Last week marked a major milestone for our EU-funded project “TWON – Twin of Online Social Networks”: consortium members from across Europe gathered in Berlin for three intensive and inspiring days for what was the final consortium meeting before the project concludes. With the project entering its final phase, the meeting provided an important opportunity to take stock, reflect, look ahead, and engage with policymakers. The meeting was organized by our team members Cosima Pfannschmidt and Dr. Jonas Fegert.

On January 28, the consortium day was complemented by two closely connected outreach formats that brought TWON’s research into direct dialogue with policy and practice. In the afternoon, we hosted a Policy Hackathon on shaping democratic online social networks at the FZI in Berlin. The hackathon brought together participants from research, policymaking, digital law, platform governance, and content moderation to collaboratively develop actionable, empirically grounded policy recommendations.

The undisputed highlight of the week followed in the evening with the public event “From Research to Regulation: Rethinking Online Social Networks” at Publix in Berlin. The event presented TWON’s research to policymakers, civil society actors, journalists, researchers, and the interested public, and fostered an open discussion on how online social networks can be designed and governed to strengthen democratic societies.

The stage program featured an opening by Jonas Fegert, an impulse by Karlsruhe MP Parsa Marvi, a keynote by Dr. Annette Zimmermann (University of Wisconsin-Madison), and a panel discussion with Svea Windwehr (D64), Parsa Marvi MdB, Damian Trilling (University of Amsterdam, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Dr. Annette Zimmermann (University of Wisconsin-Madison), and Dr. Jonas Fegert (KIT, FZI), followed by an engaged audience Q&A. Before and after the stage program, guests explored interactive demonstrators, poster presentations, and engaged in informal exchanges with consortium members from across Europe.

A particular highlight of the week was our visit to the German Chancellery, where we were given a guided tour and had the opportunity to meet with our advisory board member Judith Peterka and her colleagues from the departments working on digital policy at the Chancellery and the Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs. The exchange offered valuable insights into current policymaking processes and underlined the relevance of TWON’s research for ongoing regulatory debates at the highest political level.

As the project approaches its conclusion, the Berlin week powerfully demonstrated the strength of the TWON consortium, the relevance of its research, and the value of close dialogue between science, policy, and society. It was an energizing and fitting step toward the project’s final stretch – and a strong foundation for what comes next.