Analysis and Theory

Visiting Scholar Joe Walther writes that online hate messages are often posted to garner social approval among like-minded users rather than to solely harass an individual.

Visiting Scholar David Craig co-authors this article on the struggles social media creators and influencers face in obtaining basic labor protections.

Visiting Scholar Anupam Chander outlines reasons why most members of Congress are not using TikTok despite the platform’s massive reach among constituents.

The Institute for Rebooting Social Media (RSM) welcomes applications for its 2024-2025 cohort of Visiting Scholars. This interdisciplinary cohort will undertake original projects while engaging with RSM faculty, staff, scholars, fellows, students, and the broader Berkman Klein Center (BKC) and Harvard University communities and projects.

Employee Fellow Nadah Feteih outlines some of the ways AI models perpetuate stereotypes, and how those mistakes can lead to real-life harm to marginalized communities.

Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig joins the Decoder podcast to introduce the Applied Social Media Lab and share his thoughts on how to regulate social media while balancing free speech and protecting democracy.

Project Liberty and The Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University announced today that Frank McCourt and the 501(c)(3) non-profit Project Liberty will support the launch of BKC’s Applied Social Media Lab (ASML) – a first-of-its-kind program to assess and build social media technology in the public interest.

Employee Fellow Nadah Feteih and alum Elodie Vialle co-author this article on Tech Policy Press urging platforms to collaborate more closely with marginalized communities in order to effectively address online harms.

Institute Director Rebecca Rinkevich is quoted in this Business Insider article on the increasingly fragmented social media landscape, and predicts that governments will have to work a lot harder to make connections and engage with the public online.

“Suddenly, the communications between the federal government and also state governments and internet platforms are being tested to see whether or not they are coercive.” Visiting Scholar Anupam Chander is quoted in USA Today on how the next SCOTUS term could impact the government’s regulatory power over platforms and how officials engage with the public online.