@laylam.bsky.social
Deputy Director of Research, @dfrlab.bsky.social.
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
RFE/RL, which has sued Kari Lake to block her termination of its federal funding grants, resumes shortwave radio broadcasts into Iran following the imposition of an internet blackout by the Islamic Republic. about.rferl.org/article/radio...
11.01.2026 03:24 — 👍 74 🔁 37 💬 3 📌 2
I wrote on the Iranian regime's effort to impose a digital blackout to cover up the scale of its repression. News still getting out, but less than before. Starlink hard to jam, but jamming GPS can disrupt Starlink ground terminals. No magic cyber solution. www.economist.com/middle-east-...
12.01.2026 21:30 — 👍 113 🔁 32 💬 1 📌 0Spoke to the Washington Post for this article about @dfrlab.bsky.social’s research into the online chaos that followed Maduro’s capture.
12.01.2026 16:15 — 👍 5 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Malaysia and Indonesia become the first countries to block Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, after authorities said it was being misused to generate sexually explicit and non-consensual images.
12.01.2026 06:30 — 👍 7114 🔁 2161 💬 174 📌 321
"A medic at one Tehran hospital said there were "direct shots to the heads of the young people, to their hearts as well", while a doctor said an eye hospital in the capital had gone into crisis mode"
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
B&w photo of woman with surveillance camera
An image that captures what’s happening in Iran: a female protester raises a ripped down surveillance camera.
Photo via the Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights.
Twitter‘s solution to making CSAM for free is to make CSAM for profit.
09.01.2026 12:36 — 👍 197 🔁 73 💬 3 📌 9
Internet traffc in Iran dropped to effectively zero as of 18:45 UTC (22:15 PM local time) on 1/8, signaling a complete shutdown in the country, and disconnection from the global internet -Cloudfare
radar.cloudflare.com/traffic/ir?d...
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
Ensures that all the diseases covered by the previous immunization schedule will still be available to anyone who wants them through Affordable Care Act insurance plans and federal insurance programs, including Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Vaccines for Children program. Families will not have to purchase them out of pocket. Among peer nations, the U.S. will continue to offer the most childhood vaccines for free to those who want them.
Copy Editing Matters, from HHS's release on the new childhood vaccine schedule: All the diseases will still be available to anyone who wants them
06.01.2026 01:12 — 👍 2533 🔁 828 💬 88 📌 125
Russia sanctions 28 Canadians. The list largely targets researchers, many from HREC (holodomor.ca), plus @socialmedialab.ca.
A clear sign these organizations are doing excellent work that should be protected and supported.
news.zerkalo.io/world/117383...
Many are just waking up to the Grok-nonconsensual images story as these pictures began flooding X over the holidays, but here’s our piece from Jan 2 featuring a victim, Julie Yukari, who was brave enough to speak on the record and on camera:
www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...
Genuinely find this upsetting to watch.
It’s the live and mass violation of women for daring to exist outside the narrow confines of a controlled and sexualised plaything for men
Reuters natsec reporter Phil Stewart: "Venezuela orders police to find, arrest anyone involved in supporting U.S. attack-decree"
05.01.2026 15:22 — 👍 407 🔁 101 💬 12 📌 39
It is an inalienable tenet of modern life that disinformation, much of it now AI-generated, will spread in the wake of breaking news events
www.wired.com/story/disinf...
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...
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...
My father and mother, Mark Hortman and Melissa Hortman, and their dog Gilbert, were killed by a man who believed conspiracy theories and fake news. Words matter. Sharing fake news is dangerous. One part of my grief journey has been understanding the last conversation with my mother. She loved her job. People respected her job and what she did at her job. When I called her after the legislative session ended, I asked why she voted for the bill mentioned in the video shared by President Trump, and she wept. That bill and her vote had nothing to do with fraud. She voted for that bill because it was the only way to avoid a government shutdown. She had seen the impact of shutdowns: people lose their health care, their jobs, and in some cases, from a story she told me, have taken their own lives. She was in a very tough position on that vote. She had never really voted against her conscience like that. It was emotional and extremely difficult. Her struggle with that vote makes this conspiracy all the more painful for me. I am asking President Trump to remove the video that he shared and apologize to me and my family for posting this misinformation and for using my mother's own words to dishonor her memory.
My sister Sophia Hortman (Sophie) asked me to share this on her behalf, she is off social media: "The video shared by President Donald Trump on Truth Social is a painful, false twisting of my mother's final vote. The vote she made was incredibly difficult for my mother; it was not a vote made lightly or with malice in her heart. She made the decision to prevent a government shutdown because she believed our great state protects and helps Minnesotans. We must create a society in which we do not harbor hatred and violence toward our political opponents, and this video promotes a false narrative which fuels the flames of political division. The video being shared by the president is another hurdle our family must overcome in grieving the loss of my parents, Mark and Melissa, and their beloved Gilbert. I ask President Trump to please consider the pain and sadness we have faced, and to honor the spirit of the holidays we have just spent without our parents by taking down the post on Truth Social." Please share our message and help us ask the President to take this down.
Colin and Sophie Hortman, the children of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, are asking Trump to remove the false posts about their parents' killing:
05.01.2026 02:13 — 👍 3530 🔁 1088 💬 69 📌 78I am honoured to announce I’ve been appointed as a member to the Order of Canada. Thank you to everyone for the support! I dedicate this to my late Mom who taught me so much about history, local independent media & research. I know that she would be, like me, screaming with joy! #orderofcanada
31.12.2025 13:24 — 👍 922 🔁 199 💬 45 📌 80
It has been a year of challenges and turbulence, but the work continues.
dfrlab.org/2025/12/31/t...
Exclusive: Internal documents reveal Meta pursued a yearslong strategy to bring more teens to Instagram even after critics said it wasn’t safe.
27.12.2025 02:00 — 👍 79 🔁 31 💬 11 📌 6
Good article, but I think we could add that many of the current government officials & influencers spreading political point-scoring falsehoods during crisis events HAVE BECOME gov officials & influencers BECAUSE of their bullshit-spreading talents. System effects of rotten attention dynamics.
27.12.2025 00:45 — 👍 1149 🔁 279 💬 15 📌 13
X.com Last week, online conspiracy theorists wrongfully blamed Mustapha Kharbouch, a young Palestinian student at Brown University, for the horrific shooting in early December because of a photo of him wearing a Keffiyeh. In the days since, Kharbouch has faced death threats and unimaginable Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism. Today, I had the privilege of speaking with Mustapha. I learned about his life as a bright-eyed scholar interested in international relations and Anthropology. He shared stories about his summer living in Sunnyside while he pursued an internship. He is considering a PhD and thinks about moving back to New York City one day if he can afford it. And I learned about his Palestinian heritage, the very heritage he was doxxed for. I told Mustapha that we would love to have him back in New York City, where — as Mayor — I will make it my job to cherish, protect, and celebrate all New Yorkers and combat Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism at every corner.
NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani on Mustapha Kharbouch, the Palestinian student who was falsely accused last week of being the Brown University shooter by various racists and conspiracy theorists.
24.12.2025 04:42 — 👍 1273 🔁 173 💬 9 📌 5Join us today @ 8:30 AM ET | 2:30 PM CET for key lessons from Moldova’s 2025 elections w/ DFRLab's @buziashvili.bsky.social @victoriaolari.bsky.social & @laylam.bsky.social
bit.ly/49cY1lG
#Belarus: RSF reveals the existence of a previously unknown spyware tool, used since at least 2021 by the KGB against journalists. Installed after the physical confiscation of phones, #ResidentBat constitutes a grave violation of press freedom. RSF calls for a ban on these surveillance technologies.
17.12.2025 08:33 — 👍 20 🔁 13 💬 1 📌 2I’ll be moderating this discussion on Wednesday on lessons from Moldova’s elections. Anyone who cares about information or election integrity should be closing watching what is unfolding in Moldova.
16.12.2025 05:20 — 👍 3 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0I’ll be moderating this discussion on Wednesday on lessons from Moldova’s elections. Anyone who cares about information or election integrity should be closing watching what is unfolding in Moldova.
16.12.2025 05:20 — 👍 3 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
"A.I.s end up collapsing into drivel quite a lot. They somehow manage to be both predictable and nonsensical at the same time."
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/m...
“1 in 10 Canadian Security Intelligence Service investigations now involve at least one extremist under age 18, the agency’s director said on Nov. 13.”
globalnews.ca/news/1154264...
And this is why we need data transparency from platforms.
www.thedailybeast.com/top-maga-inf...
