Mariëlle Wijermars
Biographic Data
| ID | 4398254 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mariëlle Wijermars |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mariëlle |
| FAMILY NAME | Wijermars |
| SIGNATURE | WIJERMARS M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Maastricht University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7735-4403 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 43 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Authoritarian Algorithmic Publics
Scholarship on digital innovation uptake in journalism has expanded to include hybrid and authoritarian regimes. However, the intersection of digital innovation and algorithmisation with restricted media freedom remains undertheorised. This article introduces the concept of authoritarian algorithmic publics (AAP), building upon “authoritarian publics-at-large” (Toepfl) and “algorithmic publics” (Christen), and applies it to Russia. Based on in-de…
The politics of internet freedom rankings
Internet freedom rankings are a comparative tool that serves as an evaluative shorthand in decision-making contexts internationally. Understanding their aims and how they define internet freedom, as well as the power relationships within the ranking ecosystem, can reveal a lot about their politics – and their limits
Can Filter Bubbles Protect Information Freedom? Discussions of Algorithmic News Recommenders in Eastern Europe
The increasing use of recommender systems to provide personalized news delivery influences media systems worldwide. Using different data sources to predict what content will be interesting for specific readers, recommender systems can better accommodate individual information needs, but also raise concerns about potential audience fragmentation. However, current assessments of the effects of news personalization are predominantly based on observa…
Algorithms, contexts, governance
This introduction to the special issue on algorithmic governance in context offers an outline of the field and summarizes each contribution to the issue
Sociotechnical imaginaries of algorithmic governance in EU policy on online disinformation and FinTech
Datafication and the use of algorithmic systems increasingly blur distinctions between policy fields. In the financial sector, for example, algorithms are used in credit scoring, money has become transactional data sought after by large data-driven companies, while financial technologies (FinTech) are emerging as a locus of information warfare. To grasp the context specificity of algorithmic governance and the assumptions on which its evaluation …
How to Reach Nirvana
Technological corporations and the digital services they provide play an increasingly important role in the production and dissemination of news, e.g., through media’s growing reliance on algorithmic recommender systems that perform gatekeeping functions. Bringing together three areas of interest – the relationships between large technological corporations and the professional news media, the deployment of recommender systems in non-democracies, …
Is Telegram a “harbinger of freedom”? The performance, practices, and perception of platforms as political actors in authoritarian states
This paper examines the practices, performance, and perceptions of the messaging platform Telegram as an actor in the 2020 Belarus protests, using publicly available data from Telegram's public statements, protest-related Telegram groups, and media coverage. Developing a novel conceptualization of platform actorness, we critically assess Telegram's role in the protests and examine whether Telegram is seen as playing an active role in Belarusian c…
The Vulnerabilities of Trusted Notifier-Models in Russia
Current digital ecosystems are shaped by platformisation, algorithmic recommender systems, and news personalisation. These (algorithmic) infrastructures influence online news dissemination and therefore necessitate a reconceptualisation of how online media control is or may be exercised in states with restricted media freedom. Indeed, the degree of media plurality and journalistic independence becomes irrelevant when reporting is available but di…
Russia’s law ‘On news aggregators
On 1 January 2017, a Russian federal law (No 208-FZ) came into force that holds news aggregators liable for spreading fake news. Links to news items that originate from registered media outlets – a state-regulated category – are, however, exempt from liability. As a result, news aggregators, such as Yandex News, have revised their algorithms to avoid legal claims. This article argues that the law has created a mechanism of indirect media control …
Politics, Activism and Trolling on the Russian Internet
In the years that have passed since the social media powered protest movement of 2011-2012, the Russian government has dramatically expanded its restrictions on the Internet, while simultaneously consolidating its grip on traditional media. The Internet, which long provided a space for alternative media and free speech to blossom, is becoming increasingly restricted by a growing corpus of legislation and expanding state surveillance. With legally…
The Politics of Internet Freedom Rankings
This paper critically assesses current regimes of internet governance and the role of internet freedom rankings therein. In particular, it aims to initiate a debate ultimately leading to the development of a ground-breaking comparative framework for assessing internet policy, departing from the assumption that current frameworks for measuring internet freedom are predicated too strictly on the dichotomy of democracy/non-democracy. Most stakeholde…
Mass Media and the Legitimation of Internet Control in Russia
In today's hyperconnected world, states are confronted with the global challenge of responding to potentially disruptive online communications, such as terrorist propaganda and fake news. Formulating effective internet regulation to address these threats carries the risk of infringing upon media freedom and constitutional rights. In the case of Russia, ostensibly sound legitimations have been instrumentalised to bring about a dramatic decline in …
Palgrave Handbook of Digital Russia Studies
This open access handbook presents a multidisciplinary and multifaceted perspective on how the ‘digital’ is simultaneously changing Russia and the research methods scholars use to study Russia. It provides a critical update on how Russian society, politics, economy, and culture are reconfigured in the context of ubiquitous connectivity and accounts for the political and societal responses to digitalization. In addition, it answers practical and m…
Memory Politics Beyond the Political Domain
The article outlines the main trends in Russian memory politics of the period 2000-2012 and analyzes how it extends into the domain of television. Examining selected TV productions, it demonstrates how cultural memory is used to construct a historical legitimation for the power vertical and to frame political opposition as foreign agents. It argues that memory politics indeed extended onto the television screen; yet the actual shape the narrative…
Is Telegram a “harbinger of freedom”? The performance, practices, and perception of platforms as political actors in authoritarian states
This paper examines the practices, performance, and perceptions of the messaging platform Telegram as an actor in the 2020 Belarus protests, using publicly available data from Telegram's public statements, protest-related Telegram groups, and media coverage. Developing a novel conceptualization of platform actorness, we critically assess Telegram's role in the protests and examine whether Telegram is seen as playing an active role in Belarusian c…
Sociotechnical imaginaries of algorithmic governance in EU policy on online disinformation and FinTech
Datafication and the use of algorithmic systems increasingly blur distinctions between policy fields. In the financial sector, for example, algorithms are used in credit scoring, money has become transactional data sought after by large data-driven companies, while financial technologies (FinTech) are emerging as a locus of information warfare. To grasp the context specificity of algorithmic governance and the assumptions on which its evaluation …
Russia’s law ‘On news aggregators
On 1 January 2017, a Russian federal law (No 208-FZ) came into force that holds news aggregators liable for spreading fake news. Links to news items that originate from registered media outlets – a state-regulated category – are, however, exempt from liability. As a result, news aggregators, such as Yandex News, have revised their algorithms to avoid legal claims. This article argues that the law has created a mechanism of indirect media control …
Memory Politics Beyond the Political Domain
The article outlines the main trends in Russian memory politics of the period 2000-2012 and analyzes how it extends into the domain of television. Examining selected TV productions, it demonstrates how cultural memory is used to construct a historical legitimation for the power vertical and to frame political opposition as foreign agents. It argues that memory politics indeed extended onto the television screen; yet the actual shape the narrative…
Algorithms, contexts, governance
This introduction to the special issue on algorithmic governance in context offers an outline of the field and summarizes each contribution to the issue
Memory Politics Beyond the Political Domain
The article outlines the main trends in Russian memory politics of the period 2000-2012 and analyzes how it extends into the domain of television. Examining selected TV productions, it demonstrates how cultural memory is used to construct a historical legitimation for the power vertical and to frame political opposition as foreign agents. It argues that memory politics indeed extended onto the television screen; yet the actual shape the narrative…
Politics, Activism and Trolling on the Russian Internet
In the years that have passed since the social media powered protest movement of 2011-2012, the Russian government has dramatically expanded its restrictions on the Internet, while simultaneously consolidating its grip on traditional media. The Internet, which long provided a space for alternative media and free speech to blossom, is becoming increasingly restricted by a growing corpus of legislation and expanding state surveillance. With legally…
The Politics of Internet Freedom Rankings
This paper critically assesses current regimes of internet governance and the role of internet freedom rankings therein. In particular, it aims to initiate a debate ultimately leading to the development of a ground-breaking comparative framework for assessing internet policy, departing from the assumption that current frameworks for measuring internet freedom are predicated too strictly on the dichotomy of democracy/non-democracy. Most stakeholde…
Mass Media and the Legitimation of Internet Control in Russia
In today's hyperconnected world, states are confronted with the global challenge of responding to potentially disruptive online communications, such as terrorist propaganda and fake news. Formulating effective internet regulation to address these threats carries the risk of infringing upon media freedom and constitutional rights. In the case of Russia, ostensibly sound legitimations have been instrumentalised to bring about a dramatic decline in …
Palgrave Handbook of Digital Russia Studies
This open access handbook presents a multidisciplinary and multifaceted perspective on how the ‘digital’ is simultaneously changing Russia and the research methods scholars use to study Russia. It provides a critical update on how Russian society, politics, economy, and culture are reconfigured in the context of ubiquitous connectivity and accounts for the political and societal responses to digitalization. In addition, it answers practical and m…
The Vulnerabilities of Trusted Notifier-Models in Russia
Current digital ecosystems are shaped by platformisation, algorithmic recommender systems, and news personalisation. These (algorithmic) infrastructures influence online news dissemination and therefore necessitate a reconceptualisation of how online media control is or may be exercised in states with restricted media freedom. Indeed, the degree of media plurality and journalistic independence becomes irrelevant when reporting is available but di…
Russia’s law ‘On news aggregators
On 1 January 2017, a Russian federal law (No 208-FZ) came into force that holds news aggregators liable for spreading fake news. Links to news items that originate from registered media outlets – a state-regulated category – are, however, exempt from liability. As a result, news aggregators, such as Yandex News, have revised their algorithms to avoid legal claims. This article argues that the law has created a mechanism of indirect media control …
Algorithms, contexts, governance
This introduction to the special issue on algorithmic governance in context offers an outline of the field and summarizes each contribution to the issue
Sociotechnical imaginaries of algorithmic governance in EU policy on online disinformation and FinTech
Datafication and the use of algorithmic systems increasingly blur distinctions between policy fields. In the financial sector, for example, algorithms are used in credit scoring, money has become transactional data sought after by large data-driven companies, while financial technologies (FinTech) are emerging as a locus of information warfare. To grasp the context specificity of algorithmic governance and the assumptions on which its evaluation …
How to Reach Nirvana
Technological corporations and the digital services they provide play an increasingly important role in the production and dissemination of news, e.g., through media’s growing reliance on algorithmic recommender systems that perform gatekeeping functions. Bringing together three areas of interest – the relationships between large technological corporations and the professional news media, the deployment of recommender systems in non-democracies, …
Is Telegram a “harbinger of freedom”? The performance, practices, and perception of platforms as political actors in authoritarian states
This paper examines the practices, performance, and perceptions of the messaging platform Telegram as an actor in the 2020 Belarus protests, using publicly available data from Telegram's public statements, protest-related Telegram groups, and media coverage. Developing a novel conceptualization of platform actorness, we critically assess Telegram's role in the protests and examine whether Telegram is seen as playing an active role in Belarusian c…
The politics of internet freedom rankings
Internet freedom rankings are a comparative tool that serves as an evaluative shorthand in decision-making contexts internationally. Understanding their aims and how they define internet freedom, as well as the power relationships within the ranking ecosystem, can reveal a lot about their politics – and their limits
Can Filter Bubbles Protect Information Freedom? Discussions of Algorithmic News Recommenders in Eastern Europe
The increasing use of recommender systems to provide personalized news delivery influences media systems worldwide. Using different data sources to predict what content will be interesting for specific readers, recommender systems can better accommodate individual information needs, but also raise concerns about potential audience fragmentation. However, current assessments of the effects of news personalization are predominantly based on observa…
Authoritarian Algorithmic Publics
Scholarship on digital innovation uptake in journalism has expanded to include hybrid and authoritarian regimes. However, the intersection of digital innovation and algorithmisation with restricted media freedom remains undertheorised. This article introduces the concept of authoritarian algorithmic publics (AAP), building upon “authoritarian publics-at-large” (Toepfl) and “algorithmic publics” (Christen), and applies it to Russia. Based on in-de…
Political science (12 works) · Computer Science (10 works) · Social Media and Politics (9 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Politics (7 works) · World Wide Web (6 works) · Business (5 works) · Media Studies and Communication (5 works) · Public relations (5 works)