DATAS: Data and Sovereign in Revolution, War and Occupation
Join the online discussion Data and Sovereign in Revolution, War and Occupation on November 20 at 19:00 Kyiv time with Tetyana Lokot, Svitlana Matviyenko and Daria Hetmanova. The event will take place in English.
The experts will discuss the use of digital technologies, social media and data collection during Ukraine’ Revolution of Dignity, as well as in the ongoing full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and in the context of attempts of occupation of Ukraine’s sovereign territory.
Register to take part in the event →
Since the onset of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, both personal and state data have become key targets in the war. Since 2014, digital technologies and information networks have played an increasingly significant role in Russia's offensive and Ukraine's defence. At the same time, Ukraine's critical infrastructure has been subjected to devastating cyberattacks.
Media platforms have also become a battlefield, where access to information and disinformation directly influence life-and-death decisions. Digital networks are a key tool in the Ukrainian struggle for victory, through promoting both historical facts and inspirational narratives. Yet Ukraine's heavy reliance on social media and anonymous messaging channels for critical updates — such as missile attack warnings and real-time battlefield reports — makes it easier to manipulate large groups of people.
The situation in Ukraine's temporarily occupied territories is even more dire. All internet traffic is rerouted through Russian state-controlled providers, where it is monitored and censored by Russia's System for Operative Investigative Activities. This system filters online traffic, blocks access to any website flagged by the Russian government, and tracks user data and metadata across social networks, chats, forums, messaging apps, and emails. Only Russia-affiliated messaging apps like Telegram or Max function in these areas, making alternative means of communication nearly impossible.
A critical component of this data subjugation is the mandatory "filtration" process that forcibly transferred Ukrainian civilians underwent starting in March 2022, with the Russian-established "filtration" infrastructure being constantly repurposed since that time. According to reports from organizations like Human Rights Watch and the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab published in 2022, Russian forces systematically collected vast amounts of personal information during this process. This included interrogations about political views, collection of biometric data in the form of fingerprints and facial photographs, as well as digital data through the inspection of personal devices. This coercive data collection was used to categorize Ukrainian civilians into different groups, with those rendered "suspicious" after their data was cross-referenced facing extrajudicial detention and/or physical abuse. Through this process, personal data collection was turned into a tool of occupation and control.
Tetyana Lokot is an Associate Professor in Digital Media and Society at Dublin City University, Ireland. She researches authoritarianism, civic agency and the loss of freedom in the internet age and is the author of "Beyond the Protest Square: Digital Media and Augmented Dissent." Dr. Lokot holds a PhD from the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, USA, and previously worked as an associate professor at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA).
Svitlana Matviyenko is an Associate Professor of Critical Media Analysis at Simon Fraser University's School of Communication. Her research focuses on disinformation, cyberwar, popular mobilization, critical infrastructure, Lacanian psychoanalysis, and postcolonial/decolonial theory. Dr. Matviyenko's current work examines nuclear cultures, nuclear colonialism, and the weaponization of pollution and nuclear terror during the Russian war in Ukraine. She is an expert on the political economy of cyberwarfare and the political ecology of war.
Daria Hetmanova is a PhD candidate at the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University, Canada. Working at the intersection of science and technology studies and critical security studies, her research focuses on analyzing the Russian-established infrastructure of “filtration” during Russia’s war against Ukraine. She co-authored the paper “Producing the Subject of Deportation: Filtration Processes during the Russia-Ukraine War” with Svitlana Matviyenko, published in Sociologica Journal.
DATAS (2025-26) is an assembly convened to amplify unheard voices from Central and Eastern Europe, and Southern Caucasus, reflecting on the relationship between the self, technology, and power. Produced in partnership between Goethe-Institut (Germany), Izolyatsia (Ukraine), MeetFactory (Czech Republic), Projekt Atol (Slovenia) and Tallinn Art Hall (Estonia).
Co-funded by the European Union under the Creative Europe program. The views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EACEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Co-funded by the New Democracy Fund / Danish Cultural Institute.