research

I explored the platform structures of social networking services and the security threats enabled by them. This included, for example, using machine learning approaches for detecting and analyzing computational propaganda in the form of bots.

I am leading the implementation of large-scale quantitative data collections on Slovak voters and political parties, including the Volebný Kompas voting advice application for the 2023 Slovak parliamentary elections and a longitudinal panel experimental survey, to explore various aspects related to political behavior.

I qualitatively and quantitatively mapped the operational and financial backgrounds of untrustworthy websites, primarily in Slovakia and Czechia. Specifically, I (i) co-created an open-source tool to uncover networks of untrustworthy websites based on the use of the same Google Analytics/AdSense IDs, with the added ability to expose networks based on historical data; I applied this tool in a two-wave study to create maps of Slovak untrustworthy website networks, where I argued that direct foreign control of Slovak untrustworthy websites is minimal; (ii) qualitatively mapped the companies and individuals owning, controlling, or running disinformation websites in Slovakia, arguing that financial incentives are the primary reasons behind running untrustworthy websites; and (iii) mapped the tech stacks of Slovak untrustworthy websites and proposed a tech-stack regulation approach to this issue.

I developed and co-developed various toolkits, guidelines, teaching materials, and an online learning course. These tools were designed to raise digital literacy skills for various target groups, including students, teachers, and Slovak armed forces personnel.