Christian Schwieter is a Fellow at ISD and a PhD candidate at the Department of Media Studies at Stockholm University, where he investigates the impact of European platform governance efforts on far-right activity on social media. Between 2020-2023, he led ISD Germany’s research on the migration of right-wing extremist actors to Telegram and other smaller platforms in response to increased content moderation on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

At ISD, he also co-led the pilot phase of the Digital Policy Lab, a new intergovernmental working group focused on charting the online policy path forward to prevent and counter disinformation, hate speech and extremism. In his role, he has advised the German Ministry of Justice, the German Foreign Office and the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, among others.

Before ISD, Christian worked as a researcher for the Computational Propaganda Project at the Oxford Internet Institute and was Specialist Adviser on Disinformation Matters for the DCMS Select Committee at the UK House of Commons. He holds an MSc (Dist) in Social Science of the Internet from the University of Oxford and a BA (Hons) in World Politics from Leiden University.

At ISD, he authored and co-authored the following reports:

Inside the Digital Labyrinth: Right-Wing Extremist Strategies of Decentralisation on the Internet & Possible Countermeasures

Online Crisis Protocols – Expanding the Regulatory Toolbox to Safeguard Democracy During Crises

The Hydra on the Internet: Exploring the Challenge of Extremist Use of the Fediverse by example of PeerTube (German)

On Odysee: the Role of Blockchain Technology for Monetisation Purposes within the German Right-Wing Extremist Online Milieu (German)

In the Blind Spot – How Right-Wing Extremists use Alternative Platforms for Radicalisation (conference report)

Detours and Diversions Online Strategies for the Dissemination of Right-Wing Extremist Content

Telegram as a Buttress: How Far-Right Extremists and Conspiracy Theorists are Expanding their Infrastructures via Telegram

Germany and the Alleged Climate Lockdown: How Populists and Conspiracy Groups use the Pandemic to Mobilise Against Climate Action (German)

The Business of Hate: Bankrolling Bigotry in Germany and the Online Funding of Hate Groups

Digital Policy Lab ’20 – Companion Papers