The UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry, led by professors Safiya Noble and Sarah T. Roberts, has been selected by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to take part in a multi-institution study of internet governance and policy.
The center, which was established in 2019, will share $3.5 million with 22 other universities, think tanks and advocacy organizations to examine a variety of topics including: content moderation by social media companies, antitrust enforcement in big tech and the pervasive problem of disinformation online.
“Our goal is to strengthen research at UCLA on digital social media platforms — from algorithmic discrimination to commercial content moderation, as they intersect with a variety of important social, political, and economic issues facing society today,” said Noble, associate professor of information studies and African American studies.
Noble’s most recent book is “Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism.” Her research is centered on socio-cultural informatics; including feminist, historical and political-economic perspectives on computing platforms and software in the public interest.
Roberts is the author of the recently published book, “Behind the Screen: Content Moderation in the Shadows of Social Media.” Her research is focused on the international workforce of underpaid and underinsured content moderators hired by social media corporations to monitor objectionable content, often to their own emotional, physical, and psychological detriment.
Read more in Ampersand, the online magazine of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.
