Despite new EU transparency laws, researchers are still blocked from vital social media data, while corporations buy the same information freely, argues Brandon Silverman. The result: a two-tier system that shields platforms from scrutiny and weakens democratic oversight.

Think platform data from social media only matters for election or disinformation research? Think again. George Pearson, a researcher at the Truth Initiative, shows it’s vital for public health—revealing how tobacco companies can target youth, dodge regulations, and influence policy.

📣Announcing our new series with @techpolicypress.bsky.social "Seeing the Digital Sphere: The Case for Public Platform Data". Should we be able to understand the risks kids face online? How businesses target consumers? How politicians communicate? These qs depend on access to public platform data. 👇

Another in our series, Seeing the Digital Sphere: The Case for Public Platform Data. This week’s elections show how central social media has become to campaigns with politicians on nearly every platform. But as Josephine Lukito and Kaitlyn Dowling explain, access to this data is shrinking.

📣 Online platforms shape what we know, how we connect, and who gets heard, yet researcher access to public platform data is shrinking, while platforms monetize this data. Our new report "Better Access" offers a framework for accessing this critical data: kgi.georgetown.edu/research-and...

Online platforms shape what we know, how we connect & who gets heard. In partnership with KGI, we are launching a new series, Seeing the Digital Sphere: The Case for Public Platform Data. The series starts today, with an essay from Leticia Bode & Peter Chapman. www.techpolicy.press/seeing-the-d...

Come work with us! We are a fun and scrappy team. :)

It must be weird to be a kid in DC ("free lemonade until the government shutdown is over!") . 😂

How common are “survey professionals” - people who take dozens of online surveys for pay - across online panels, and do they harm data quality? Our paper, FirstView at @politicalanalysis.bsky.social, tackles this question using browsing data from three U.S. samples (Facebook, YouGov, and Lucid):

Come hang out with us and talk about data access! #tsrconf

From funding gaps to legal threats, the report shows what blocks public interest research - but also affirms our shared belief: that independent technology research is key to a just, transparent, and equitable digital future. Read and share! (2/2) independenttechresearch.org/citr-report-...

Want to get a sense of my book with @ekvraga.bsky.social but not ready to commit? @oxfordacademic.bsky.social has released Chapter One free and downloadable for the next month. academic.oup.com/book/60489/c...

There's nothing better than seeing a student project all the way through to publication! 🤩 Check out How was the Texas SB8 abortion bill reported in the news? A content analysis of headlines across news organizations www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Feel this in my bones (via @dandrezner.bsky.social ). "it’s been a shitty week on top of a shitty month on top of a shitty year."

Any DC friends thinking about adopting a pet? Fees are waived this Saturday!

Tennis player Emma Raducanu on DC heat: "Different level...I think the humidity here as well, it just makes it feel completely like you have just opened an oven and it just stayed open and your head is in there.” Yep. wapo.st/4fi8bTM

I really want to make progress on my towering stacks of books to be read this fall (partly just because at some point they will fall over and crush me and while that would be a totally appropriate way for me to die, I'd still prefer to avoid it).

Stupid questions for folks in information integrity spaces. Where did the 3 D's concept (downrank, deplatform, demonetize) originate? @mantzarlis.com @craigsilverman.bsky.social @bgoldberg.bsky.social @alexleavitt.bsky.social @commscholar.bsky.social @brendannyhan.bsky.social @jianingli.bsky.social

This book wouldn't exist without Andy's support way back in 2017!

@alissacooper.bsky.social, upon hearing I used to have a pet snake: "Yea, that's on brand." 😆

Special issue of Political Communication CFP on "the political communication dynamics at work in democratic decline—and in democratic resilience" - full manuscripts due December 15. think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issu...

One of the fun parts of my job as research director at KGI is occasionally briefing my colleagues on exciting new research. What are y'all seeing/doing lately on platform design, tech competition, or other related topics?

Must read for anyone interested in tech competition policy.

None of 10 Trump actions we asked about win majority support. The closest are deportation at 49% & Ukraine aid cuts at 41%. Trump cuts to university grants are least popular at 32%, & the rest fall between 32% & 39% Reps are roughly 60% more supportive than Dems across all actions. 4/

How We Can All Respond to Misinformation academic.oup.com/book/60489 by @leticiabode.bsky.social @ekvraga.bsky.social Needed: "...correcting publicly to build social norms around responding to misinformation." Platforms must "promote corrections & take action against toxic behaviors."

How can platforms build better algorithmic feeds? Pinterest shares its approach: using user surveys to guide its recommender system – reducing harm and increasing relevance. Here’s how it works 👇 medium.com/pinterest-en... 🧵

"The thing about government that tech leaders miss is that what looks like inefficiency is often a feature, not a bug. The checks and balances, the deliberation, the seemingly redundant processes." Was just saying this to a reporter today!

🗞️ Our special issue on "Connective Democracy and Political Divisiveness" is out in Social Media + Society Edited by Dr. Gina Masullo (@ginammasullo.bsky.social) and myself, a project of the Center for Media Engagement (@engagingnews.bsky.social) TOC: journals.sagepub.com/topic/collec... Thread 🔽

Postdoc alert! Please share!

US federal government spending is higher in 2025 than 2024.

"these funds serve the public interest. Universities do things private companies with research capacities cannot: train research talent, conduct basic research with uncertain payoffs, and distribute knowledge as a public good." 1/3

The only thing lowering my blood pressure these days is listening to @guster.bsky.social on repeat. Thanks y'all.

New publication co-authored with some of my amazing students! This started as a project in my content analysis course. :) (50 free copies at the link) www.tandfonline.com/eprint/MCM9X...

Now, @leticiabode.bsky.social, Riley, and Kunjika study technology-facilitated gender-based violence. We're seeing this more and more in "Manosphere" communities. #CARP5 #CARPV

$500 billion seems like a lot of money, y'all. wapo.st/4iPfJ0O

Up to 4 postdocs in tech, social informatics, digital communications, algorithmic justice (and more - read full description it probably includes what you do!) at Berkeley - aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF04845

Today in @lawfare.bsky.social! Check out the latest article by KGI’s own @alissacooper.bsky.social & @zublius.bsky.social. They argue that algorithms should be designed for 👏long-term👏user👏value👏. KGI’s new report establishes guidelines for designing algorithms that put people first bit.ly/4kFr0CB

Join @knightgtown.bsky.social for a timely discussion of how courts are grappling with platform liability, design, and real-world harms. Details, speakers (@mblawrence.bsky.social, @meetalijain.bsky.social, & more), and registration link👇🏼 🔗 : bit.ly/3R21pGa 📅 Mar 18, 2025 | ⏰ 10AM - 12PM EST

🚨 WEBINAR ALERT 🚨 Join KGI on March 25th for a live discussion on designing algorithmic feeds that put people first. As legislation and litigation around algorithms heats up, it’s never been more important to learn how they can be improved.

Join @knightgtown.bsky.social for an essential discussion on the evolving social media landscape. Details, speakers (@noupside.bsky.social, @seanmartinmcdonald.bsky.social, & more), and registration link👇🏼 🔗 : bit.ly/4bNB1cI 📅 Mar 19 | ⏰ 10AM - 11:30 AM EST

Platforms can design better algorithms. Our new guide serves as a resource for understanding how. bit.ly/3QzxVzq The guide provides detailed explanations of how algorithms work. So much so, that it has been cited in an amicus brief to the Ninth Circuit led by @epic.org! bit.ly/3DyBe6S

When you're done working for the night but the kitties won't move.

The next book I write will be called "I'll do it over spring break, and other lies academics tell themselves."

The KGI team worked really hard on this report, which breaks down not just how algorithmic recommender systems work, but how they could work better by putting users first. Check it out!

If you want to know how to fund government programs and policies without wasting $$, you need federal surveys/data. Undermining these surveys is an under-the-radar way DOGE and Musk could be defeating their own purposes. My latest for @nationaljournal.com www.nationaljournal.com/s/727669/mus...

Sometimes studying tech sucks. Spent the last two weeks with @ekvraga.bsky.social fixing everything in our book that changed since the September "final" version, and then read this literally five minutes after we sent the edits and had to send a panicked new version. arxiv.org/abs/2502.17542?

Government’s wins are often invisible: Systems that avoid plane crashes; alliances that avert war; surveillance that prevent pandemics. Government wins are often *the avoidance of loss.* So how do we tell the story of the destruction of government? The story of future losses *not* averted?

Do you know of a public data source that should be preserved? Use this form to help Georgetown's Massive Data Institute in their goal of preserving public data to maintain its accessibility and integrity for research advancement, science replication, and historic documentation.

KGI is excited to join Yale Tobin Center’s Digital Economy Project to host DMA and Beyond, a policy and research conference exploring the lessons, challenges, and opportunities of competition regulation and enforcement in digital markets. Tune in to the livestream on Feb. 6-7! bit.ly/3EuTPkj