About the lab
An independent lab for public-interest technical investigation
The Cognitive Infrastructure Lab is an independent, non-partisan public-benefit foundation studying the digital systems that shape how people access information, evaluate evidence, form beliefs, and make decisions.
Who we are
The Cognitive Infrastructure Lab is a non-profit that conducts research, public-interest audits, and data-driven investigations into the technological and institutional systems through which knowledge is produced, distributed, ranked, verified, and contested.
Our work focuses on digital forensics, logic auditing, cognitive security, internet measurement, algorithmic accountability, digital rights, and information integrity.
We study both the medium and the message: the infrastructures through which information travels, and the claims, narratives, and ideas carried through them.
Our principles
Evidence before advocacy
We follow the evidence where it leads and separate analysis from opinion.
Methodological transparency
We publish our methods, sources, data cut-offs, and limitations.
Proportional conclusions
We match the scope and confidence of our conclusions to the strength of the evidence.
Independence
We are independent of government, parties, and commercial interests.
Public accessibility
Our work is published openly for public scrutiny and reuse.
Correction and accountability
We correct errors promptly and are accountable for our work.
What we do
The Lab’s work covers:
- conducting public-interest technical audits;
- measuring internet accessibility and network behavior;
- investigating digital threats through open-source intelligence and digital-forensic methods;
- examining the assumptions, evidence, and causal reasoning behind influential claims and decisions;
- studying algorithmic and platform accountability;
- developing transparent methods for evaluating information integrity and cognitive security;
- publishing datasets, visualizations, methodological tools, and accessible explanations.
Where possible, our work is designed to be reproducible. We publish our sources, methods, classifications, limitations, confidence assessments, and data cut-off dates so that others can review, reproduce, and cite our findings.
How we work
Our conclusions are held to an explicit standard of evidence. We do not present correlation as attribution. We distinguish between:
- what an observation records;
- what a measurement demonstrates;
- how confident we are in a result;
- what interpretation the available evidence can reasonably support.
The Lab is methodologically pluralist. We combine quantitative measurement, technical investigation, and data analysis with qualitative, interpretive, and institutional research. The method is selected according to the question rather than according to a fixed disciplinary or ideological preference.
Digital and cognitive threats rarely have a single linear cause. They often emerge from interactions between technologies, institutions, commercial incentives, political choices, social practices, and individual behavior. Our work therefore examines feedback loops, indirect effects, competing explanations, and the limits of available evidence.
Legal identity
Cognitive Infrastructure Lab is the English operating name of Foundation „Когнитивна инфраструктурна лаборатория“, a non-profit legal entity registered in the Republic of Bulgaria for public-benefit activity.
Official website: cognistructure.com.