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UCLA Professor Srinivasan Talks About Social Media, Trump, and Big Tech

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Dr. Ramesh Srinivasan, UCLA Professor of Graduate Studies of Education and Information Sciences and Bedari Kindness Institute Faculty Advisory Committee member, describes his work as carefully exploring the connection between new transformations in technology, political and social life, and examining these concerns around radicalization and polarization facilitated by technology.

On the day after the insurrection at the Capitol, he joined NPR to discuss what happened on January 6 and where we can go from here.

To listen to the NPR “Here and Now” interview, click HERE.

Last month, he joined Democracy Now! to “argue that we must demand greater public governance and accountability over private technology corporations who have monetized every aspect of our lives, while leaving us disoriented and in the dark.”

To listen to the Democracy Now! interview, click HERE.

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The Promise of an Inevitable Tech Future that Obscures More than It Inspires

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Dr. Ramesh Srinivasan, UCLA Professor of Graduate Studies of Education and Information Sciences and Bedari Kindness Institute Faculty Advisory Committee member, recently co-authored a hybrid academic/journalistic piece in Salon discussing how tech elites have captured our fascination, while pushing pathways that likely disenfranchise almost everyone except themselves. Dr. Srinivasan and Mr. Peter Bloom write:

“Our blind trust in digital technology has not only had a huge impact on economic and political realities, but also our beliefs and aspirations; from what we consider to be progress, to the stories we tell ourselves around who an innovator is. Perniciously, these stories even appear to be fodder for those hoping to escape a supposedly unredeemable society and unsaveable planet. Whether due to global pandemics, climate crises, nuclear proliferation, or gross economic and political inequalities, collapse seems always right around the corner, if not here already, and the wealthiest and most powerful in our world are planning for it and profiting from it while the rest of us are left to accept our fate.”

To read the full article, “Tech Barons Dream of a Better World — Without the Rest of Us,” click HERE.

 

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UCLA Professor Srinivasan Advocates for Digital Bill of Rights in CNN Op-Ed

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Dr. Ramesh Srinivasan, UCLA Professor of Graduate Studies of Education and Information Sciences and Bedari Kindness Institute Faculty Advisory Committee member, has co-authored an opinion piece on CNN.com with Rene Bermudez titled “How Silicon Valley Is Putting Our Rights at Risk.” The co-authors discuss the need for Dr. Srinivasan’s Digital Bill of Rights especially as we approach the 2020 Presidential Election.  To read the op-ed, click HERE.

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UCLA Professor Srinivasan Talks to Democracy Now about Trump and Twitter

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May 29, 2020

Dr. Ramesh Srinivasan, UCLA Professor of Graduate Studies of Education and Information Sciences and Bedari Kindness Institute Faculty Advisory Committee member, was invited to appear on Democracy Now today to discuss President Trump’s executive order related to Section 230 and technology companies, and to discuss the issues regarding conspiracy theories going viral online amidst the pandemic. Yesterday, President Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to clarify the scope of a law within Title V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Section 230, after Twitter attached a “Fact Check Warning” to his tweet. Section 230 protects internet companies from liability for illegal content posted by users, and allows them to remove legal but objectionable posts.

To read the full story and transcript of the interview, click HERE.  Watch the video below.

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