• Associate Editor

Layla Mashkoor

Layla Mashkoor is an associate editor at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab.

Mashkoor’s research interests include disinformation, content moderation, and digital repression in the Middle East. She reported on these issues while working as a reporter at The National newspaper in Abu Dhabi. She also worked with Buzzfeed News on an award-nominated video series debunking hoaxes. Prior to this, Mashkoor was based in Hong Kong where she worked on visual investigations at Storyful. She has contributed investigative reporting to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

She has taught workshops on fact-checking for journalists across Asia and the United States. She was a teacher in the India Training Network, which supported Indian journalists in combatting misinformation by teaching news verification to more than twenty thousand journalists in more than ten languages.

Mashkoor is a graduate of McMaster University with a master’s in Political Science and a bachelor’s in journalism from Carleton University.

November 2023

How information travels during Gaza’s communications blackouts

by Layla Mashkoor

People in Gaza turn to eSIMS and other solutions amid cellular and internet outages
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October 2023

In Israel-Hamas conflict, social media become tools of propaganda and disinformation

by Dina Sadek, Layla Mashkoor

An endless flood of false, misleading, and unverified information risks inflaming the conflict.
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June 2022

Russian War Report: Russian governor accuses Ukraine of launching multiple attacks on Kursk 

by Digital Forensic Research Lab

The governor of Russia's Kursk Oblast accused Ukrainian forces of opening fire on two locations in the region. Meanwhile, pro-Kremlin Telegram channels recycle narratives about Western weapon sales again.
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