Mitigating Online Political Harms: The Importance of- and Examples of- Scientific Assessment of Proposed Responses (Flyer)
April 9th, 2025 3:00-4:30 in Room 1092 Lincoln Hall
Description: It seems that almost as soon as we became aware of the potential for online harms in the political realm, people have been proposing potential mitigation strategies. Social scientists can play a very important role here by employing our methodological training to assess the effectiveness of such interventions. In his keynote address, Tucker will argue that after a decade of research in this regard, we need to have renewed appreciation for the importance of such intervention testing work, as we have repeatedly learned that not all interventions work as one would expect – and in some cases even have the opposite effect from the one intended. The address will highlight multiple examples of these types of findings from Tucker’s prior research and will conclude with a look forward to the lessons we should be learning from these experiences as we think about the growing intersection of Generative AI and the online digital information ecosystem.
Joshua A. Tucker is a Julius Silver, Roslyn S. Silver, and Enid Silver Winslow Professor of Politics, an affiliated Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies, and an affiliated Professor of Data Science at New York University. He is the Director of NYU’s Jordan Center for Advanced Study of Russia. He is one of the co-founders and co-Directors of the NYU Center for Social Media and Politics (CSMaP).