TORONTO — November 25, 2025 — The Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), a global leader in open-source research and digital capacity building, in partnership with Global Affairs Canada’s Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM Canada), officially launched the 2025 G7 Rapid Response Mechanism (G7 RRM) Digital Transnational Repression (DTNR) Detection Academy—a first-of-its-kind initiative to strengthen democratic resilience and counter the growing threat of DTNR.
“We are honored to support such a critical Canadian initiative,” said Emerson T. Brooking, director of strategy and resident senior fellow at the DFRLab. “As authoritarian states invest more resources in digital transnational repression targeting activists and diaspora communities, we must respond with constant vigilance. Our commitment to free expression demands nothing less.”
Endorsed by Group of Seven (G7) Leaders at the 2025 Summit in Kananaskis, Canada, the initiative will enhance the capacity of analysts across the G7 RRM and like-minded democracies to detect, analyze, and respond to DTNR. The Academy was announced at the G7 Summit, along with other leader-level initiatives to counter transnational repression (TNR).
Developed and delivered by the DFRLab team, in collaboration with the G7 RRM, the Academy draws on the organization’s global expertise to equip participants with cutting-edge open-source research techniques and practical tools to identify and counter AI-enabled surveillance, manipulation, and harassment. The project is led by Sayyara Mammadova, DFRLab’s capacity building lead who worked closely with other DFRLab experts to design and facilitate the inaugural curriculum, blending formal instruction, interactive exercises, and cross-sector collaboration.
Inaugural Symposium and Launch Week
The Academy’s inaugural week began with a public symposium hosted by RRM Canada and the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society (SRI) at the University of Toronto on October 28, 2025.
Cindy Termorshuizen, Canada’s deputy minister and personal representative of the prime minister (sherpa) for G7 and Group of 20 (G20) Summits, and Saliou Babou, Chair of the G7 RRM and Director of RRM Canada, Global Affairs Canada, delivered keynote remarks. The remarks were followed by a panel moderated by David Lie, director of SRI, on “Digital Transnational Repression in the Age of AI.” Speakers included experts from academia, civil society, and industry.
About G7 RRM
The G7 Rapid Response Mechanism (G7 RRM) is a multilateral platform aimed at countering foreign interference. Established by Leaders at the 2018 G7 Summit in Charlevoix, the mechanism is made up of Focal Points representing G7 member states and the EU. It includes Australia, New Zealand, NATO, the Netherlands, and Sweden as associate members.
About RRM Canada
Located at Global Affairs Canada, RRM Canada monitors foreign information threats targeting Canadian interests and coordinates the G7 RRM.
About the Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab)
The Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) is a first of its kind organization with technical and policy expertise on disinformation, connective technologies, democracy, and the future of digital rights. Incubated at the Atlantic Council in 2016, the DFRLab has conducted over 1,000 investigations exposing influence operations and emerging digital threats worldwide.
With a team rooted in diverse regional expertise and subject-matter knowledge, the DFRLab works to promote digital resilience, defend democratic institutions, and ensure that objective fact remains central to public discourse in an increasingly contested information space.
