(Washington, D.C.) - Today, the Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas (DDIA) was founded as an organization operated by and for U.S. Latinos and Latin Americans to be a hub for research and interventions geared at strengthening trust and connection between Latino communities, media, and democracy in the Americas.
DDIA was spun off from the Equis Institute from the leadership of public diplomacy and counter-disinformation expert Roberta Braga to bring together insights and actors across the Western Hemisphere to shape a more participatory, inclusive, and resilient digital democracy.
DDIA will apply research at the intersection of information integrity, belief, and behavior to foster an exchange of ideas across disciplines, leaders, and countries; guide interventions that serve Latino communities in the U.S. and across the Americas; and center Latinos and Latin Americans in policy conversations about the future of the digital information ecosystem.
“We envision a world where Latinos are surrounded by fact-based, reputable information that empowers them to make their voices heard across the ocean of content that is today’s Internet,” said DDIA Founder & Executive Director Roberta Braga. “Communities in the Americas deserve an information environment free of fear and repression, one that rewards connection, security, and fair participation in democracy.”
“The launch of DDIA comes at a critical time in our ecosystem, where we need more leaders at the forefront centering our communities and strengthening trusted online spaces that combat a heavy stream of mis- and disinformation,” said Equis Co-Founder Stephanie Valencia. “Roberta combines her lived experiences with her deep expertise to shape a more participatory, inclusive, and resilient digital democracy for Latinos across the hemisphere.”
The leadership and advisors of DDIA are listed below and their full bios are available on DDIA’s website:
Founder & Executive Director, Roberta Braga - Previously, Roberta was Director of Counter-Disinformation Strategies at Equis Institute, Deputy Director for Programs and Outreach at the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, and Manager for Global Content and Campaigns at the law firm Baker McKenzie. Roberta was named as one of 50 “Top Women in Cybersecurity Americas'' by Latinas in Cyber and WOMCY in 2023. She was a Penn Kemble Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy from 2021 to 2022, and a Cyber Fellow with Young Professionals in Foreign Policy in the same year. Roberta has been published in major media outlets and provides English-, Spanish-, and Portuguese-language commentary on political and social issues in the U.S. and Latin America, including for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Financial Times, Axios, Brazil’s O Globo and Folha de S.Paulo, among others. Originally from Brazil, Roberta is a native Portuguese- and English-speaker, and fluent in Spanish.
Board of Directors
Stephanie Valencia, Co-Founder and President, Equis Research
Ricardo Zúñiga, Founding Partner, Dinámica Americas
Olga Belogolova, Director, Emerging Technologies Initiative, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)
Advisory Council
Zuraya Tapia-Hadley, Senior Director of Government Affairs, TelevisaUnivision
Dr. Lisa Fazio, Associate Professor, Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University
Maritza L. Félix, Founder, Conecta Arizona
Nora Benavidez, Senior Counsel and Director, Digital Justice & Civil Rights, Free Press
Eduardo Gamarra, Professor, Political and International Relations, Florida International University
Roshni Nedungadi, Chief Research Officer & Founding Partner, HIT Strategies
Luiza Bandeira, Disinformation Research Consultant
The Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas (DDIA) – operated by and for Latinos and Latin Americans – is a hub for research and interventions geared at strengthening trust and connection between communities, media, and democracy. In an era of tech solutions to tech problems, we center the human experience in research, capacity-building and policy solutions that contribute to healthy information ecosystems necessary for vibrant digital democracies. Learn more at ddia.org