Mahsa Alimardani, Associate Director of TTO

Mahsa Alimardani is the Associate Director of the Technology, Threats, and Opportunities program at WITNESS. She has over a decade of experience working at the intersection of digital rights, freedom of expression, and emerging technologies, leading research and advocacy on digital repression and contributing to the design and development of technologies that serve the most vulnerable.

Before joining WITNESS, Mahsa led research and advocacy on internet censorship, surveillance, and digital repression at ARTICLE 19, focusing on the Middle East and North Africa. She serves in advisory roles as a Guardrails Advisor for De|Center, a Committee Member for SMEX’s Digital Rights Fund, and a member of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Digital Democracy Network. She is also a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Oxford, where her research explores digital repression, and has served as a Senior Information Controls Fellow supported by the Open Technology Fund.

Mahsa’s work has been featured in British Vogue, BBC, and CNN, and her writing and analysis have been published in The New York Times, Politico, and various academic journals.

At WITNESS, Mahsa leads efforts to address the challenges and opportunities of existing and emerging technologies, including generative AI and synthetic media, and their impact on human rights and advocacy. She collaborates with activists, journalists, and civil society organizations to strengthen digital resilience and strategic advocacy in high-risk environments. She is based in the United Kingdom.

You can follow Mahsa at @mahsaalimardani.bsky.social