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sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa
@sanjanah.bsky.social
4.7K followers 420 following 4.3K posts
Studying confluence of influence operations, disinfo, truth decay, information integrity & policies addressing online harms. Many thoughts, sometimes prayers.
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sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · Dec 23
A ‘War of Stories’: Humanitarianism in the Disinformation Age | @heatherleson.bsky.social from the @theifrc.bsky.social invited me to pen this article mid-2024. I sent it to her months ago, and finally got around to publishing it.
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sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 1h
Hope everything goes well Kevin.
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sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 1h
Gisborne youth accused of threatening to kill MP appears in court www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
Gisborne youth accused of threatening to kill MP appears in court
The charges relate to threats allegedly made earlier this year.
www.rnz.co.nz
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sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 1h
What 'remigrate' is a dog-whistle for.
Remigration - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
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sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 1h
Of course, guised a political speech, the normalisation, & promotion of this violent extremist ideology isn't just a phenomenon in the US. In my study, discourse associated with senior MPs of NZ's coalition govt, & far-right's white supremacy is, on most days, a distinction without a difference.
sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · Aug 22
I see Shane Jones is telegraphing the same 'Great Replacement' narrative, & lie Christchurch terrorist used to justify massacre of 51 Muslims in March 2019. This is not political debate. This is violent extremist rhetoric fuelling racism, endangering communities, & ripping apart social cohesion.
Quote attributed to Jones notes: "Don’t let these Green dreams drive us into poverty and drive all our young people away to Australia, only for new migrants coming from the third world to replace our own children and grandchildren. That’s not putting New Zealanders first.”
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sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 1h
The Christchurch terrorist's violent extremist 'Great Replacement' ideology, now officially signalled by the current US administration, gleefully retweeted by individuals who on influential far-right podcast platforms in NZ, week after week, promote the same violence with impunity. Quite something.
A tweet by Department of Homeland security which says "Remigrate".
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sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 1h
Meanwhile, in New Zealand: Conservative US commentator Candace Owens granted NZ visa after government intervention www.theguardian.com/world/2024/d...
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Reposted by Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa
legallyfeminist.bsky.social
Dr. Cassandra Mudgway @legallyfeminist.bsky.social · 6h
Is online abuse driving women out of running for office??? Read my latest opinion piece on misogyny, online violence, and the law. (Spoiler: the answer is yes! And also, that's the point!) #nzpol #onlineabuse

theconversation.com/polls-and-tr...
Polls and trolls: is violent online abuse turning women off local politics?
Online abuse designed to humiliate, coerce or silence women and minority politicians is taking its toll. With a general election next year, the rules have to change.
theconversation.com
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sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 3h
xAI’s avatar-enabled or augmented sexual violence is actually far worse than what’s been reported in the media, and presents significant challenges to Grok’s T&S. Not sure it even exists. Hope an episode of CTRL ALT Speech can pick up on implications. @benwhitelaw.bsky.social @mmasnick.bsky.social
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sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 12h
xAI’s Grok Chatbots: Violent misogyny, and CSAM at a planetary scale

www.linkedin.com/pulse/xais-g... (LinkedIn)

sanjanah.wordpress.com/2025/10/14/x... (WordPress)
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sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 15h
😂
sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 22h
Mobile numbers of Trump, Obama, Macron, Starmer, & Albanese, amongst others. Quite incredible. | World leaders' private phone numbers published online www.1news.co.nz/2025/10/14/w...
World leaders' private phone numbers published online
Contact information for current and former world leaders – including Australian PM Anthony Albanese and US President Donald Trump – has also been exposed.
www.1news.co.nz
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sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 1d
I declined to go on RNZ around this poll for this precise reason. Will post about my reservations later.
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sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 1d
Relatedly, was reading Naomi Beinart's piece in the Guardian this morning, & thinking about how (increasingly) true it must be for NZ too. | As boys shift to the right, we are seeing the rise of the ‘new chill girl’ www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
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sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 2d
Interesting to see the Kremlin-financed erstwhile Tenet Media's Lauren Chen still focussed on New Zealand through the promotion of anti-Māori frames which gel with ascendant, & already well-established domestic, & transnational white supremacist, & far-right narratives. Cui bono? #nzpol
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sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 2d
A considered take on AI, and more specifically, Thiel. "The most immediate threat of AI is not the technology running amok on its own, but how it will be wielded by the business leaders that own it." Via @thedailyshow.com www.instagram.com/reel/DPomkQ2...
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sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 2d
"But we are not destined to live in a world where truth is no longer distinguishable from fiction. In this regard, we must ask ourselves some crucial questions." | ADDRESS OF POPE LEO XIV TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE MINDS INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE www.vatican.va/content/leo-...
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Reposted by Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa
vindi-b.bsky.social
Vindhya Buthpitiya @vindi-b.bsky.social · 2d
my book (!) ‘A Volatile Picture: War and the Political Work of Photography in Sri Lanka’ encompassing a decade of research on Tamil photographic practices set against a backdrop of ethno/nationalist conflict & the island’s turbulent post/war out Spring 26 uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295...
A Volatile Picture
uwapress.uw.edu
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sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 3d
"People do not seem to realise that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

#nzpol
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sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 4d
What's tragic is that NZ gave him citizenship.
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sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 4d
Video overview in Sinhala: youtu.be/DcbOce2BuT0
ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ චීන බලපෑම් මෙහෙයුම්
YouTube video by Sanjana Hattotuwa
youtu.be
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sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 4d
Video overview in English: youtu.be/ebbCoXuZdGA
Engineered authenticity: Chinese influence operations on Facebook in Sri Lanka
YouTube video by Sanjana Hattotuwa
youtu.be
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sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 4d
Engineered authenticity: Chinese influence operations on Facebook in Sri Lanka

www.linkedin.com/pulse/engine... (LinkedIn)

sanjanah.wordpress.com/2025/10/10/e... (WordPress)

#SriLanka #InfluenceOperations #China #SocialMedia
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sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 4d
#nzpol
justinhendrix.bsky.social
Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 4d
Thiel "argued that those who propose limits on technology development not only hinder business but threaten to usher in the destruction of the United States and an era of global totalitarian rule, according to the recordings."
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 Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa
thoughtfulnz.bsky.social
David Hood @thoughtfulnz.bsky.social · 5d
We had a discussion of this in June last year. Some NZ Uni's activated AI detection software options (Massey made the news www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3503... ). Others took a look at the false positive rate and went "No way are we going to accuse 1000s of students of things they didn't do".
sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 5d
University wrongly accuses students of using artificial intelligence to cheat www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/5...
University wrongly accuses students of using artificial intelligence to cheat
An Australian university has accused thousands of its students of cheating with artificial intelligence. The problem? Many have done nothing wrong.
www.rnz.co.nz
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sanjanah.bsky.social
Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 5d
University wrongly accuses students of using artificial intelligence to cheat www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/5...
University wrongly accuses students of using artificial intelligence to cheat
An Australian university has accused thousands of its students of cheating with artificial intelligence. The problem? Many have done nothing wrong.
www.rnz.co.nz
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