Critical Internet Studies Institute

The Epstein files document what many women researchers have long experienced but rarely seen laid bare so starkly: exclusion operating behind closed doors, shaping who gets funded, invited, mentored, and taken seriously. How many of these networks, norms, and gatekeepers remain in place?

Boston Public Radio, The Curiosity Desk, & The Culture Show Live February 5, 2026 YouTube video by GBH News

I am excited to debut a new segment I am co-creating with @wgbh.org and The Curiosity Desk.

This week, we discussed a new website, inequalities.ai, which reveals the biases and opinions of ChatGPT on a range of topics.

Listen and explore the website!

If you hated that Ring ad, have I got a book for you.

This is situation is entirely predictable and can be prevented.

@criticalinternet.bsky.social conducts in-depth research on election disinformation and political violence. Already, organized right wing vigilante groups are publicly filming voting stations and ballot boxes for intimidation.

Image of a flyer for a livestream panel titled Digital Colonization & the Collapse of Collective Life

Livestream tomorrow @ 4:30pm ET! Featuring CISI's @bostonjoan.bsky.social alongside @maryannefranks.bsky.social, @nicoperrino.bsky.social, & @leticiabode.bsky.social via @georgetownprivacy.bsky.social & @georgetownlaw.bsky.social Technology Review georgetownlawtechreview.org/symposium-2/...

“If this technology had existed in earlier decades, it would have been used to track civil rights activists, LGBTQ+ patrons visiting gay bars, women trying to vote, or enslaved people escaping bondage. None of those acts were considered “legal” at the time.”

Disinformation research is forbidden knowledge.

We cant back down and re-orient our field to appease the dominant political ideology.

We need to be advancing public knowledge about media manipulation and disinformation.

Why? Because disinformation is a tool of the powerful to suppress opposition

tag yourself i’m ’being kind of mean’

2026 In & Out List 💅 #happynewyear

"Instead of thinking of technological change as the death knell of news media, there is a huge opportunity ahead for education of the general public on the ethics & methods of journalism." –CISI Founder @bostonjoan.bsky.social in @niemanlab.org

‘Virality, rumors and lies’: US federal agencies mimic Trump on social media Variety of agencies now deliberately provocative on social media, further inflaming discourse on serious issues

CISI Founder @bostonjoan.bsky.social quoted in @us.theguardian.com on the tactical "rage bait" of this administration's social media posts www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Twitter's foreign influence problem is nothing new The platform's just-debuted geolocation tool illuminates a disturbing and persistent issue.

I talked to Joan Donovan about Twitter's very old foreign influence problem, which was unmasked in the funniest possible way over the weekend: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

YouTube video by 404 Media How Big Tech Has Convinced Us to Surveil Ourselves and Each Other

TODAY: @404media.co / @jasonkoebler.bsky.social interviews our Co-Director @hypervisible.blacksky.app www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kBg...

Privacy laws can’t keep up with ‘luxury surveillance’ “It’s not clear to me that a small red light would be sufficient notification in some states for someone to consent to being recorded.”

“I think they are a profoundly antisocial technology that should be rejected in every way possible...Their very existence is toxic to the social fabric.” –CISI Co-Director @hypervisible.blacksky.app quoted in @theverge.com www.theverge.com/tech/807834/...

ICYMI: Our Co-Director @hypervisible.blacksky.app interviewed by @parismarx.com

Thursday webinar: Catch CISI Co-Director @hypervisible.blacksky.app on AI, libraries, & privacy

The memes that may — or may not — shed light on Charlie Kirk’s killing - The Boston Globe Are the alleged shooter’s messages left, right, or just ragebait?

I wanted to follow up on the meme discussion with a longer piece about how to understand memes as cultural artifacts with their own politics.

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/19/o...

CISI Founder interviewed today in TIME Magazine

Dr. Donovan @bostonjoan.bksy.social breaks it down.

ICYMI: Today, CISI Co-Director @bostonjoan.bsky.social spoke with @anitachabria.bsky.social for the @latimes.com

I’m putting this information out here so that press and police can begin to understand what’s actually motivating Kirk’s murder.

Thank you! We have been deep in the work this week, so this is very appreciated. More to come.

If you want to figure out something productive to do in the aftermath of this horrific week, donating to @criticalinternet.bsky.social is a good place to start. I just did.

We agree.

Google Pixel 10 Pro Review: This A.I. Phone Can Save Time if You Surrender Your Data

CISI Co-Director @hypervisible.blacksky.app quoted in @nytimes.com on the perils of trading time for privacy www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/t...

Inside the White House meme factory : It's Been a Minute We need to talk about the memes your tax dollars paid for. What is the federal government trying to communicate with them?The social media accounts of the White House and the Department of Homeland Se...

Audio/transcript: CISI Co-Director @bostonjoan.bsky.social interviewed on @npr.org about the taxpayer-paid "forced memes" & rage bait of ICE social media www.npr.org/2025/08/22/n...

The Trump Administration Is Using Memes to Turn Mass Deportation Into One Big Joke Memes shared by the White House, DHS, and ICE have used catchy TikTok tunes to normalize mass deportation and Christian nationalist narratives. Experts say that’s the point.

ICYMI, CISI Co-Director @bostonjoan.bsky.social was quoted in the @wired.com piece by @tessowen.bsky.social on dog whistles & aesthetic slop as targeted recruitment appeal www.wired.com/story/trump-...

The official voice of the US government is cruel, gross, and weird. What is that doing to us? Joking memes about imprisonment, deportation, and death by alligator are designed to radicalize and desensitize.

“It’s so important for young people to have a sense of pride of place and duty to their country. But not in this way, not in a way that oppresses the human dignity of others.” –CISI Co-Director @bostonjoan.bsky.social on ICE meme propaganda in @motherjones.com www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Quotes CISI Co-Director @hypervisible.bsky.social: "It's clear that whatever imaginary boundary there was between consumer surveillance tech and government surveillance tech is now completely erased."

Surveillance Podcast Episode · Politechs · S1 E4 · 1h 13m

For an update on Chris' work with CISI, check out this new podcast via @politechs.bsky.social. Remember: Don't give the gift of surveillance! @hypervisible.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...