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Hossein Derakhshan

Background: Iranian-Canadian writer, journalist, and researcher; pioneer of blogging in Iran during the early 2000s

Overview

Hossein Derakhshan is an influential voice on the theory and socio-political implications of digital and social media. He is the author of The Web We Have to Save (widely circulated), and his writings on information, democracy, and manipulation have appeared in Libération, Die Zeit, the New York Times, MIT Technology Review, and The Guardian.

Derakhshan spent six years in prison in Iran over his writings and web activism, an experience that profoundly shaped his analysis of digital surveillance, propaganda, and the relationship between technology and authoritarianism.

Key work

  • Information disorder and disinformation campaigns — co-authored the Council of Europe's foundational framework on information disorder
  • Blogging and digital activism in Iran — pioneered early blogging in Iran; documented the arc from decentralized, participatory web to centralized, surveillance-enabled platforms
  • Media theory — writes on the ritualistic and emotional aspects of information consumption and the political economy of social media

Papers and reports

Selected writings

  • The Web We Have to Save — essay on how the web has shifted from decentralized and open to centralized and controlled