tech policy
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On research and policy impact. On paper, the European Democracy Shield ticks almost every box of advice that Kai Unzicker, Charlotte Freihse, Clara Ruthardt, Julia Tegeler, Joachim Rother and I put forward after three years of surveys, international research collaborations, and analytical deep dives on the intersection of disinformation and democracy (available in German). It…
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News these days are abuzz with takes on Europe’s need and ambitions around digital sovereignty. But one thing often missing, if not entirely omitted in these debates: environmental sustainability. Gaël Duez and I recorded the latest Green IO podcast episode in September and even then, we couldn’t not talk about Digital Sovereignty and how political…
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I really felt that it was time for a change. And the timing couldn’t have been better: In July, I joined the team of the Deputy Chair of the Digital Committee in the German parliament, Anna Lührmann, initially as senior advisor on digital policy. I’ve since moved into a more expanded role as head of…
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Reading the 2025 environmental progress reports from tech companies like Alibaba, Google, Meta, or Microsoft, it feels as if climate data is increasingly treated like financial data. Emissions are growing, rather than being mitigated. The marketing narratives in these progress reports have always been flashy, emphasising wins and progress however small they may be in…
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“Wer killt den Klimaschutz?” fragte mich Zsolt Wilhelm vom Der Standard in 3.000m Höhe auf der Zugspitze. Meine Antwort: der falsche Kompromiss. Wenn in der Debatte um den Klimaschutz, die “radikalsten” Stimmen diejenigen sind, die nichts anderes tun, als den globalen Minimalkonsens der Klimawissenschaft für die Allgemeinheit zu übersetzen, dann greift jeder vermeintliche Kompromiss zwangsläufig…
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Research. Celebrate. Reset. Two and a half years ago, our Upgrade Democracy team started to investigate promising and successful strategies to mitigate disinformation. Thanks to dozens of fantastic research partners, we were able to grow, adjust our focus, and challenge common assumptions. In September 2024, we celebrated the community by bringing together 100+ people from…
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Building on two years of research and all the insights our team gathered in the course of our work together, Kai Unzicker and I condensed our thinking into a policy brief that outlines 10 ideas for better dealing with the challenges of disinformation. We took the opportunity to present these ideas during an international networking…
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Tech companies and their climate pledges. The 2024 AI edition. I’ve been closely following the climate commitments and reduction targets by the tech sector for years now—I was even cautiously optimistic for a brief moment last year. Not now. The latest environmental reports from Alibaba, Google, Microsoft and co. are disconcerting. Meta hasn’t even released…
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Updated to provide all 8 links. Two years ago, we were tasked with exploring a new field of research and activities for the Bertelsmann Stiftung: countering disinformation. We launched Upgrade Democracy and set out to explore various angles and topics, but most importantly potential opportunities to fill critical gaps. The questions we asked ourselves included:…
Cathleen Berger 