TWON Citizen Lab #2 in Vienna: On Tackling Hate, Misinformation and Polarisation in the Age of AI and Tech-Oligarchs

In TWON we do not only want to translate our scientific results into actionable recommendations for decision-makers in politics and industry – we also want to foster digital citizenship and the public debate on the role Online Social Networks should play in our society. This is why, our CitizenLabs are an essential part of TWON!

The Citizen Labs are conducted by TWON consortium member “DialoguePerspectives. Discussing Religions and Worldviews e.V.” who trains young European leaders to become experts in a new, society-oriented interreligious-worldview dialogue. The program brings together participants from diverse communities and backgrounds, encompassing individuals with 19 different religions and beliefs across 25 European countries. Through their unique perspectives and expertise, they contribute to fostering understanding, cooperation, and a pluralistic, democratic, and cohesive Europe.

Following the first Citizen Lab in Karlsruhe in September 2024, the second Citizen Lab recently took part in Vienna from May 11-14th, 2025! 35 young leaders from various communities from all over Europe came together to discuss a digital and pluralistic European future. The program was a mixture of input and discussion from our TWON researchers, impulses from external researchers and civil society organizations, reflexional workshops and a public evening event – all centered around tackling hate, misinformation and polarization in the age of AI and tech-oligarchs.

Dr. Jonas Fegert opened up the discussion, introducing the group to the TWON project, the goals and the need. Prof. Dr. Damian Trilling (University of Amsterdam) opened up a critical conversation around the limits of current research on social media dynamics, challenging our assumptions about echo chambers, filter bubbles, and the spread of disinformation. His interactive talk underscored how intuitive beliefs often outpace empirical evidence — and invited us to think more deeply about what we can actually measure.

Prof. Dr. Achim Rettinger (Trier University) tackled the complex intersection of AI agents and online discourse. Can AI replace us in some communicative functions — and should it? His workshop addressed both the dangers and opportunities of algorithmic content curation, especially in shaping public opinion and emotional response.

We also had the chance, to present our demonstrators micro & macro TWONy to the public! Led by Simon Münker (Trier University) and Fabio Sartori (KIT), participants explored our tools with which we try to make our simulations with generative agents tangible. The hands-on experience allowed for nuanced discussions about how different ranking logics affect emotional dynamics.

FZI researcher Cosima Pfannschmidt  led a workshop on envisioning a democratic online social network of the future. What would such a platform look like? Who would own and govern such a platform? How should content moderation be organized? Which criteria would the ranking algorithm prioritize? While it is crucial to research negative effects of online social networks, it is equally important to develop actionable, democratic alternatives.

At our public evening event in the Vienna Co-Innovation Factory, we dove deeper into the topic of digital democracy. Moderated by Dr. Jonas Fegert (FZI), Prof. Dr. Achim Rettinger (Uni Trier & FZI), Benjamin Fischer (CeMAS), Judith Peterka (TWON Advisory Board), Natascha Strobl (Expert on Right-wing Extremism and the New Right) and Dr. Sebastian Heidebrecht (EIF – Centre for European Integration Research, Vienna University) discussed on “Digital Democracy and the Power of Platforms: Policy, AI, and Accountability”. In a second panel session, Alina Bricman (Director of EU Affairs at B’nai B’rith International), Rosa Jellinek (Activist, Social Media Expert, Keshet Deutschland e.V.), Selin Aydın (Programme Manager CLAIM – Alliance Against Islamo-phobia and Anti-Muslim Hate) and Stefania Manca (Institute of Educational Technology, Italian National Research Council) discussed on „Countering Hate and Information Manipulation – Strategies for a Safer Digital Sphere“.

Beyond this the Citizen Lab included fantastic inputs from external researchers and civil society organizations:

  • Algorithmic Amplification of Hate Speech and Misinformation with Dr. Ing. Even Kapros (Strategic Designer and Researcher on HCI, UX, and Ethics, CEO and founder of Endurae, Strategic Advisor with Project Arc)
  • Foreign Influence: Digital Manipulation by Authoritarian States and Paths to Platform Accountability with Julia Smirnova (Senior Researcher, CeMAS)
  • What’s Working, What’s Not: Recommender Systems and Platform Accountability (Dr. Julia Neidhardt, Head of the CD Lab for Recommender Systems, UNESCO Co-Chair for Digital Humanism, TU Vienna
  • Voices That Echo: Holocaust Memory, Digital Activism and Peacebuilding in the Social Media Age with Dr. Stefania Manca | Institute of Educational Technology, Italian National Research Council)
  • Social Media, AI, Disinformation, and Freedom of Speech with Nuriyatul Lailiyah | Assistant Professor Communication Department Faculty of Social and Political Sciences Diponegoro University Semarang Central Java
  • World Café Discussions on Local Realities in the Digital Sphere with IGGÖ – Islamische Glaubensgemeinschaft in Österreich, JöH – Jüdische österreichische Hochschüler:innen and SEEDS – Security Education by Empowering Democratic Strength

The Citizen Lab concluded with a call to action: How can we translate these insights into political change? To wrap up the rich discussions, we developed policy proposals aimed at regulating algorithmic systems, increasing transparency, and creating digital environments where diverse voices can thrive. With DialoguePerspectives’ participatory approach we ensure that our policy recommendations are relevant, comprehensible, linked to the ongoing public debate and reflect the lived experiences of the diverse European communities. Participants worked on an existing TWON policy brief, which was previously developed in an iterative process with input from TWON researchers and the previous CitizenLab. The Vienna Citizen Lab 2025 reminded us that digital spaces are not neutral — they are designed, and as such, can be redesigned. To build an inclusive, democratic future, we need to shape not only the rules of online discourse, but the very structures that host them.

We are deeply grateful for the Vienna Citizen Lab 2025, hosted by TWON-partner DialoguePerspectives. What an unforgettable gathering that brought together European leaders committed to shaping democratic digital spaces! A heartfelt thank you to DialoguePerspectives and all those who made this experience so meaningful. It was an honor to be part of a space where listening, questioning, and reimagining Europe is not only possible—but already happening.

Panel Discussion on Countering Hate and Information Manipulation
TWON researchers at the Citizen Lab (Damian Trilling, Fabio Sartori, Jonas Fegert, Kira Wisniewski, Cosima Pfannschmidt and Simon Münker (from left to right)

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.

TWON report: Defining metrics for democratic online discourse

Our researcher Sjoerd Stolwijk recently published a deliverable, proposing a set of metrics to determine the deliberative quality of discussions on social media in general, and TWON in particular.

The report lists the key indicators of: (1) Exposure to political content, (2) Engagement with political content, (3) Contributing political content, (4) Diversity of exposure and (5) Quality of exposure.

It is then explained how and why this set of indicators differs from the typical list of deliberative indicators and proposes to view deliberation from a summative rather than an additive perspective. In this view, social media do not need to aim at perfect deliberation within one platform; rather, the goal is to contribute to deliberation at a societal scale via the platform. 

We propose that social media can contribute especially by offering an avenue for users (citizens, journalists and politicians alike) to be exposed to political debate, but also to engage and participate in that debate. In addition, social media can connect otherwise unconnected users and expose them to ideas they might otherwise have missed. Ideally, these ideas are substantiated with arguments and evidence.

Our researcher evaluates a large set of automatic classifiers to determine the degree to which social media comments meet several deliberative criteria, specifically whether comments are rational, interactive, diverse and civil.

Results show how more modern techniques like fine-tuned transformers and generative large language models have improved our ability to reproduce manual codings automatically, but also that results vary considerably between models.

We then integrate the aims of Chapter 3 with the results of Chapter 4 and translate them to the case of TWON to arrive at the metrics proposed in Chapter 2. It adds tests of the performance of different classifiers to determine whether a comment is political or not.

Finally, we take a look into the future, beyond what is currently feasible for TWON, to explore whether new techniques can help determine the deliberative quality of online social media debates to the more fine-grained level of specific claims and show some promising first results.

Download the Deliverable here.

“Navigating the Digital Age” – New Book Co-Edited by TWON-Researchers

TWON-researchers Damian Trilling of the University of Amsterdam and  Ljubiša Bojić of the University of Belgrad have co-edited the book: “Navigating the Digital Age: An In-Depth Exploration into the Intersection of Modern Technologies and Societal Transformation” alongside Jörg Matthes and Simona Žikić.

The book approaches the complex issues at the intersection of new technology and society in four sections focusing on communication technology, the digital transformation of society, the relationship of technology, democracy and security, and the impacts of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the arts respectively.

A range of international scholars and academics contributed to this book, covering diverse issues arising from the rapid dissemination of new technologies and changing digital landscapes. Ljubiša Bojić and Damian Trilling together with their co-editors contributed to the books preface. Additionally, Ljubiša Bojić co-authored a text on AI in governement decision making processes.

Collectively, these works enhance our understanding of the intricate relationship between technology and society, offering a critical analysis of the ethical, moral, and cultural impacts of rapid digital change.

The book builds on the insights gathered in projects such as TWON that set out to investigate the impacts of new technologies on our societies, leveraging new technologies to better understand the digital transformation we are living through and helping to build more democratic digital environments.

The book has been published by the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory at the University of Belgrad.

find out more about the book
Downolad the book

On Regulating Online Social Networks: TWON Policy Brief #2

In January 2025, the TWON consortium developed a second TWON policy brief, on regulating online social networks! The briefing was developed in a comprehensive process with academic input, was then enriched with citizens’ perspectives from the DialoguePerspectives Citizen Lab in Fall 2024 and reviewed multiple times by academics in the consortium. 

The briefing focuses on funding research and the development of public platforms, promoting content diversity through algorithmic design, platform regulation to strengthen interoperability and transparency of platforms, as well as the promotion of media literacy and support of independent journalism.

See the full briefing below &

Download the TWON Policy Brief #2 here

The DSA’s research access: a flawed system

The Digital Service Act does not do enough for research access. While its article §40 implements a duty for very large online platforms (VLOPs) and very large online search engines (VLOSEs) to allow research access, it is not sufficient.
That is why the TWON collaborated with Digits EU, and the Digital Law Institute Trier to feedback the commission on loopholes in this paragraph. The result is an official statement, that the commission now considers.

Their main points of criticism are:

Data access to what? Allow specific requests, as data on minor algorithm changes for specific user groups is currently enclosed. Broaden the definition of systemic risks and create transparency around A/B tests, as they hold great research value.

Data access for whom? Peer review is a standard research process, so peer access to data sets is necessary. Also, allow short-notice data-reaccess to react after peer review, enable group-verifications and create a clear definition of the researcher status to prevent too high barriers.

Verification of data? Currently there is no control mechanism to ensure that the provided data by VLOPs and VLOSEs is correct. An obligation to provide correct datasets needs to be implemented.

Find the full statement here.

Call for Papers on Semantic Generative AI

Call for Papers! 📝🚨

Are you researching social interactions of any combination of agents and/or humans on the web, including the architectures and platforms enabling and influencing those interactions? Then you are a fit.💡

For our workshop on semantic generative agents on the web at the ESWC 2025 in Slovenia we are still accepting papers. Especially welcome are submissions on agent knowledge representation, their reasoning capabilities and way of communication. 💬

Topics of interest include
– Agents for simulating (nonrational) human behavior
– Agents on the (social) web for analyzing communicative behavior
– Platforms for simulating and researching agent communication and platform mechanics
– Recursive AI agents for higher levels of task complexity, adaptivity, and autonomy

We encourage papers from different backgrounds, various disciplines and of various lengths. Papers going beyond traditional paper formats, like demo, data and position papers, are welcome! 🎯

📍Submission deadline is the 6th of March.
📍Paper submission requires the conference attendance of at least one involved researcher. The conference takes place from June 1st to June 5th in Portoroz, Slovenia.

Find out more about it here.

Recommender systems -Shaping our news?

A speech by Damian Trilling​

How can we ensure trust and responsibility in the use of generative AI? What role does it hold in the future of media? What are recommender systems and how do they shape our news feeds?

These were the key questions discussed at the Media Futures Annual Meeting in Bergen, Norway, which brought together over 130 participants from organizations such as @BBC Verify, TV 2, Nokia Bell Labs Cambridge, Amazon Web Services, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Dataminr.
TWON-consortium leader Damian Trilling, professor at Vrjje Universiteit Amsterdam, discussed one of the above mentioned questions in his closing speech: He outlined the impact of different responsible recommender systems for news, as there needs to be a balance between user engagement and ethical considerations.
The Twin of Online Social Networks (TWON) can help to find out, what this balance shall look like and what the impacts of a disbalance are.

The event also featured insightful keynotes that discussed emerging ethical challenges and technological strategies to tackle them, assessed the potential of AI in disaster response, stressed the addressing of falsehoods in uncertain times or showed the impact of regular and early smartphone usage on our world view.

We are happy about the success of the SFI MediaFutures Annual Meeting 2024, fostering collaboration between researchers, industry experts and practitioners.

How to counter Antisemitism online – The European Practitioners network against Antisemitism meets

How does antisemitism appear on social media? What is the role of platform operators when it comes to the moderation of hateful content? And how to counter antisemitism online?

These were only some of the questions discussed during DialoguePerspective’s European Practitioners Network Against Antisemitism meeting in Belgrade this November. In a number of input sessions and workshops participants exchanged the challenges and developed possible solutions, with a focus on intersectionality and younger generations. A visit to a local synagogue gave the chance to grasp realities of Jewish life in Serbia.

In the panel discussion TWON’s Jonas Fegert discussed with Katharina von Schnurbein (European Commission’s Coordination on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life), Friedrich Enders (TikTok) and Misko Stanisicšić (Terraforming). Moderated by Jo Frank (DialoguePerspectives) they talked about countering antisemitism online. Jonas Fegert stressed the importance of understanding platform mechanisms, as there is currently a lack of transparency. A Twin of Online Social Networks (a TWON), such as the one we are currently building, is a crucial tool to understanding the effects of platform design choices. The researcher access to platform data guaranteed by the Digital Services Act (DSA) is a chance to shed light in this field. But it is also the responsibility of platform operators to create transparency and cooperate with researchers.

The event was kicked off by remarks by Anke Konrad (German Ambassador to Serbia), Avivit Bar-Ilan (Israeli Ambassador to Serbia), Edward Ferguson (UK Ambassador to Serbia), Brankica Janković (Commission for Protection of Equality, Serbia) and Katharina von Schnurbein.

Thank you for the great discussions with practitioners, activists, policy makers and platform operators!

On the Ethics of Using TWONs: TWON Policy Brief #1

Researchers of the TWON consortium have achieved another milestone regarding the communication of results and insights of our EU-funded research project. As we are breaking new ground at the intersection of diverse academic discplines, we are confronted with new ethical questions relating to our work. A Digital Twin of an Online Social Network (TWON) may be a powerful instrument for researching and regulating digital public spaces. Yet, the vast and detailed datasets on user behaviour also pose significant ethical risks. TWONs could be used to undermine user interests and democratic norms. Important questions arise with regard to the technological tools we are developing: Who should have access to these tools? How should these tools be regulated?

As scholars researching the relationship of social and political dynamics on one hand and digital technologies and communicative settings on the other hand, we do not want to shy away from these important normative questions: The answers to these questions may well determine the societal impact of our joint research project. Therefore, we aim to address these crucial normative and ethical questions heads on. Our first TWON Policy Brief, thus, focuses on these questions, emphasizing the importance of ethical considerations in our research and the dissemination of our findings. The policy brief sketches out possible approaches to TWONs, different governance and regulation frameworks as well as their risks and benefits.

The full report can be found here.

2024-10-28_TWON-policy-briefDownload