UCL Digital Speech Lab

The Digital Civics team have been busy this week delivering sessions in three schools across London on disagreeing well and tackling mis and disinformation.📚💬

A great week of activity - more on this work to come.

Britain’s controversial experiment in regulating the internet The effects of a new law have been less dramatic than critics warned

Read the full article: www.economist.com/britain/2025...

🚨 New from The Economist
Britain’s controversial experiment in regulating the internet:

Our Director, Professor Jeff Howard, is quoted - noting that identity/age checks for adult-content sites can be a proportionate and reasonable step for online safety. 🔐📱

Find out more in the final report: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/690b96...

#DigitalLiteracy #MediaLiteracy #CurriculumReview #EducationUK

🧠💻 The recent Curriculum Review highlights the need to strengthen digital and media literacy in schools - including tackling mis/disinformation and understanding the impact of AI.

Our Digital Civics team is already leading the way through hands-on workshops with schools. 📚✨

She holds an MA in International Security from the University of Leicester and professional qualifications in Leadership, and Data Science. 🎓

💡 Prior to this role, Emma worked as a research assistant at Nottingham Trent University, and works in a consultant capacity on the undergraduate International Relations module at the Open University.

Emma has published with The Conversation UK and the International Journal of Social Media and Online Communities and The Journal of Information Technology and Politics. She has a PhD in Politics and International Studies. 📚

📊 She is particularly interested in developing innovative methodologies for exploring viral spread, and has experience in working with X, Instagram, TikTok, and Reddit.

Meet the Team! 🌟

Emma Connolly is a Fellow with the Digital Speech Lab, leading its new initiative in digital civic education. Her academic work focuses on the viral movement patterns of narratives on social media platforms. 📱

Her work highlights how language, culture, and platform design shape the way false information spreads.

@m-deceit.bsky.social

#DigitalCivics #Disinformation #Research #MediaLiteracy

Why is tracking disinformation so difficult—and what can we do about it? - (Mis)Translating Deceit Emma Connolly explores why tracking mis and disnformation is challenging as it moves across platforms, and why it is vital its circulation is mitigated.

💡 Our Research Fellow Emma Connolly previously wrote for the (Mis)Translating Deceit project on why tracking disinformation is so difficult - and what we can do about it.

Read it here: www.mis-translating-deceit.com/project-blog...

At Digital Speech Lab, Emma’s work contributes to our broader focus on digital civics - helping people understand how false information spreads online and how digital platforms shape public trust.

@uk.theconversation.com

#DigitalCivics #Misinformation #Democracy #Research

There are many things American voters agree on, from fears about technology to threats to democracy Americans of both parties are worried about Trump having a third term, and have other shared concerns.

Our Research Fellow Emma Connolly wrote in The Conversation about what unites American voters - from fears about technology to shared concerns over democracy.

Read it here: theconversation.com/there-are-ma...

🎓 Ricki-Lee holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from Harvard Law School, a Juris Doctor (J.D) from the University of Calgary and a BA (Hon) in Political Science from Western University.

Currently completing her PhD in Law at the University of Cambridge, Ricki-Lee’s dissertation argues journalists’ digital safety is central to media freedom and proposes solutions for tackling online abuse & disinformation campaigns targeting journalists through regulation of social media platforms.

🌐 Ricki-Lee’s scholarly work investigates extreme online content, disinformation, propaganda, and information warfare on internet communications platforms.

At UCL, her work concerns content curation and moderation on online communications platforms, with a focus on protecting high-value content.

As a barrister, she has litigated media, technology, and constitutional cases, including matters involving freedom of expression, privacy, harassment, and intellectual property.

She has acted for broadcasters, social media and telecoms, governments, officials, and journalists.

Meet the Team! 🌟

Ricki-Lee Gerbrandt is a Fellow in Platform Governance at UCL’s Digital Speech Lab.

⚖️💻 She is a lawyer and legal scholar working at the intersection of media freedom, freedom of expression, and the governance of digital technologies.

#FreeSpeech #DigitalGovernance #SocialMedia

🚨 New Publication 🚨

Digital Speech Lab's Research Fellow Ricki-Lee Gerbrandt & Director Jeffrey Howard ask: Should Social Media Platforms Permit Violating Content that is “Newsworthy”?

Read their article in the Journal of Online Trust and Safety:
👉 tsjournal.org/index.php/jo...

How the Arrest of a Comedian Could Reshape Britain’s Free Speech Laws

Read the full article here: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/w...

#FreeSpeech

The arrest of comedian Graham Linehan has reignited debate over Britain’s free speech laws.

In The New York Times, Professor Jeffrey Howard pushed back on Nigel Farage’s claim that Britain is “like North Korea”: “The important thing to stress is there’s reasonable room for reasonable disagreement.”

#DigitalCivics #OnlineSpeech #Misinformation #UCL

🏛️ With expertise spanning ethics, linguistics, social science, computer science, and law, we provide evidence and frameworks that support more responsible approaches to online speech.

🌐Learn more about what we do: www.digitalspeechlab.com

Digital civics is about ethical civic behaviours, citizenship, and democratic engagement in the digital realm.

🧠 At the Digital Speech Lab, we study the governance of online communications - identifying the principles that should guide regulation, balancing free expression with preventing harm.

#misinformation #algorithms #researchimpact #policyengagement

🚨 The Digital Speech Lab's submission to the UK Parliament’s inquiry on social media, misinformation, and harmful algorithms was cited in the final report!

🏛️ Always great to see our work feed into national policy conversations.

🔗 Read the full report here: committees.parliament.uk/publications...

Check out Jeff's UCL profile profiles.ucl.ac.uk/51540-jeffre...
and biography on the Digital Speech Lab website www.digitalspeechlab.com/team/project...!

🧠 Jeff is a UKRI Future Leader Fellow, BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker, British Academy Rising Star, and recipient of the Berger Memorial Prize from the American Philosophical Association.