Byline

A selection of published works.

A Brief History of Intelligence, Maize Magazine (February 2024)

Twitter Used to Make Us Smarter, The Information (March 2023)

Elon Musk doesn’t know what it takes to make a digital town square, MIT Tech Review (October 2022)

Understanding Censorship in Democracies, Perry World House Global Order Colloquium (September 2022)

What We Don’t See Online Is Warping Our View of the World, The Information (August 2022)

I was already skeptical of NFTs. Then one stole my face, The Record (July 2022)

Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover: the experts’ verdict on what lies ahead, The Guardian (April 2022)

Künstliche Intelligenz Ist Nicht Neutral, Goethe Institut (March 2022)

Silicon Valley’s Sex Censorship Harms Everyone, WIRED (March 2022)

The moderation of extremist content is prone to error, causing real-world harm, Verfassungsblog (February 2022)

The world’s most famous Facebook whistleblower should amplify those who came before her, The Conversationalist (November 2021)

From Myanmar to Sudan, autocratic regimes have weaponised internet shutdowns. Time to fight back, The New Arab (November 2021)

The delights and the dangers of deplatforming extremists, The Conversationalist (October 2021)

The real OnlyFans scandal is the unaccountable power of platforms and banks, The Guardian (August 2021)

Why Facebook’s continuing Taliban ban should concern us all, CNN (August 2021)

The Facebook Oversight Board is making good decisions- but does it matter?, Tech Policy Press, co-authored with Dia Kayyali (July 2021)

When Governments Turn the Internet Off, The Reboot (July 2021)

How I got over the anxiety of my pandemic weight gain and even had fun, The Conversationalist (June 2021)

“Supreme Court” oder Feigenblatt? – Contra (auf Deutsch), Leibniz-Magazin (May 2021)

New Mask Guidelines Don’t Take a Huge Number of Americans Into Account, Slate (May 2021)

Social media companies say they want to be transparent. So why aren’t they?, Wired UK (May/June 2021)

Facebook Thought It Was Solving a Problem. It Just Got Handed A Bigger One, Politico (May 2021)

Why you should continue to wear a mask outdoors, even after you’ve been vaccinated, The Conversationalist (April 2021)

Between Nazis and democracy activists: social media and the free speech dilemma, The Conversationalist (April 2021)

Silicon Valley’s puritanical war on sex, Salon (April 2021)

Users, not government, should control online speech, (syndicated), March 2021

Twitter and India play tug-of-war with democracy, The New Arab (February 2021)

Content moderation won’t stop the spread of disinformation. Here’s why, The Conversationalist (February 2021)

It’s taken Donald Trump to show social media giants the meaning of moderation, The Guardian (February 2021)

Was Twitter Right to Have Booted Trump? A Discussion with Francis Fukuyama, Pairagraph (January 2021)

Why deplatforming Trump is no atonement for Silicon Valley’s sins abroad, The New Arab (January 2021)

Users, not tech executives, should decide what constitutes free speech online, MIT Technology Review (January 2021)

Control, Stifle, Censor: Social Media’s Toxic Double-Edged Policies, The Reboot, (December 2020)

The struggle to combat cyber bullying begins with compassion, The Conversationalist (October 2020)

Trump’s TikTok Crusade Makes US Censorship Look a Lot Like China’s, Motherboard (August 2020)

The Trump Administration Is Attacking Critical Internet Privacy Tools, Motherboard (July 2020)

The people who signed the Harper’s letter seem blinded to what censorship is in the real world, The Conversationalist (July 2020)

Reddit banned a pro-Trump subreddit. Here’s what that means for hate speech, NBCNews THINK (July 2020)

How to put COVID-19 content moderation into context, Brookings TechStream (co-authored with David Greene) (May 2020)

Goop’s Horrible Netflix Show Accidentally Makes a Case Against Social Media Censorship, Motherboard (February 2020)

Should we rethink the politics of ‘blocking’?, TechCrunch (October 2019)

Mark Zuckerberg’s Promise to Respect Free Expression Is So Far Just Empty Words, Motherboard (October 2019)

How American Corporations Are Policing Online Speech Worldwide, Gizmodo (July 2019)

Banning “adult content” won’t make Tumblr better or healthier, New Internationalist (December 2018)

The Impact of Digital Technology Upon Democracy, Japan Spotlight (November/December 2018)

Does social media bias in content moderation exist?, New Internationalist (September 2018)

What should Twitter censor?, New Internationalist (August 2018)

How porn monopolies will feast on UK age verification laws, New Internationalist (July 2018)

Will EU copyright law ‘carpet bomb’ the digital world?, New Internationalist (June 2018)

More than words: The complexities of platforms responding to online harassment”, Tactical Technology Collective (June 2018)

How Facebook Can Prove It Doesn’t Discriminate Against Conservatives, Slate, co-authored with Sarah Myers West and Nic Suzor (April 2018)

Facebook: the new censor’s office, New Internationalist (April 2018)

What #DeleteFacebook tech bros don’t get: Without viable alternatives, walking away is still a privilege, NBC Think (March 2018)

Remember The Good Old Facebook? You Can Go Back To That, Buzzfeed (March 2018)

A Brief History of YouTube Censorship, Motherboard (March 2018)

Tech Companies’ Transparency Efforts May Be Inadvertently Causing More Censorship, Motherboard (December 2017)

Women pioneered the debate on platforms. Now men are commandeering it, Buzzfeed (December 2017)

On Alaa and cross-border solidarity, Mada Masr (September 2017)

The Internet’s “Nazi Purge” Shows Who Really Controls Our Online Speech, Buzzfeed (August 2017)

Google’s Anti-Bullying AI Mistakes Civility for Decency, Motherboard (August 2017)

How to Use Signal Without Giving Out Your Phone Number: A Gendered Security Issue, Motherboard (August 2017)

Facebook Celebrates Pride, Except Where Homosexuality Is Illegal, Motherboard (June 2017)

Twitter suspensions reveal the company’s skewed views on ‘extremism’, Motherboard (April 2017)

The murky ethics of Facebook Live and filming people without their consent, Quartz (April 2017)

Why Twitter should not ban Donald Trump, The Daily Dot (December 2016)

Facebook must stop pretending to be innocently neutral and start acting more like a media company (authored with Mathana Stender), Quartz (December 2016)

Twitter is the strange new kingmaker of the 21st century, Quartz (August 2016)

A guide to online security for activists, Electronic Intifada (August 2016)

Facebook and Twitter are getting rich by building a culture of snitching, Quartz (July 2016)

A complete guide to all the things Facebook censors hate, Quartz (June 2016)

Who defines pornography? These days, it’s Facebook, The Washington Post (May 2016)

Getting banned from Facebook can have unexpected and professionally devastating consequences, Quartz (March 2016)

Viral Syndrome: The welcome future of journalism, (authored with Mathana Stender), Al Jazeera English (March 2016)

Solutions for Online Harassment Don’t Come Easily, FibreCulture Journal 26 (January 2016)

Was weiß Google über mich?, Kulturaustausch (2015)

Privatising Censorship Online, GISWatch (2015)

When it comes to nudity, Facebook is little different than Victorian England, The Guardian (July 2015)

The Myth of a Borderless Internet, The Atlantic (June 2015)

What to Facebook is a ‘fake name’ may be the expression of your authentic self, The Guardian (March 2015)

More Surveillance Won’t Protect Free Speech, Gizmodo (January 2015)

Dreams of freedom, dreams of domination: How cyberspace got colonized – and the liberation struggle of today, New Internationalist 479 (January/February 2015)

British Islamist Anjem Choudary Doesn’t Represent All Muslims (Someone Tell USA Today), Global Voices Online (January 2015)

2014 Was a Chaotic Year for Free Speech in the Middle East, North Africa, PBS MediaShift (December 2014)

The Internet Is Not the Enemy, Foreign Policy (October 2014) (en français)

Salaita and Internet freedom, Academe Blog (September 2014)

Facebook’s ‘real names’ policy is legal, but it’s also problematic for free speech, The Guardian (September 2014)

Why we need Tor now more than ever, The Kernel (September 2014)

The harms of surveillance to privacy, expression, and association, GISWatch 2014 (September 2014)

How Many Political Bloggers Need to Be Imprisoned Before the US Reacts?, Vice (June 2014)

Terrorists on Twitter: How attempts to silence ISIS online could backfire, Slate (June 2014)

Social media has been privatised. Why do we treat it as a public space?, New Statesman (June 2014)

The tech community needs compassion and inclusivity to fight surveillance, The Guardian (May 2014)

The fight to protect digital rights is an uphill battle, but not a silent one, The Guardian (April 2014)

Is This a Terrorist? Governments Around the World Think So, Mic (April 2014)

Internet freedom in Myanmar: A curse or an opportunity?, Al Jazeera English (April 2014)

Yes, Online Privacy Really Is Possible, co-authored with Eva Galperin, Slate (February 2014)

Closed Network, Democracy Journal (Issue #31, Winter 2014)

Silencing journalists: An alarming global trend, Al Jazeera English (October 2013)

The Surveillance Marketplace, openDemocracy (September 2013)

Meshing Crowds, Makeshift Issue 7 (September 2013)

Harassment Hurts Us All. So Does Censorship, Medium (September 2013)

Untouched by the First Amendment, New York Times (August 2013)

Media continues to focus on Snowden rather than the information he’s revealed, Freedom of the Press Foundation (July 2013)

The chilling effects of surveillance, Al Jazeera English (June 2013)

Should Facebook do more to protect our freedom of speech?, ORGZine (June 2013)

Freedom Online Coalition Takes On PRISM, Surveillance in Tunisia, PBS MediaShift (June 2013)

When regulating the news becomes censorship, Al Jazeera English (June 2013)

Facebook Should Not Be in the Business of Censoring Speech, Even Hate Speech, Slate (May 2013)

What is the Syrian Electronic Army trying to accomplish, anyway?, Slate (May 2013)

How social networks are changing speech and privacy norms, Al Jazeera English (April 2013)

Transparency report from Microsoft follows open letter from rights groups, Al Jazeera English (March 2013)

Rebuilding the walls, openDemocracy (March 2013)

Make fun of Mahmoud Abbas at your own peril, Al Jazeera English (February 2013)

Stolen identities: Manti Te’o, Facebook, and Internet privacy, Al Jazeera English (January 2013)

No, We Should Not Build Pro-Democracy Twitter Bots, Slate (January 2013)

The new vanguard of journalism and transparency, Al Jazeera English (December 2012)

Arab Spring: Mere Slacktivism?, Digital Natives with a Cause Newsletter vol. 10.3 (December 2012)

Multi-stakeholder approach to Internet governance, Al Jazeera English (December 2012)

How social media became a very real battleground, thejournal.ie (November 2012)

Syria’s Internet blackout may signal something worse, The Guardian (November 2012)

Gaza Unplugged?, Al Jazeera English (November 2012)

Introduction, Special Edition, Global Information Society Watch 2011 (November 2012)

11 Leaders of Syria’s Creative Blogosphere, Al-Monitor (October 2012)

Is Iran’s ‘halal Internet’ possible?, Al Jazeera English (October 2012)

YouTube Wrong to Block Islamophobic Film, Al Jazeera English (September 2012)

Viewpoints: Anti-Islam film and self-censorship, BBC (September 2012)

Should Google Censor an Anti-Islam Video?, CNN (September 2012)

When Syria Was ‘in Style’, Al-Monitor (August 2012)

Censorship comes to Jordan, Al Jazeera English (August 2012)

Brunei, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia Make Olympic History for Women, Al-Monitor (July 2012)

How Effective Are Free Speech Campaigns?, PBS MediaShift (July 2012)

Doubting Amina, Nieman Reports (Summer 2012)

Arab Swell: How bloggers built the groundwork for a revolution, Makeshift Magazine, Issue 3 – Resistance (July 2012)

Crunch time for ‘Apple sanctions’, Al Jazeera English (July 2012)

Defending Privacy at the Israeli Border: Information for Travelers Carrying Digital Devices, co-authored with Jonathan Klinger, Huffington Post (July 2012)

How to Stop “Power” Lists From Angering Men and Making Women Defensive, co-authored with Lisa Goldman and Katrin Verclas, Slate (June 2012)

The Online War for Syria, Index on Censorship (June 2012)

With Facebook’s ‘Reporting Guide,’ A Step In The Right Direction, TechPresident (June 2012)

New Technology Brings New Challenges for Keeping Sources Safe, PBS MediaShift (June 2012)

The forgotten bloggers, Al Jazeera English (June 2012)

Introducing the FPWomeratti, co-authored with @lisang and @katrinskaya, Foreign Policy (June 2012)

Counter-propaganda is still propaganda, Al Jazeera English (June 2012)

Facebook: Now open to public scrutiny, Al Jazeera English (May 2012)

Book Review: Palestine Online: Transnationalism, the Internet and the Construction of Identity, Arab Studies Journal (Vol. XX No. 1, Spring 2012)

World Press Freedom Day: Where We Stand After the Arab Spring, co-authored with Trevor Timm, PBS MediaShift (May 2012)

Wie das Internet Unterdrückern hilft, Spiegel Online (in Deutsch) (May 2012)

Strict Iraqi Internet Law Curtails Free Speech, Al Akhbar English (May 2012)

The digital arms trade, Al Jazeera English (April 2012)

Middle East Memes: A Guide, The Guardian (April 2012)

Governments Increasingly Targeting Twitter Users for Expressing Their Opinion, co-authored with Trevor Timm, PBS MediaShift (April 2012)

Fighting online censorship when legal action fails, Al Jazeera English (April 2012)

Tunisia’s youth and their fight for freedom of expression, UN Alliance of Civilizations Global Experts (March 2012)

The disruptive power of Wiki, Al Jazeera English (March 2012)

Social Media and the Activist Toolkit: User Agreements, Corporate Interests, and the Information Infrastructure of Modern Social Movements, co-authored with William Lafi Youmans, Journal of Communications (March 2012)

The changing face of digital rights activism, Al Jazeera English (March 2012)

Surveillance Inc: How Western Tech Firms Are Helping Arab Dictators, co-authored with Trevor Timm, The Atlantic (March 2012)

Fighting censorship on principle, Al Jazeera English (February 2012) (en Francais)

Blame, Responsibility, and How We Talk About Syria, The Atlantic (February 2012)

Facebook at eight, Al Jazeera English (February 2012)

Twitter’s growing pains, Al Jazeera English (January 2012)

SOPA-PIPA: Serving U.S. Corporate Giants, Al Akhbar English (January 2012)

Censorship in the world’s largest democracy, Al Jazeera English (January 2012)

Dangerous social media games, Al Jazeera English (January 2012)

Hushing Twitter: The Danger of Double Standards, Al Akhbar English (January 2012)

MENA: 2011, a Year of Struggle and Triumphs for Bloggers, Global Voices Online (January 2012) (in Deutsch)

Introduction, Global Information Society Watch 2011

A year of blogging, threats, and silence, Al Jazeera English (December 2011) (en Francais)

Bin Talal Stake in Twitter: You Can Still Tweet Easy, Al Akhbar English (December 2011)

The year of the protester, Al Jazeera English (December 2011)

Why Syria’s arrested blogger, Razan Ghazzawi, is one of my heroes, The Guardian (December 2011)

When sanctions make things worse, Al Jazeera English (November 2011)

Free Speech in the Age of Twitter, The Cairo Review of Global Affairs (3/Fall 2011)

Internet freedom initiative mere lip service?, Al Jazeera English (October 2011)

Debating human rights in the ICT industry, Al Jazeera English (October 2011)

Hacktivism for Syria, Al Jazeera English, (September 2011)

Should tech companies do business in China?, Al Jazeera English (September 2011)

Account Deactivation and Content Removal: Guiding Principles and Practices for Companies and Users (co-author), Berkman Center for Internet & Society and The Center for Democracy and Technology (September 2011)

The Revolutionary Force of Facebook and Twitter, Nieman Reports (Fall 2011)

Beyond Streetbook, Technology Review (September 2011)

Manipulating social networks, Al Jazeera English (August 2011)

A Case for Pseudonyms, Boston Review (August 2011)

Democracies learn from Mubarak’s example, Al Jazeera English (August 2011)

Syria’s electronic army, Al Jazeera English (August 2011)

Lieber anonym als verfolgt, Die Zeit (August 2011)

Pakistan escalates its Internet censorship, Al Jazeera English (July 2011)

‘We are Google’s products, not its customers’, Al Jazeera English (July 2011)

Online censorship: now trending, The World Bank blog (July 2011)

Web censorship moves West, Al Jazeera English (June 2011)

Despite hoaxes, anonymity remains important, Al Jazeera English (June 2011)

When Social Networks Become Tools of Oppression, Bloomberg Views (June 2011)

Online free speech vs private ownership, Al Jazeera English (June 2011)

The Dark Side of the Syrian Internet, Index on Censorship (June 2011)

Morocco’s uphill struggle for media reform, Al Jazeera English (May 2011)

Turks stand up to Internet censorship, Al Jazeera English (May 2011)

Africa’s cascade of Internet censorship, Al Jazeera English (May 2011)

Freedom #Fail, Foreign Policy (May 2011)

Wikileaks and ‘Net Freedom’, The New Everyday (April 2011)

Syria’s Twitter Spambots, The Guardian CiF (April 2011)

Policing Content on Social Media Sites, Al Jazeera English (April 2011)

US Centcom Targets Online Violent Propaganda, Al Jazeera English (April 2011)

The booming business of Internet censorship, Al Jazeera English (March 2011)

West Censoring East: The Use of Western Technologies by Middle Eastern Censors, 2010-2011, OpenNet Initiative (co-authored with Helmi Noman) (March 2011)

Arabs blogging in defiance, Al Jazeera English (March 2011)

Tools of Resistance, Index on Censorship (March 2011)

The dangers of social media revolt, Al Jazeera English (March 2011)

Grasping the new online reality, Al Jazeera English (February 2011)

Morocco Moves for Dignity, Index on Censorship (February 2011)

Unblocking Syria’s social media, Al Jazeera English (February 2011)

The Future of Egypt’s Internet, Al Jazeera English (February 2011)

Blut, Schweiß und Tränengas or Blood Sweat and Tear Gas, The European (January 2011)

In Defense of Al Jazeera: A Response to Marc Ginsberg, Huffington Post (January 2011)

Tunisia’s Taste of Internet Freedom, Al Jazeera English (January 2011)

Tunisia Hits the Headlines, Index on Censorship (January 2011)

Activist Crackdown: Tunisia vs. Iran, Al Jazeera English (January 2011)

Harvard Study Reveals Hacker Power, Al Jazeera English (December 2010)

TIME picks ‘wrong person’ this year, Al Jazeera English (December 2010)

Net freedom ‘at stake’ on WikiLeaks, Al Jazeera English (December 2010)

WikiLeaks and the Hazards of Intermediary Censorship, Index on Censorship (December 2010)

Online privacy: digitally exposed, Al Jazeera English (October 2010)

Policing Content in the Quasi-Public Sphere, OpenNet Initiative paper (September 2010)

Wikileaks Breaks Down the Door, Index on Censorship (July 2010)

Paranoid Politics: The Denial of Islamophobia, Huffington Post (July 2010)

US gives Iran more net freedom — but what about Syria?, Guardian Comment is Free (June 2010)

Facebook facing a backlash, Al Jazeera English (May 2010)

Do web filters hinder free speech?, by Jillian York and Robert Faris, Al Jazeera English (April 2010)

Tweeting for Gaza, Al Jazeera English (December 2009)

Leaving Meknes, InTheFray (December 2009)

Morocco silences the pens of its journalists, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Blog (December 2009)

In Memory of Omidreza Mirsayafi, The Huffington Post (March 2009)

Blogging in Iran: A Dangerous Prospect, The Huffington Post (December 2008)