Research findings that moved policy and public understanding.
Identified more than 4,000 ads for "AI-nudifier" apps across Instagram and Facebook in a joint investigation with Indicator Media. This report was published as part of a series on the AI-nudifier economy that won the inaugural CJF Hinton Award for Excellence in AI Safety Reporting and was a finalist for the Online Journalism Award for Topical Reporting on Artificial Intelligence.
Co-authored Deepfake Pornography Goes to Washington, the first study to comprehensively measure the prevalence of deepfake sexual abuse targeting sitting members of Congress. This report helped drive the passage of the Take It Down Act, which criminalized the creation and distribution of non-consensual deepfake pornography at the federal level in the U.S.
Collaborated with Indicator Media to find more than 32,000 videos depicting women falling from the "Teufelsrad" ride at Oktoberfest. This work was covered by most major German, Austrian and Swiss media, including Süddeutsche Zeitung, Der Spiegel, BILD and Der Standard, reaching more than 40M readers in the German-speaking world and gaining 6M views across Facebook and Instagram.
Uncovered Sleeper Agents, a decade-old network of adversarial accounts spreading Russian propaganda across Twitter. This work was cited by the French National Assembly in a flagship report calling for the full implementation of the E.U. Digital Services Act, as well as in written and oral evidence before the British, Canadian and European parliaments.
From Russian disinformation campaigns targeting the environmental and tech sectors to hundreds of accounts engaging in AI-assisted phishing attempts, I have alerted authorities and the public to a variety of malicious campaigns online.