the role of the media in establishing and maintaining modern-day authoritarian regimes. The authors offer a formal account of how such systems work, emphasising the importance of the gap in political knowledge between the “informed elite” and the general public as a key element of informational autocracy

Troll Factories: The Internet Research Agency and State-Sponsored Agenda Building - Academic Sources

Darren L. Linvill and Patrick L. Warren (Clemson University) published a working paper about the methods used by the Internet Research Agency, a Russia-sponsored troll group

SLAPPs’ 5 W’s: a background of the Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation - Legal Resources

Following the assassination of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, a group of European MEPs is calling on the EU Commission to promote an anti-SLAPP EU directive, to counter the attempts at silencing investigative journalism. A backgrounder on the use of the acronym “SLAPP”.

Freedom in the World 2018 - Reports

The report by Freedom House provides an evaluation of the state of democracy in the world in 2017, analysing trends in freedom including freedom of elections, freedom of the press and the rule of law

Romania - Media Pluralism Monitor 2017 - Reports

The MPM 2017 report on Romania shows uneven performances, with the major concerns being related to the areas of 'market plurality' and 'social inclusiveness'

Online Module: How to counter hate speech and manage an online community - Reports

A training module addressed to journalists, bloggers, media activists, social media managers, and professionals involved in the contrast of online hate speech

Developing a disinformation detection system and sourcing it live – The case study of the 2018 Italian elections - Reports

EU DisinfoLab developed a system for monitoring disinformation based on an identified ecosystem rather than on a series of keywords. They tested it on the 2018 Italian general elections

Defending Free Speech - Reports

This report by the Swedish Government presents an action plan to safeguard and strengthen the democratic discourse against threats and hatred, with special regard to politically elected representatives, journalists and artists 

Media freedom in Bulgaria - Article

The fourth of a series of thematic itineraries to explore the Resource Centre on Media Freedom through a curated aggregation of contents. The text has been kindly proof-read by Dr. Lada Price from Sheffield Hallam University - CFOM and AEJ - Bulgaria