Technology & Digital Policy

Illah Nourbakhsh is professor at the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. The onetime industrial city in Pennsylvania is considered one of the hubs for autonomous driving in the United States. In this interview, Professor Nourbakhsh describes the vision of driverless robot cars as mere fiction, and he warns about their implications for society.

Our second Grow the Future cohort traveled to Toronto, Pittsburgh and Washington, DC in June 2022, to discuss strategies for smart and sustainable transportation. We found that data and digital technologies can help build efficient systems, but sometimes low-tech solutions can have a bigger impact on sustainability and inclusion.

Social media in Ukraine: how advocates and historians use it

In 2022, our internship program started again, study tours traveled once more, and we deepened our work in every program area - alongside so much more!

TikTok is the new Facebook for midterm candidates reaching out to Gen Z voters as the entertainment platform is turning into a forum for political debate. Its success has not only exposed the app to public scrutiny of reported failures to contain misinformation, but it has also raised national security concerns over its Chinese ownership.

Determined to stay in power, Brazil’s incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro borrows from Donald Trump’s playbook and is preparing the ground for a stolen election myth. He rose to power by learning how to mobilize voters from Barack Obama – and by flooding the internet with fake news.

In Brazil, misogynist discourse and attacks against female politicians have rapidly increased since the election of Jair Bolsonaro. Especially those who dare to challenge gender norms have become targets of online vitriol. A new law that criminalizes political gender violence may bring some relief, but may not be enough to turn the tide.

After a round of strong applications, we are excited to announce our selection of Transatlantic Media Fellows for 2022.