We've got some news we're genuinely excited about. Surfshark is now a supporting partner of Amnesty International's Digital Forensics Fellowship (DFF).

What does the DFF do?

This program trains human rights defenders, activists, and journalists to analyze mobile devices, detect spyware, and investigate surveillance. The program launched after the Pegasus Project exposed how widely spyware was being used against civil society, and demand for this kind of training has only grown since.

Fellows learn real, hands-on forensics (Android, iOS, malware traffic analysis) and then bring that knowledge back to their communities. The 2026 edition is adding training on running secure helplines so organizations can receive and triage cases safely.

You might wonder: Surfshark doesn't offer digital forensics tools, so why support this fellowship?

The answer is simple. Our goal has always been bigger than any single product. We want people to be secure in their digital lives, and that doesn't stop at what we build.

The DFF addresses something we can't do ourselves: training the people who investigate and respond when digital rights get violated. Better protection for the most at-risk users raises the bar for everyone. Research from civil society groups on surveillance campaigns creates awareness, drives policy changes, and pushes the whole industry forward.

Privacy isn't just a product category. It's a cause, and it takes more than one organization to protect it.

You can read more about the partnership here: https://surfshark.com/blog/surfshark-partners-with-amnesty-international

Methodology and sources

This study analyzed the 10 most popular social media platforms, ranked by Cloudflare's data on web traffic and user engagement. The focus was to determine whether users can opt out of AI training, what the default settings are, and whether opt-out options are available across regions. We downloaded the mobile applications for all platforms, with the exception of Kwai, which was not available in our region for analysis. For each accessible app, we assessed the default settings for AI training consent. Additionally, we attempted to opt out of the AI training process and quantified the difficulty by counting the number of actions required. An "action" was defined as a click, entering personal information, or toggling off consent buttons.

For Discord, Reddit, and Kwai, opt-out options were not readily identifiable within the apps, so we conducted a review of their official privacy policy pages to understand the companies' stated positions on AI model training. In the case of Reddit, we also noted publicly available information regarding partnerships with AI companies for data usage.

For the complete research material behind this study, click here.