Technology & Democracy Workshop -- User Safety vs. Freedom of Expression

On Tuesday, October 16, the Ash Center hosted a hands-on technology and democracy workshop titled, "User Safety vs. Freedom of Expression: Can social media platforms have both?"

In this session, participants stepped into the shoes of a team member at a social media giant to learn the challenges that Trust and Safety, Legal, and Engineering teams face in balancing users’ safety with their right to freedom of expression. In becoming a Trust and Safety agent, participants were tasked with examining social media content, determining what content violates the platform’s Community Guidelines and recommending how the content should be treated. The group explored additional actions the social media industry might take outside of AI and human moderation to better support public discourse on and offline.

Led by: Victoria McCullough, Technology and Democracy Fellow, Social Impact and Public Policy team at Tumblr, former Obama Administration in the White House Office of Public Engagement and the Department of Homeland Security Office of Congressional Affairs.

The Ash Center's Technology and Democracy Workshop Series are hands-on, co-curricular events designed to help HKS students develop real-world technology skills. Led by a network of technology practitioners, participants spend time working together and with the workshop leader to learn how to apply technical skills to impact real-world scenarios.