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Noura Aljizawi

@noura.bsky.social

9K followers 340 following 85 posts

Senior Researcher @Citizenlab.ca , UofT Exploring the dark dimensions of digital power: authoritarianism, transnational repression & disinformation.

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Noura Aljizawi @noura.bsky.social · Dec 2

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📢 New Report: No Escape: The Weaponization of Gender for the Purposes of Digital Transnational Repression.

We examine how gender shapes digital transnational repression—where governments target, suppress, and surveil activists across borders using digital tools
📖 citizenlab.ca/2024/12/the-...

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Noura Aljizawi @noura.bsky.social · 2h

Important piece by @nateschenkkan.bsky.social on how the US deportations of Russian and Iranian dissidents mark a shift from combating to enabling transnational repression. #TransnationalRepression #TNR

Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 10h

New from me in @foreignpolicy.com: how the US has gone from leading a global push against transnational repression, to proactively supporting it:

foreignpolicy.com/2025/10/08/t...

Trump Is Supporting Transnational Repression

Instead of sheltering pro-democracy dissidents, America is now returning them for arrest.

foreignpolicy.com

Reposted by Noura Aljizawi

John Scott-Railton @jsrailton.bsky.social · 3d

NEW: breach of Discord age verification data.

Including some users passports & DLs

Age verification is a badly implemented data grab wrapped in a moral panic.

Mark my words, as age verification mandates expand, we'll end up more surveilled and less secure. 1/

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Marc Owen Jones @marcowenjones.bsky.social · 2d

New investigation. "Nobody Talks Like This: Meet 50 AI-Powered Propaganda Accounts in Sudan's Social Media War"

How 50 AI-generated accounts are flooding Twitter with pro-UAE and anti-Muslim (Brotherhood) propaganda on Sudan's civil war

marcowenjones.substack.com/p/nobody-tal... #disinformation

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Reposted by Noura Aljizawi

Lora Kolodny @lorak.bsky.social · 5d

UPDATE: ICEBlock developer Joshua Aaron asked Apple to reinstate the app after the company removed it from the app store under pressure from AG Bondi... www.cnbc.com/2025/10/03/a...

Creator of ICE agent tracking app asks Apple to rescind ban from online store

Joshua Aaron has said he created ICEBlock after seeing the Trump administration's deportation efforts, which he said evoked events in Nazi Germany.

www.cnbc.com

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Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 5d

I wanted to share some of the sources and inspirations for my new @jodemocracy.bsky.social essay this week on transnational repression. Like with anything, there are citations but then there's also stuff that doesn't make it into the piece

www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/the...

The Golden Age of Transnational Repression | Journal of Democracy

Authoritarian regimes are targeting exiles and diaspora communities in more places than ever before. Activists, journalists, and regular people living abroad must watch their backs…

www.journalofdemocracy.org

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Reposted by Noura Aljizawi

Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 6d

so the US government just forced a tech company to delete an app it doesn’t like, which is totally normal stuff

www.404media.co/iceblock-own...

ICEBlock Owner After Apple Removes App: ‘We Are Determined to Fight This’

Apple removed ICEBlock reportedly after direct pressure from Department of Justice officials. “I am incredibly disappointed by Apple's actions today. Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never t...

www.404media.co

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Noura Aljizawi @noura.bsky.social · 6d

Read @nateschenkkan.bsky.social excellent essay on The Golden Age of Transnational Repression.

Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 7d

New today: my essay in @jodemocracy.bsky.social on The Golden Age of Transnational Repression: www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/the...

The Golden Age of Transnational Repression | Journal of Democracy

Authoritarian regimes are targeting exiles and diaspora communities in more places than ever before. Activists, journalists, and regular people living abroad must watch their backs…

www.journalofdemocracy.org

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Noura Aljizawi @noura.bsky.social · 6d

You will never be forgotten.
#TNR #JamalKhashoggi

Reporter ohne Grenzen @reporter-ohne-grenzen.de · 6d

Wir werden nicht vergessen: Am 2. Oktober 2018 wurde der saudi-arabische Journalist Jamal #Khashoggi im Konsulat seines Heimatlandes in Istanbul grausam ermordet. Wir haben im Frühjahr 2021 Strafanzeige eingereicht, weil wir davon überzeugt sind: www.reporter-ohne-grenzen.de/saudi-arabie... [1/2]

An einer Wand ist ein Bild von Jamal Khashoggi zu sehen. Text: "Jamal Khashoggi, gestorben am 2.10.2018, Türkei. Der saudi-arabische Journalist wurde im saudischen Konsulat in Istanbul auf brutale Weise ermordet."

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Noura Aljizawi @noura.bsky.social · 13d

Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its technology in mass surveillance of Palestinians. The Tech firm ends military unit’s access to AI and data services after Guardian reveals secret spy project.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its technology in mass surveillance of Palestinians

Exclusive: Tech firm ends military unit’s access to AI and data services after Guardian reveals secret spy project

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Noura Aljizawi

Social Media Lab @socialmedialab.ca · 13d

"Facebook video of CN Tower on fire should have AI-generated content label, experts say. No fire happened and video is a deepfake, CN Tower says." www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

A video of the CN Tower on fire went viral on Facebook. The problem? It's fake | CBC News

A fake video of the CN Tower on fire went viral on Facebook this week and experts say it's another example of why social media platforms need to clearly mark AI-generated content.

www.cbc.ca

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Noura Aljizawi @noura.bsky.social · 17d

Why Feminists Must Defend Encryption
internet.exchangepoint.tech/why-feminist...

Why Feminists Must Defend Encryption

The debate over encryption is often reduced to a false choice between online safety and privacy, but the reality is far more complex.

internet.exchangepoint.tech

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Noura Aljizawi @noura.bsky.social · 23d

Congratulations! I look forward to reading it 😊

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Reposted by Noura Aljizawi

Alex Dukalskis @alexdukalskis.bsky.social · 23d

Author copies for

Dictating the Agenda: The Authoritarian Resurgence in World Politics

by me & @cooleyoneurasia.bsky.social arrived today!

If you re-post this by Sept 30 we'll put you in a drawing & send the winner a free signed copy anywhere they happen to be on the planet.

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Nate Schenkkan @nateschenkkan.bsky.social · 29d

This covers well the damage of what’s happening, and I’ll add: people outside this ecosystem underestimate how much information it produces that others rely on for their knowledge of world affairs

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · 29d

"On August 29, the State Department leadership notified staff that it was terminating more than two dozen agreements...designed to create common language and tactics to push back against Russian, Chinese, Iranian, and terrorist influence campaigns overseas..."

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

America Surrenders in the Global Information Wars

The U.S. is reorienting its foreign policy to protect governments that manipulate and suppress information.

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted by Noura Aljizawi

Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 29d

The Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is statutorily responsible for looking after the best interests of unaccompanied migrant children, has been giving immigration judges lists of kids who are “amenable” to voluntary departure, even though they aren’t

their client's imminent removal cannot be reconciled with the TVPRA's access to counsel
requirements. 8 U.S.C. § 1232(c)(5); see also ECF No. 20-1 at 16-17.1º
Third, Defendants' actions in apparently suspending Plaintiffs' and putative class
members' immigration cases in the middle of proceedings also violate the TVPRA and the INA, as well as the HSA. Recently, for example, ORR sent immigration judges a list of six putative class members allegedly "amenable" to voluntary departure even though they have not requested
it. See Ex. P, Donovan-Kaloust Decl. 1 5. Two putative class members attended immigration
court hearings on August 29, 2025, where a judge stated they were on a list to take voluntary departure. Reply Ex. M, M.A.L.R. Decl. 1 4; Ex. L, C.M.L. Decl. 9 4; Although both declined and stated that they wanted to pursue relief from removal, Defendants nonetheless awoke them at
night on August 31, 2025, preparing to expel them to Guatemala. See id. Congress has made
clear that ORR does not have authority to determine whether an unaccompanied child receives
an immigration benefit, including voluntary departure, 6 U.S.C. § 279(c),"' and that unaccompanied minors have a right to seek voluntary departure in accordance with the INA, 8
U.S.C. § 1229c; 8 U.S.C. § 1232(a)(5)(D)(ii).
These procedures purportedly implemented by Defendants violate the TVPRA, the INA,
and HSA. They would-and very nearly did-result in erroneous expulsions of Plaintiffs and
putative class members.

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Ron Deibert @rondeibert.bsky.social · Sep 8

"A tsunami of AI-enabled disinformation is already upon us, polluting the public sphere and seeping back into the language models that AI systems feed upon. What to do?"

My latest oped in @theglobeandmail.com 👇

www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

Opinion: Canada’s new Minister of AI must not be naive to its harms

AI is not just being deployed to expand human understanding, but to systematically subvert it as well

www.theglobeandmail.com

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Noura Aljizawi @noura.bsky.social · Sep 5

GitHub is enabling broader access for developers in Syria following new government trade rules github.blog/company/gith...