Benjamin Shultz is an award-winning online safety expert.
Ben serves as Lead Researcher at the American Sunlight Project, a U.S.-based nonprofit that fights online abuse. He is also a Data Research Fellow at Agora Digital Transformation and an External Doctoral Researcher at the Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences.
Ben began his career in Washington, D.C. analyzing Russian influence operations as a contractor for the U.S. federal government, before moving into research roles across Europe focused on disinformation, democratic backsliding, and social media regulation. He held a fellowship at the Humboldt Institute for Internet & Society in 2025.
Ben's work has been featured by leading international news outlets, including Wired, BBC, Politico, the New York Times, Süddeutsche Zeitung, CBC Canada, Der Spiegel, The Independent, The Moscow Times, Der Tagesspiegel and the Kyiv Post. He has presented his work at academic and professional conferences in a dozen countries, and before the United Nations Internet Governance Forum, the Council of Europe and the European Parliament.
Ben completed an M.A. in International Relations at Syracuse University, with stops in Washington, D.C. and Strasbourg, France, after earning a B.A. in Political Science at Sonoma State University. He calls Berlin home.