Nathan Matias Article

Welcoming Brandi Geurkink as our inaugural Executive Director

By J. Nathan Matias

The Coalition for Independent Technology Research’s Board is thrilled to announce that Brandi Geurkink will lead the Coalition as our inaugural Executive Director beginning in the new year. 🎉 Since its launch in October 2022, the Coalition has grown to more than 300 individual researchers and 50 research groups who work together to advance, defend, … Continue reading Welcoming Brandi Geurkink as our inaugural Executive Director

A person, either a farmer or a gardener, is wearing red overalls and a yellow hat. In the background are trees, an apartment building, houses, and mountains. They look dismayed as they watch their community on fire.
Nathan Matias Article

Survey Report: Reddit’s Actions Continue to Undermine Moderation & Research

By Sarah Gilbert, J. Nathan Matias, Ethan Zuckerman, Yellowmix, and James Mickens

Reddit’s recent API changes have led to a wave of protests and a great deal of consternation in the popular site’s user community. How have Reddit’s changes affected community moderators and researchers? And what could the company do differently to help its platform survive? Last month, the Coalition for Independent Technology Research organized an open … Continue reading Survey Report: Reddit’s Actions Continue to Undermine Moderation & Research

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Nathan Matias Statement

Restricting Reddit Data Access Threatens Online Safety & Public-Interest Research

By (Full list of signatories below)

Sign this letter and seek/provide mutual aid Dear Steve Huffman, Last week, soon after Reddit announced plans to restrict free access to the Reddit API, the company cut off access to Pushshift, a data resource widely used by communities, journalists, and thousands of academics worldwide (see Pushshift’s official response). We are writing to express concern … Continue reading Restricting Reddit Data Access Threatens Online Safety & Public-Interest Research