Fellow
Information Controls Fellow
As a Senior Information Controls Fellow, Marcus worked with Hivos to investigate digital threats against diaspora activists from Egypt, Iran and Syria.
The research assessed the methods, motivations and capabilities of state actors targeting human rights defenders and journalists beyond borders. It also examined the impact of these threats on the targeted communities and their strategies of resistance. Marcus’ research reveals that digital technologies are at the heart of this repression against activists living outside their homeland. Tools most often used include online monitoring and surveillance, account and device hacking, aggressive disinformation campaigns, and online publication hacking. The findings were summarized in a blog post on the OTF website. The full paper entitled The Silencing Effect of Digital Transnational Repression was published in coordination with Hivos and can be found here.
Prior to this fellowship, Marcus worked as a researcher in the project “Authoritarianism in a Global Age” at the University of Amsterdam.