I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam. My research examines how digital technologies shape, and are shaped by, authoritarian politics — with a regional focus on South and Southeast Asia.

I take a mixed-methods approach, combining in-depth fieldwork in challenging environments with large-N quantitative analyses. I also co-authored a book on Research, Ethics and Risk in the Authoritarian Field.

My core research interest concerns: 

🟦Digital Authoritarian Practices: 

I study the politics behind digital authoritarian practices such as internet shutdowns and domestic online influence operations. My comparative and country-specific studies on Indonesia, The Philippines, Thailand, and India have appeared in Political Communication, The International Journal of Press/Politics, The International Journal of Communication, and Democratization. I co-authored a book chapter on Digital Authoritarianism in The Oxford Handbook of Authoritarian Politics.

🟦 Challenging Authoritarianism through Digital Means

My PhD research (University of Amsterdam, 2014–2018) explored how internet use and social media affect anti-government protest under authoritarian regimes, based on large-N cross-country analyses and an original nationwide survey and fieldwork in Malaysia. The book based on my dissertation was published by Palgrave Macmillan, with related articles in Contemporary Politics and Democratization. 

Other, related topics I work on are: 

🟦 Transnational Authoritarianism: 

Together with Marcus Michaelsen (CitizenLab), I examine how host-country contexts and diaspora relations shape incidents of transnational repression. Our study was published in Democratization.

🟦 Political Elites and Democratic Norms

With UvA colleagues Ursula Daxecker, Ward Berenschot, and Imke Harbers, I investigate how committed political elites in India are to democratic principles and what shapes this commitment.

🟦Online Political Incivility and Hate Speech

With UvA colleagues Sander van Haperen and Joyce van der Lans, I study online political incivility and hate speech directed at Dutch parliamentarians on Twitter and Instagram. We map the full spectrum of uncivil discourse across three levels: broad trends over time (macro), issue and platform contexts (meso), and individual user behavior (micro).

I am an affiliated scientist to the International Panel on the Information Environment. 

Please find my Google Scholar profile here