Announcements

From Research to Sovereignty in the Digital Public Sphere – Insights from the TWON Project // March 17, Brussels

📆Date                             17 March 2026, 5:30-9:30pm
🎯Location                      KBR Royal Library, Mont des Arts 28, 1000 Brussels

What does digital sovereignty mean in practice when a handful of global platforms structure Europe’s public sphere? How can the European Union ensure that online social networks operate in line with democratic values, fundamental rights, and the protection of minors? And how can research support policymakers in shaping and enforcing a European model of platform governance? These questions have gained new urgency amid geopolitical tensions, systemic disinformation, and growing concerns about the societal impact of platforms such as TikTok.

This evening, we will present the EU-funded research project “TWON – Twin of Online Social Networks”, and discuss its results and implications. TWON examines how the design of online platforms influences the quality of online democratic discourse. At its core, the interdisciplinary team has developed an innovative “digital twin” approach: instead of experimenting on real users, simulations model how different platform architectures and ranking algorithms influence the quality of online debate, and exposure to harmful content.

By translating these findings into policy recommendations and discussing them in participatory Citizen Labs across Europe, TWON contributes to evidence-based policymaking and digital citizenship. The consortium includes leading European research institutions, among them the University of Amsterdam, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), University of Belgrade, University of Trier, FZI Forschungszentrum Informatik, Jožef Stefan Institute, and the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).

We are happy to announce Katarina Barley, Vice-President of the European Parliament, and Raegan MacDonald, Aspiration Tech, as keynote speakers and panelists.

The event will focus in particular on how Europe can strengthen its capacity to research, regulate, and strategically shape online platforms. This includes establishing effective research infrastructures for platform data access and data donation, reinforcing European digital sovereignty over communication infrastructures, and identifying windows of opportunity in the evolving global digital policy debate.

The proposed agenda is as follows:

17:30 – Arrival and Demonstrator Presentations

18:00 – Opening: Jonas Fegert, FZI

18:15 – Impulse: Katarina Barley, S&D, Vice President of the European Parliament

18:30 – Keynote: Raegan MacDonald, Aspiration Tech

18:45 – Presentation of TWON project results & policy recommendations

  • Prof. Michael Mäs, KIT
  • Prof. Achim Rettinger, University of Trier
  • François t’Serstevens, University of Amsterdam
  • Cosima Pfannschmidt, FZI Forschungszentrum Informatik

19:10 – Panel Discussion

  • Katarina Barley, S&D, Vice President of the European Parliament
  • Raegan MacDonald, Aspiration Tech
  • Dr. Jonas Fegert, FZI
  • Benjamin Fischer, CeMAS

19:55 – Audience Q&A

20:10 – Buffet and Demonstrator Walk

Bringing together policymakers, regulators, researchers, journalists, and civil society practitioners, the event aims to connect cutting-edge research with current legislative and enforcement debates in Brussels.

Before and after the stage program, we invite you to explore interactive project demonstrators and exchange informally with project partners from across Europe.

We would be delighted to welcome you to Brussels and look forward to an open and productive discussion! Please feel free to share this invitation with colleagues.

Sign up free of charge here!

Research on Open Source LLM Safety at HICSS 2026

From January 6-9, 2026, TWON researcher Simon Münker presented his paper at the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), one of the leading international conferences in the field of information systems and digital innovation.

The paper addresses societal risks associated with open source Large Language Models and evaluates the effectiveness of existing safety and guardrail mechanisms. Together with his co author Fabio Sartori, Simon Münker received the Best Paper Award for this research.

The study systematically examines guardrail vulnerabilities across seven widely used open source LLMs. Using advanced natural language processing classification methods, it identifies recurring patterns of harmful content generation under adversarial prompting. These vulnerabilities were first observed during earlier research activities within the TWON project, where initial experiments revealed persistent weaknesses in model safety mechanisms.

The findings show that several prominent models consistently produce content classified as hateful or offensive. This raises concerns about the potential implications of open source LLMs for democratic discourse and social cohesion. In particular, the results challenge public safety assurances by model developers and point to discrepancies between stated safeguards and observed model behavior.

The research contributes to ongoing discussions on responsible AI development and the governance of AI systems that shape online communication and public discourse. It underlines the need for more robust, transparent and empirically tested safety mechanisms in open source AI ecosystems.

The paper was presented as part of the Digital Democracy Minitrack at HICSS 2026.

From Research to Regulation: Rethinking Online Social Networks // January 28, Berlin

📆Date                             28 January 2026, 6:00-9:30pm

🎯Location                      Publix, Hermannstraße 90, 12051 Berlin

What do we know from research about the positive and negative effects of online social networks on societies? How can these platforms be designed to protect and strengthen democratic societies and foster a fair online public sphere? Which research is needed, and how can academia work hand in hand with regulators, civil society, and practitioners to jointly create change? These questions gain particular urgency at a time when global geopolitical tensions, disinformation, and the rise of right-wing extremist forces in many democracies worldwide increasingly shape digital infrastructures.

On this evening, we will present the research project “TWON – Twin of Online Social Networks” and discuss its results and implications with policymakers, journalists, and practitioners from civil society. TWON is an EU-funded research project that examines how the design of online platforms influences the quality of democratic online discourse. To this end, an interdisciplinary research team has developed a novel approach to studying online social networks: using a digital twin, simulations are conducted to explore, for example, how different ranking algorithms affect quality of debate, without experimenting on real users. The findings are translated into policy recommendations and discussed in participatory Citizen Labs with citizens across Europe. Members of the consortium include, among others, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), University of Trier, FZI Forschungszentrum Informatik, University of Amsterdam, University of Belgrade, Jožef Stefan Institute, and Robert Koch Institute (RKI).

Furthermore, the event will focus on how online social networks can be researched and shaped at the societal level. In particular, we will discuss promising avenues for future research and evidence-based policymaking, such as data access under the Digital Services Act (DSA), data donation frameworks, and current windows of opportunity in the European and global digital policy debate.

Before and after the stage program, guests are invited to explore interactive project demonstrators, engage with research results at poster stations, and connect informally with project partners from across Europe.

Proposed agenda:

17:30 – Arrival and Demonstrator & Poster Walk

18:00 – Opening: Jonas Fegert, TWON/FZI

18:15 – Keynote: Annette Zimmermann, University of Wisconsin-Madison

18:30 – Impulse: Parsa Marvi, SPD, Member of the German Bundestag

18:45 – Presentation of TWON project results

19:10 – Panel discussion

Annette Zimmermann, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Svea Windwehr, D64

Parsa Marvi, SPD, Member of the German Bundestag

Damian Trilling, TWON/University of Amsterdam

Jonas Fegert, TWON/FZI

19:55 – Audience Q&A

20:10 – Buffet and Demonstrator & Poster Walk

We would be delighted to welcome you in Berlin and look forward to an open and productive discussion with you!

Sign up free of charge here!

Announcing SemGenAge: 1st Workshop on Semantic Generative Agents on the Web at ESWC 2025

We are excited to announce SemGenAge: The 1st Workshop on Semantic Generative Agents on the Web, taking place on June 2, 2025 in Portorož, Slovenia, as an official workshop of the Extended Semantic Web Conference (ESWC 2025).

SemGenAge explores the intersection of Semantic Technologies, Neurosymbolic AI, and Generative Agents, bringing together researchers and practitioners to investigate how intelligent agents can operate on the web in interpretable, controllable, and socially-aware ways.

Whether you are developing the next generation of web agents or studying their impact on digital societies, SemGenAge offers a unique forum for interdisciplinary exchange.

Keynote Speakers

Dr. Matthias Nickles – School of Computer Science, National University of Ireland, Galway

Dr. Denisa Reshef Kera – Senior Lecturer, Bar-Ilan University, Interdisciplinary Studies Unit

📍 Location: Portorož, Slovenia

📅 Date: June 2, 2025

🔗 Hosted at: ESWC 2025 – Extended Semantic Web Conference

Find out all about our workshop program and our speakers here.