Jessikka Aro is an award-winning investigative reporter with the Finnish Broadcasting Company. Aro specializes in Russia, extremism and information warfare. In 2014 she started to investigate pro-Kremlin social media troll techniques and influence on public debates outside of Russia's borders; now, her reporting is widely quoted and used in international troll investigations. Due to her work, she became the target of a severe and ongoing international propaganda and hate speech campaign. In 2019, Aro published a best-selling investigative book about Kremlin's information warfare in Finnish, which has been translated to several languages. Aro is also lobbying for better legislation to counter hybrid threats and protect citizens from state-sponsored online security threats, and has testified before the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs at a hearing on "Russian Disinformation Attacks on Elections: Lessons from Europe.” In 2019, the US State Department awarded her with the International Women of Courage Award, but the award was mysteriously rescinded by the Trump administration allegedly due to Aro’s social media criticism of President Trump.
IWMF Awards
- Courage in Journalism Awards , 2020