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

Bit Meehan Article

Knight First Amendment Institute: How to Avoid Social Media Blight

By Nathan Matias

When Elon Musk fired Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s legal, public policy, trust and safety lead, at the start of an avalanche of firings and departures, the Tesla CEO’s actions were reminiscent of another automaker in crisis. After General Motors closed its Flint, Michigan, factories in 1997, it posted signs on the empty buildings: “Demolition Means Progress.” … Continue reading Knight First Amendment Institute: How to Avoid Social Media Blight

WyattThompson@Gmail.com Article

The Essential Role of Industry-Independent Research in US National AI R&D

By Susan Benesch, Brandi Geurkink, David Karpf, David Lazer, Nathalie Maréchal, J. Nathan Matias & Rebekah Tromble

The National AI Initiative Act is designed to ensure that the United States remains a leader on AI research and development. It sets out to leverage the opportunities of AI to increase the well-being of Americans while safeguarding against potential and actual harms to our communities. As Lynn Parker noted in her February blog post … Continue reading The Essential Role of Industry-Independent Research in US National AI R&D

WyattThompson@Gmail.com Article

The Atlantic: Nobody Can See Into Facebook

By Susan Benesch

The overarching takeaway from the Facebook Papers is that Facebook knows. The company monitors just about everything, as the whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed by providing 17 news organizations with documents about the social-media company’s internal research and discussions. Facebook and its tech-industry peers employ armies of exceptional research scientists who evaluate how the platform shapes social behavior. Those … Continue reading The Atlantic: Nobody Can See Into Facebook