ENLIGHT IDenti-T Network – Work Focus:

Digital Identity, Online Impersonation, and Cyberhate in Transforming Democracies.

My work within the ENLIGHT IDenti-T network focuses on the intersections between digital identity, online impersonation, and cyberhate, with a particular emphasis on their legal and democratic implications. Over the past years, I have examined these phenomena from a socio-legal and criminal-law perspective, exploring how digital environments reshape identity, enable new forms of harm, and intensify existing social and political tensions.

Digital identity today is fluid, fragmented, and highly vulnerable to manipulation, making it a crucial —yet often overlooked— dimension of the broader identity transformations. Practices such as online impersonation, deepfake-based identity fraud, and coordinated cyberhate campaigns increasingly function as mechanisms for identity-based mobilisation, and at the same time as flashpoints for polarisation and democratic backsliding. These processes reflect a global trend in which identity becomes strategically weaponised to delegitimise institutions, undermine trust, and target minoritised groups.

Cyberhate, in particular, constitutes a key arena in which these tensions materialise. From a criminal-law perspective, it illustrates how identity categories —such as gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, disability, and others— shape patterns of victimisation and exclusion. Online hate and harassment disproportionately affect communities already exposed to discrimination, and often overlap with disinformation, impersonation, and other forms of digital manipulation. Notably, Spain has become one of the European countries with the highest levels of online identity impersonation. Understanding all these dynamics is essential for analysing how contemporary democracies respond to identity-based harms, how legal frameworks address —or fail to address— them, and how these responses impact the rights and sense of belonging of vulnerable groups.

My aim is to develop innovative educational materials focused on digital-identity harms, legal responses to cyberhate, and the critical analysis of identity-based mobilisation online. These materials are designed to enhance students’ legal awareness and understanding of the socio-political dynamics shaping contemporary identity. I also seek to contribute to interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral dialogues by connecting insights from criminal law, sociology, communication studies, and digital technology. Cyberhate and impersonation cannot be understood through a single disciplinary lens. Their study requires collaborative approaches involving educators, civil-society organisations, policy makers, and digital-rights practitioners. Within the ENLIGHT IDenti-T network, I hope to participate in the creation of joint activities, citizen-science initiatives, and public-engagement practices that translate academic research into accessible tools for democratic resilience. My contribution focuses on ensuring that future legal and democratic actors are prepared to address the evolving challenges posed by identity-based harms, and to imagine digital environments that foster inclusion, rights protection, and democratic belonging.