Sayyara Mammadova
@sayyara.bsky.social
Associate Director, Capacity Building @DFRLab | Assessor @IFCN & @EFCSN #OSINT #disinformation #DigitalSherlocks
1/ I have exciting news: @dfrlab.bsky.social ‘s Digital Sherlocks is back! 🎉 This one is personal — as a #DigitalSherlocks alumna myself, managing and relaunching the program is a special moment. For the first time, we are also partnering with @penn-mediated.bsky.social !
This is the gets-me-up-in-the-morning-work. And grateful to get to work with the excellent @sayyara.bsky.social, @etbrooking.bsky.social & Graham Brookie.
Penn Center on Media, Technology, and Democracy (MEDIATED)@penn-mediated.bsky.social · 4mo agoPenn MEDIATED is thrilled to partner with @atlanticcouncil.bsky.social @dfrlab.bsky.social to 🚀 re-launch 🚀 the free Digital Sherlocks training program. @upenn.edu faculty will deliver modules on cutting-edge data, tools, science, & methods of countering information manipulation. Apply! Share!
Applications are now open for Digital Sherlocks 2026 🕵️♀️ Join a global cohort learning how to investigate online information, track influence operations, and strengthen information integrity. 🗓 Apply by April 14 🔗 bit.ly/47JLw02
🔎 Drawing on our expertise countering a range online harms, the DFRLab helped build the Academy as a mechanism to strengthen collective capacity to expose manipulation, protect human rights, and defend democracy in the digital age. Read more: bit.ly/48kgBqy
Atlantic Council’s DFRLab delivers the G7 RRM Digital Transnational Repression Detection Academy
TORONTO — November 25, 2025 — The Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), a global leader in open-source research and digital capacity building, in partnership with Global Affairs ...
atlanticcouncil.org
It’s a tough time for our community. We’re seeing incredible colleagues lose their jobs, it is painful. But now more than ever, we must #HoldTheLine. Andy is a brilliant mentor and friend who leads with integrity, generosity, and deep care for people around him. (1/2)
Andy Carvin@acarv.in · last yr.Hi everyone.... This week, I'm winding down my role as managing editor and research director at the @dfrlab.bsky.social. Like so many other organizations investigating disinformation and other online threats, we were hit pretty hard due to stop-work orders from the US Department of State. 🧵
Hi everyone.... This week, I'm winding down my role as managing editor and research director at the @dfrlab.bsky.social. Like so many other organizations investigating disinformation and other online threats, we were hit pretty hard due to stop-work orders from the US Department of State. 🧵
1/ "too politically biased" "became a tool to censor" This is how Meta ends its Fact-Checking Program, which for years had unbiased, non-partisan, and hard-working fact-checking organizations around the world contributing to the prevention of misinformation and disinformation on its platforms
🕵️♂️ 🔎 DFRLab joined the #SofiaInformationIntegrityForum, collaborating with experts to combat online harms & democratic backsliding. We're thrilled for the opportunity to spotlight insights from our researchers @acarvin.bsky.social @vchatelet.bsky.social @sayyara.bsky.social @ruslantrad.bsky.social
NEW report: At @dfrlab.bsky.social we've investigated Telegram's role in Russia since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The report focuses on how Telegram emerged as a pivotal platform for 🇷🇺to justify the war in 🇺🇦 and undermine Western support. dfrlab.org/2024/06/10/a...
Another battlefield: Telegram as a digital front in Russia’s war against Ukraine
DFRLab investigates the role of Telegram in Russia since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine
dfrlab.org
During the battle of Avdiivka, Russian information operations utilized Telegram and state media to push multiple claims to undermine Ukrainian morale and Western confidence in its Ukrainian partners. Our overview with @vchatelet.bsky.social and @sayyara.bsky.social:
Russian information operations targeted Ukraine and NATO during the battle for Avdiivka
Pro-Kremlin Telegram channels and state media pushed multiple narratives to undermine Ukraine and its western partners
dfrlab.org
Our latest with @buziashvili.bsky.social 👇
DFRLab@dfrlab.bsky.social · 2y agoRussian disinformation campaigns have found fertile ground in Bulgaria, with Kremlin-run Telegram channels seeding falsehoods into the country's information landscape and spreading them via channels with over 65,000 subscribers. The latest from the DFRLab:
It has been about six months since Wagner failed mutiny in Russia. Using geolocation, @dfrlab.bsky.social's @vchatelet.bsky.social and @sayyara.bsky.social documented damages and losses and estimated that the mutiny resulted in at least RUB 440 million (~$16.5 million) of equipment loss. See how:
Documenting equipment losses from the 2023 Wagner mutiny
The DFRLab revisits Yevgeny Prigozhin’s failed insurrection against the Russian military, six months ago this week
dfrlab.org
More than five years after the murder of Saudi journalist and critic Jamal Khashoggi, pro-Saudi accounts on X continue to target his Turkish fiancée and fellow activist, Hatice Cengiz, with death threats and insults by at least 100 highly-engaged accounts that displayed indicators of coordination.
Pro-Saudi X accounts repeatedly harassed activist and fiancée of murdered journalist Jamal Khashogg...
Turkish activist Hatice Cengiz, fiancée of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, targeted on the platform formerly known as Twitter
dfrlab.org
Six months since the failed mutiny by Yevgeny Prigozhin against the Russian MoD. With my colleague @vchatelet.bsky.social we analyzed available open-source evidence to document equipment losses from the 2023 Wagner mutiny. Read our latest at @dfrlab.bsky.social 👇 dfrlab.org/2023/12/21/d...
Documenting equipment losses from the 2023 Wagner mutiny
The DFRLab revisits Yevgeny Prigozhin’s failed insurrection against the Russian military, six months ago this week
dfrlab.org
My team at @dfrlab.bsky.social just published this report by U of Cincinnati Prof. Michael Loadenthal in which he analyzes how Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups use Telegram to distribute propaganda videos, particularly footage touting their weaponry. dfrlab.org/2023/12/12/h...
How Palestinian militants use Telegram videos in the Mideast conflict
Palestinian militant factions appear to be operating with a high degree of technical coordination, producing uniformly branded propaganda videos
dfrlab.org
Russian War Report | December 15 Russian conscription targets students and migrants Putin announces presidential bid in annexed regions Moscow bans QR codes These and more in the latest #RussianWarReport www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-at...
Next week! Join as @dfrlab.bsky.social, Duco, and @katieharbath.bsky.social's Anchor Change host an exciting conversation on the massive year of voting that will be 2024 - 83 national elections in 78 countries - and tech's role in informing developing global elections plans and strategies. RSVP:
Elections everywhere all at once
An expert conversation on the implications of the 83 elections occurring in 78 countries in 2024.
atlanticcouncil.org
The @dfrlab.bsky.social's @laylam.bsky.social joined the BBC to discuss how mis- and disinformation on social media have changed the way people consume the news, particularly with regard to the conflict in Israel and Palestine. Conversation starts at 34:10:
Newshour - Missile strikes Gaza refugee camp - BBC Sounds
Hamas-led health ministry accuses Israel of killing more than thirty in the airstrike
bbc.co.uk
Today, President Biden issued an executive order on developing trustworthy artificial intelligence. While not exhaustive, it is an opening salvo for conversations the US government must have about AI. Atlantic Council Experts React ft. @dfrlab.bsky.social Graham Brookie & @rosejackson.bsky.social:
Experts react: What does Biden’s new executive order mean for the future of AI?
US President Joe Biden has issued an executive order intended to make artificial intelligence safer, more secure, and more trustworthy. Atlantic Council experts share their insights.
atlanticcouncil.org
The @dfrlab.bsky.social rolling deep to EU Disinfo Lab's Disinfo2023! Today, Mattia Caniglia, Sayyara Mammadova, and Givi Gigitashvili held a workshop on open source investigation methods while Resident Senior Fellow Emerson Brooking discussed disinformation policies across global perspectives.
How to use TG Collector to scrape #Telegram channels Quick 4 step guide from Sayyara Mammadova @sayyara.bsky.social osintteam.blog/open-source-... #osint #socmint
The DFRLab analyzed a Russian narrative that accused the Baltic states of the attack on Pskov airport. New from @sayyara.bsky.social & Valentin Châtelet.
Russian media spread rumors accusing Baltic states of drone attack
Unsupported claims from Russian media and Telegram blamed Latvia and Estonia for perpetrating August 29 attack on Pskov airport
dfrlab.org
A screenshot circulating online allegedly showing "Shahed-171 photographed while flying near the border with Azerbaijan and Armenia". With just two clicks (tip: use reverse image search), you can find that this photo is from 2018. #debunked
The deadline to apply the @dfrlab.bsky.social ‘s #DigitalSherlocks program is September 5th! Participate in this unique online program to develop new skills in combating disinformation, including #OSINT, source verification, geolocation, narrative analysis and more. form.jotform.com/232196082048...
360/Digital Sherlocks: Fall 2023 Applications
Please click the link to complete this form.
form.jotform.com
🚨 📱 NEW REPORT: Protecting point-to-point messaging apps: Understanding Telegram, WeChat, and WhatsApp in the United States Learn about the growing use of these platforms in the US and how differences in design and policy affect these apps, their users' privacy, and free speech.
Protecting point-to-point messaging apps: Understanding Telegram, WeChat, and WhatsApp in the United...
A year-long project on protecting users' data and privacy that analyzes the growing use of point-to-point messaging platforms in the United States and the implications their design and governing polic...
atlanticcouncil.org
Please join us tomorrow for an exciting panel looking at Sudan's information environment before and after conflict broke out in April this year. Registration info below!
DFRLab@dfrlab.bsky.social · 3y agoTOMORROW: 8:00 ET / 14:00 CAT @dfrlab.bsky.social hosts the launch of its newest report on Sudan’s information environment. Join as our authors report their research and panelists discuss the intricacies of Sudan’s information and media ecosystem between 2019-2022 in light of the ongoing conflict.
First post here is on my newest piece for @dfrlab.bsky.social on a suspicious network of accounts positing copied, positive replies to the RSF. https://dfrlab.org/2023/08/02/suspicious-networks-copypasta-replies-to-sudanese-paramilitary-groups-tweets/
Suspicious network’s copypasta replies to Sudanese paramilitary group’s tweets
Network of potentially hijacked Twitter accounts copy and pasted positive replies to accounts associated with Rapid Support Forces in Sudan
dfrlab.org
🚨 🇨🇳 NEW @dfrlab.bsky.social REPORT 🚨 🇨🇳 The latest report in Kenton Thibaut's series on Chinese Discourse Power. In this report, she assesses discourse power through a frame of “media convergence" and the mechanisms of oversight on which such communications rely. More in thread ⬇
Chinese discourse power: Capabilities and impact
An examination of China's online and offline channels for the dissemination of "discourse power" and the mechanisms of oversight on which such communications rely.
atlanticcouncil.org
Research shows that involving children directly in decisions that impact them is key to identifying best interests, understanding, and addressing children’s diverse needs. A trustworthy future web must reflect the rights—and perspectives—of children.
ANNEX 3: Respecting Children as Rights Holders
atlanticcouncil.org
