Information integrity and the responsibility of application providers in relation to digital advertising.
A new article co-authored by Yasmin Curzi, DTD Lab research affiliate, investigates how the emerging concept of information integrity can reorient the parameters of application provider responsibility regarding online advertising. It argues that business models based on algorithmic ranking can compromise the integrity of public space, requiring transparency, observability, and accountability mechanisms from platforms.
Digital strategies of resilience: LGBTQ+ youth and identity fluidity in rural Iraq
LGBTQ+ youth in rural Iraq remain largely absent from global scholarship despite facing profound risks arising from criminalization, entrenched conservatism, and geographic isolation. A recent article co-authored by Ahmed Alrawi, DTD Lab 2024-26 postdoc, examines how rural Iraqi LGBTQ+ youth employ digital platforms to negotiate identity, manage stigma, and sustain community ties under repressive social and legal conditions.
Amplifying the storm: Climate disinformation dynamics during natural disasters on right-wing extremist Telegram channels
A new article from the DTD Lab research team including UVA alum Diego DiMattina, postdoc Andre Sobral, and faculty co-lead David Nemer, finds that climate disinformation is consistently amplified through unregulated platforms and conspiracist sources. Strikingly, a substantial portion of this amplification reflects coordinated behavior, suggesting both an opportunistic nature and the potential involvement of actors seeking to control climate narratives.
Environmental Impacts of AI
Lauren Bridges, DTD Lab faculty co-lead,'s latest reference article, is a comprehensive take on AI’s often contradictory environmental footprint. While AI is frequently touted as a panacea for climate change—optimizing smart grids, managing resources, and accelerating materials discovery—it is fundamentally extractive and consumptive.
Self-Authorization Amid Transculturation and Appropriation: Chinese K-Pop Fans Negotiating Identity in the “Cultural Stealing” Dispute
A recent article, co-authored by Wendy Weile Zhou, DTD Lab postdoc, examines how Chinese K-pop fans negotiate identity, cultural ownership, and transnational media consumption through the case of idol group NCT and Chinese K-pop fandom.
Algorithms as Institutions of Online Gender Violence
In a recent article, Yasmin Curzi, DTD Lab postdoc, discusses how algorithmic systems can amplify and monetize online gender-based violence, and analyze what due diligence obligations arise from international human rights law for companies and the Brazilian state.
The State of Data Center Policy in the United States
The regulatory landscape for data centers in the U.S. has shifted in recent years from a period of aggressive economic incentives to a phase of intense scrutiny, restriction, and community-led resistance. To track these changes, the data center policy database aims to bring transparency around zoning, permitting, and regulating data centers and their impacts on communities.
Students, Power, and Technology
In a new article, DTD Lab faculty co-lead Mona Sloane, alumna Ella Duus, and previous faculty co-lead Bertrall Ross, propose Student Technology Councils - elected student bodies with a formal role in technology innovation, governance, and policy - as a new model for addressing risks of declining technology procurement, innovation, and regulatory outcomes.
The Need for Transnational Perspectives on the Social, Legal and Environmental Impact of Artificial Intelligence
A new outcome report of the UN Internet Governance Forum Data and Artificial Intelligence Governance Coalition features a contribution co-authored by Jess Reia, DTD Lab faculty co-lead, highlighting perspectives of the Global South, diverse regional solutions, and impact on human rights, labor, and global power asymmetries.
When Influencers Delegate Replies: How Social AI Agents Shape User Engagement
A new paper co-authored by DTD Lab faculty co-lead, Steven Johnson, introduces the concept of "Social AI Agents" — LLM-powered proxies that respond on behalf of an individual, serving as a delegated extension of a real person's social identity.
