Washington, D.C., July 29, 2026 - The Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas (DDIA) today announces a new partnership with Open Measures to strengthen its unique research and analysis of public WhatsApp groups across the Americas. The new trial partnership marks an important new chapter in DDIA’s work to understand how information and online harms spread across encrypted and semi-private digital spaces.
Since its launch in November 2023, DDIA has worked with various social listening tools to build one of the most comprehensive research efforts focused on the study of public WhatsApp communities in the United States. Insights into thousands of public groups that use English, Spanish, and Portuguese inform the organization's flagship REDESCover newsletter, public reports, media analysis, election monitoring, and briefings for partners.
"Public WhatsApp groups continue to be among the most important, and least understood, digital ecosystems shaping public opinion among Latinos and Latin Americans," said Roberta Braga, Founder and Executive Director of DDIA. "As DDIA's research portfolio continues to expand, we are evolving our technical partnerships to support new methodologies and emerging research priorities. We're excited to partner with Open Measures to deepen our understanding of WhatsApp, Telegram, and connections to more fringe platforms and to continue producing rigorous analysis that helps researchers, journalists, policymakers, and civil society better understand Latinos and today's information environment."
"To understand social narratives across languages, researchers need both comprehensive coverage and cross-platform context,” said Hank Teran, CEO of Open Measures. “DDIA has been doing the work to improve this understanding for years, and we're glad to be a partner in this next phase.”
Open Measures brings extensive experience in open-source intelligence, digital investigations, and analysis of online information ecosystems. The transition will allow DDIA to continue tracking narrative dynamics within public WhatsApp communities while also bringing in findings from Bluesky, TikTok, Truth Social, Rumble, MeWe, Parler, Gettr and other social media platforms.
Sign up to receive DDIA’s weekly newsletter REDESCover here.
About the Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas
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.
About Open Measures
Open Measures is an open-source intelligence platform that helps researchers, journalists, and civil society organizations collect, analyze, and investigate publicly available online information across digital platforms. Its tools support research into information ecosystems, online influence, and emerging digital threats while advancing transparent, evidence-based analysis.