Sonja Peteranderl is a German journalist and the founder of BuzzingCities Lab, a think tank focusing on digital innovation, security and gangs/crime in informal settlements in megacities worldwide. She has worked as editor at the foreign desk at DER SPIEGEL, Latin America correspondent for DER SPIEGEL based in Tijuana, Mexico; as a technology editor for DER SPIEGEL, a senior editor at WIRED Germany magazine, as well as a freelance foreign correspondent and reporter for German and international Media (DER SPIEGEL, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Stern.de, Zeit.de, The Verge, ARTE Magazine, Impulse, German Press Agency, DPA, Tagesspiegel, Der Freitag, Y-Kollektiv, Wirtschaftswoche, Deutschlandradio, Deutschlandfunk, DMZ, La Verdad Juárez) – reporting from various countries in Latin America, from the US, China or Israel.
She focuses on issues related to crime (organized crime, urban violence, arms trade, drug trade, digital black markets, eco crime, gender-based violence, cyber & crime, digital violence), security & policing and tech (AI/algorithms, algorithmic/data justice, predictive policing, surveillance, digital inequalities) and has covered criminal innovation with columns such as "CrimeWatch" (WIRED) or "Cyber&Crime" (Stern.de).