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Aleksandra Urman

@aurman21.bsky.social

1.3K followers 480 following 740 posts

Senior Research Associate, Social Computing Group, U of Zurich. Computational social/communication scientist

Videos

Political science 24%

Communication & Media Studies 24%

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Reposted by Paul Davies, James Scott, Aleksandra Urman

Michael Derby @michaelsderby.bsky.social · 2h

Conservative tech lord Thiel said tighter financial regulations “were a sign that a singular world government has begun to emerge that could be taken over by an Antichrist figure who could then use it to exert control over people.” Via WashPost

Inside billionaire Peter Thiel’s private lectures: Warnings of ‘the Antichrist’ and U.S. destruction

In leaked recordings of private lectures by tech billionaire Peter Thiel he argued that “the Antichrist” is likely to take the form of a critic of technology.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Damian Trilling

Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 2h

Yeah Slack I totally wanted to have the threads between me and colleagues discussing research ideas summarised by some crappy AI. Because I can't read 5 messages myself or something.(No, absolutely not, I didn't click anything, how do I turn this off forever?!)

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Reposted by Aleksandra Urman

Stadt Wien-Büchereien @buechereienwien.bsky.social · 1d

Die Uni Wien sucht für eine Studie Personen, die gern Hörbücher (Belletristik) hören.
Termine: Oktober - November 2025
Alter: über 18 Jahre
Dauer: max. 135 Minuten
Ort Kolingasse 14-16, 1090 Wien
Aufwandsentschädigung: 35€
Bei Interesse an [email protected] schreiben

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Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 1d

Nah I just think there are too few likes on that! What's wrong with people haha

Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 2d

I think this is genuinely very funny, pls give @cbarrie.bsky.social more likes!

Christopher Barrie @cbarrie.bsky.social · 2d

This got two, *two*, likes and I think it's the funniest thing I've ever posted

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Reposted by Aleksandra Urman

Christopher Barrie @cbarrie.bsky.social · 2d

This got two, *two*, likes and I think it's the funniest thing I've ever posted

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Reposted by Aleksandra Urman

Adrienne Fichter @adfichter.bsky.social · 2d

🔥Das Genfer IT-Unternehmen Infomaniak hat Beschwerde eingelegt gegen die Verlängerung der Public Cloud-Rahmenverträge zwischen der Bundeskanzlei und Microsoft und Amazon (2025-2030). www.letemps.ch/cyber/souver...

Infomaniak fait recours contre la prolongation des contrats pour les services cloud de la Confédération - Le Temps

Les autorités fédérales ont reconduit mi-septembre pour cinq ans leur engagement avec des prestataires américains et chinois pour la gestion des données publiques de l’administration. La société genev...

www.letemps.ch

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Reposted by Aleksandra Urman

Claes de Vreese @claesdevreese.bsky.social · 3d

A new page in the disinformation challenge?

With sora (openai) and vibes (meta) we are looking at even lower thresholds for misleading content

So far we have learned that neither AI companies nor platforms will step up to meet the challenges when it comes to democracy.

www.npr.org/2025/10/03/n...

Kiss reality goodbye: AI-generated social media has arrived

With the launch of Sora 2, OpenAI has opened a new chapter in addictive, and some worry dangerous, AI video content.

www.npr.org

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Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 4d

Your every reply is more depressing than the other :) not necessarily decentralised, but open. hardware I agree, search perhaps too though I am thinking of public indices/not sure what's feasible there. Re OS - well we have Linux, so there could be hope for something similar

Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 4d

Ok, fair enough. Then the answer was open and decentralised tech development all along, I guess :)

Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 4d

Also political values is the broadest thing ever. I feel like all my values these days are political one way or another, whether I like and want that or not :)

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Reposted by Aleksandra Urman, Nicolai von Ondarza

Claes de Vreese @claesdevreese.bsky.social · 4d

Meta’s decision to ban ads about politics, elections, and social issues on their platforms like Facebook and Instagram in the EU is now implemented.

This is the new policy. Any ad about fx elections, civil rights, economy, health, climate, immigration, or foreign policy is now (presumably) banned.

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Reposted by Aleksandra Urman

Dare Obasanjo @carnage4life.bsky.social · 4d

The Sora team has shared how their feed works.

It prioritizes content from your network, not strangers like TikTok. It personalizes using your activity, engagement, ChatGPT history, and creator signals like follower count, with some knobs to tune it to your taste if you want to tweak the algorithm

The Sora feed philosophy

Discover the Sora feed philosophy—built to spark creativity, foster connections, and keep experiences safe with personalized recommendations, parental controls, and strong guardrails.

openai.com

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Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 6d

Yeah, I get this conflict and I don't think there is an easy solution here. I don't know, maybe start with a bit of transparency on how/when/etc these decisions are made, what's at stake. Communicate with the users a bit. But that's not how they operate either :)

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Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 6d

If I remember correctly these were people from some legal division, so I asked how they decide which government requests to fulfill, especially in the cases listed above. And yeah either too many NDAs prevented them from talking or they genuinely didn't know, I never figured it out. Bad anyway.

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Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 6d

And since I am in a bit of a rage posting mode, I must say I thoroughly "enjoyed" talking to Google representatives at Trust and Safety conference in Stanford last year who were either under too many NDAs or oblivious their company has been blocking apps in Russia, HK or Belarus. Because who cares.

Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 6d

Yep, just a quick reminder this is nothing new, it's just now this practice has come to the US.

Apple and Google have been removing similar and other apps used e.g. by protesters in authoritarian contexts this whole time, a 🧵 of selected cases:

Exhibit 1, Hong Kong www.nytimes.com/2019/10/09/t...

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Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 6d

Oh and exhibit 2 was the wrong link, should have been this www.bbc.com/news/busines...

Google pulls Hong Kong protestor game from store

Another company faces a boycott for banning an esports player who supported the protestors.

www.bbc.com

Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 6d

TLDR: if a big tech company needs to bow to an autocrat (or a wanna-be one), it will.

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Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 6d

The above cases are the first that came to mind, there were more just in HK/Belarus/Russia alone. Surely there is way more in China, Iran, and really everywhere. See the great data collection effort and work done by people at applecensorship.com and googlecensorship.org

Apple Censorship

Tracking App status globally

applecensorship.com

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Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 6d

Exhibit 5, Apple (Google does this too) removing VPN apps on the request of Russian authorities. Note, this is post 2022. english.elpais.com/internationa...

Apple quietly deletes nearly a hundred VPNs that allowed Russians to get around censorship

The multinational has removed dozens of apps, even though the Kremlin’s censorship body did not order the move. These services, half-permitted by the government, enable people in Russia to access soci...

english.elpais.com

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Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 6d

Exhibit 4, Apple and Google both remove Navalny voting app in Russia www.reuters.com/world/europe...

Google, Apple remove Navalny app from stores as Russian elections begin

Alphabet's Google and Apple have removed jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny's tactical voting app from their stores, his team said on Friday, after Russia accused the U.S. tech firms of meddling in its internal affairs.

www.reuters.com

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Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 6d

Exhibit 3, apple (allegedly?) pressuring Telegram to remove content related to 2020 protests in Belarus www.newsweek.com/apple-censor...

Apple Is Censoring Belarus Protesters, Activists Say

"We're mostly concerned that if those criminals understand that no one can find them behind [their] mask, they'll ramp up the violence against protesters tenfold," an activist told Newsweek.

www.newsweek.com

Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 6d

Exhibit 2 (same as above but G, not Apple) www.npr.org/2019/10/10/7...

After China Objects, Apple Removes App Used By Hong Kong Protesters

HKmap.live has been used by pro-democracy activists to keep track of protests and police activity. Apple says it was removed from the App Store because it was being used to "endanger law enforcement."

www.npr.org

Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 6d

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Reposted by Kim L. Scheppele, Christine Kooi, Els Torreele , and 9 more Kim L. Scheppele, Christine Kooi, Els Torreele, Karsten Schubert, Damian Trilling, David Murakami Wood, Aleksandra Urman, Prokla Redaktion, Frank Fischer, Sarah Colvin, Karola Marky, Anita Gohdes

Signal @signal.org · 6d

We are alarmed by reports that Germany is on the verge of a catastrophic about-face, reversing its longstanding and principled opposition to the EU’s Chat Control proposal which, if passed, could spell the end of the right to privacy in Europe. signal.org/blog/pdfs/ge...

signal.org

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Reposted by Aleksandra Urman

Kevin Rothrock @kevinrothrock.me · 6d

lol, Russia's federal censor says Telegram channels with more than 10k readers are legally bound to register with the agency, which requires granting administrative access to a special government-run bot, allowing the authorities to view complete subscribers lists. t.me/rkn_tg/1658

РоскомнадZор

☝️ Регистрация каналов в Telegram. Не забывайте про обязательные этапы! В связи с поступающими обращениями разъясняем 👇 После подачи заявления на регистрацию через портал Госуслуг необходимо обязате...

t.me

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Reposted by Sander van der Linden, Laura K. Taylor, Charlie Beckett , and 3 more Sander van der Linden, Laura K. Taylor, Charlie Beckett, Stephen Cushion, Damian Trilling, Aleksandra Urman

Claes de Vreese @claesdevreese.bsky.social · 7d

Come work with us 🚨

We are looking for a #postdoc in our @aimediademlab.bsky.social lab.

Profile: Comm sci / poli sci/ computational social science.

Great team, timely topocs, fabulous city, good conditions.

DL 🗓️ November 1

werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...

Vacancy — Postdoctoral researcher Communication Science at AI, Media & Democracy Lab

Do you want to be part of the AI, Media & Democracy Lab? We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher with a profile in communication science.

werkenbij.uva.nl

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Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 8d

Also yes I am posting random things procrastinating on filing my reimbursements for the past month, ofc.

Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 8d

Also I don't remember who exactly the colleague was unfortunately, hence no direct "citation" possible :)

Aleksandra Urman @aurman21.bsky.social · 8d

With the exception of COVID, since pretty much the start of my PhD at least one academic institution always owes me some reimbursement money. This loop never ends. A colleague recently suggested (jokingly) we should ask for the payback with interest, and I think it's not a bad idea at this point.

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