Dr Carolina Are 💃🏻 bloggeronpole
@bloggeronpole
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💻 Innovation fellow @digi_citizens 📱Platform governance researcher 💃🏻 #poledance instructor 🍑 Blogger, 🏆-winning activist 🇮🇹 LDNer (she/her) Views mine
Hackney, London
Joined August 2011
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Passed my viva with minor corrections today 💪🏼 I had decided this was going to be the day I brought Batman & Bruce Wayne together :P So I’m gonna close my academic-only Twitter & unify my presence under this account. Here’s why it's important to me to be both people at once.
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Pls halp. Is it option A or B 😅 the citizenship test is lols
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My UK citizenship test continues to deliver the LOLs 😂 which option is it, do you reckon? Having a hard time choosing 😅
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Full moon in Aquarius from my window in Olbia ♒️🇮🇹✨
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My brain at 1 AM: “Google why she’s called Chrishell or I won’t let you sleep” 👀
#sellingsunset
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I have been officially invited to join OnlyFans. The pic on the right explains why I’m not doing it. TL; DR: following what happened last summer, I do not feel like joining a platform that was built on the back of sex workers but that was so quick to push them out.
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Being deleted by
@instagram
without a warning is such a distressing experience. In 9 years of digital labour to build a reputation & a network, it’s become my main comms channel with my community. It’s my research, it’s a huge part of my work. Now it’s gone without an explanation
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New study alert: my paper "Autoethnographies of 'automated powerlessness' in Instagram & TikTok account deletions" is now live & open access in Media, Culture & Society, addressing selective safety and consent in content moderation:
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Finally watched
#MoneyShotNetflix
. Good to see NCOSE’s real aims being show here, & so important to have performers’ voices centred + to see familar faces as experts. A great summary of the platform governance of adult content field in a v digestible form.
@CherieDeVille
rocks 💥
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The UK government:
#StayAlert
People: But I don’t even know what that means
UK government: NO ONE KNOWS WHAT IT MEANS, BUT IT’S PROVOCATIVE!
People: No it’s not...
UK government: IT GETS THE PEOPLE GOING
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✨ Personal news ✨ as the kids say. On April 11 I’ll be starting a postdoc as Innovation Fellow at
@NorthumbriaUni
’s Centre for Digital Citizens, researching on online safety & hopefully working on a project at the intersection between online abuse & online censorship 🥳
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NEW RESEARCH ALERT! My 2nd study on malicious flagging, aka when users report your account for violations of community guidelines to silence you & get you de-platformed, is out in New Media & Society.
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YES Instagram is limiting political content by default without notifying users. But it's what they did with adult content ages ago and none of y'all cared because you didn't see what was coming
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Watching
#LouisTheroux
’s Shooting Joe Exotic is such a weird lockdown deja-vu. Feels like March 2020
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It finally happened: during the anonymous peer review of a paper I've just had accepted, Reviewer 3 said I should consider citing "Are" xD academic milestone unlocked!
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BUZZING that my paper, “The Shadowban Cycle: an autoethnography of pole dancing, nudity and censorship on Instagram” - has now been published in
@FemMediaStudies
(open access). Super grateful to FMS' reviewers & editors who helped me get here:
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It’s my bday! I’m officially 29 today and as a newly single Dr in the last year of her 20s I gifted myself lingerie and carbs and had a fancy dinner and put up my Xmas tree with my friend Chris :) it’s been nice :)
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AHHHH OMG I’m going to Philadelphia! First time ever I get into AoIR, and for a paper I deeply care about 🥹 see you soon
#aoir2023
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Ohhh this is very similar to my PhD findings re: abusive Twitter subcultures. Targeted campaigns by relatively low numbers of users drive the abuse towards some high-profile individuals (the targets in my study were victims in a criminal case)
Bot Sentinel (
@BotSentinel
) analyzed more than 114,000 tweets and found that 83 accounts are responsible for approximately 70% of the negative and sometimes hateful content about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
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Wow, there’s lots of mansplainers on Mastodon then
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Truly curious about how people behind the Pam & Tommy series are sleeping at night after Pamela Anderson's doc. To make a series about the tape after she said how it affected her... HER doc is worth a watch though, I'll never not be in awe of how pure and gorgeous she is <3
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Tell me again that “tHeRe aRe OtHeR pLaTfOrMs YoU cAn UsE” - which ones? De-platforming sex workers & users has serious online and offline consequences. It’s not about hopping from one platform to the next… bc next thing you know even your plan Z falls through
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OK, posting this now so that it's not on my mind anymore and I can enjoy the new Dr Who in peace: NEW OPEN ACCES PAPER ALERT! My new study from my
@digi_citizens
postdoc on malicious flagging on IG & TikTok is now out in
@Convergence_NMT
:)
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She’s booked, busy and British (while still cherishing my Italian roots 🤌🏼😛🇮🇹). Had my ceremony in Hackney this morning 🤘🏻
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It’s also most likely coming from the fact that algorithmic recommendations and platform governance are too fragile an infrastructure for someone to make their whole career out of it. When platforms can lock you out of your ‘office’ at the flick of a switch, you need a back-up
the latest "trend" is influencers with day jobs, but this movement is born out of a larger frustration with the creator industry that might be reaching a tipping point
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Some exciting announcements by
@tpoell
&
@nielsvdoorn
during the
#GDC_UVA23
welcome: the project / conference is getting a brand new journal - Platforms & Society - and next year’s theme is gonna be “digital intimacies” 🔥🔥🔥
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In Sheffield today & tomorrow, speaking at Algorithms For Her 2 ✨ so excited to listen to & hang out with all the amazing researchers in my field ❤️ it feels like a particularly good time to talk about how exhausting it is to be a content creator, so buckle up for some insights
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Online nudity & sex have a right to exist. But users who post them are governed as if they’re having sex by default, bringing a lack of consent to moderation & a sense of automated powerlessness to your online life. So here I’m reclaiming my nakedness w/o doing *it* 😛
#GDC_UVA22
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I & my amazing
@digi_citizens
boss
@pamtiddlypom
have a new paper out today in
@SocialMedia_Soc
, centred around the financial and wellbeing impact of de-platforming on content creators at the margins. It's open access and available here:
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PSA to people who tell sex workers: “Just use another platform.” The list of other platforms keeps shrinking. Worrying to see linktree follow suit from literally everyone else
been waiting since this morning to hear back from linktree about wtf is going on with them; in the meantime, no, it's not just you
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Spot the pole dancer 😅 can’t take me anywhere! Jokes aside, celebrating my PhD graduation offline, with my parents meant the world to me. These 3 and a half years have been the most life-changing for me to date, and I finally got my gown moment 🥺
#citygrad
@CityUniLondon
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Can we, collectively, as researchers, continue trolling E*on and never refer to Twitter as X in papers? I'm starting to see papers about "X" and I do not wanna give him that win xD
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Wait til they hear about the contraceptive pill
The German government is suspending use of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine over concerns of blood clots in connection with the shot, AP reports
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BUT it’s not separate. I'm a researcher because I’m a pole dancer. Pole saved me from a really dark time before my PhD. Social media moderation of nudity is where my research is heading. I’ve studied & been involved in anti-censorship activism. There's a benefit to showing that.
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Just been told by a peer reviewer that de-platforming is not a "social" harm but an "individual" harm. I mean, it's not like swathes of users are being de-platformed on the basis of their job, appearance, background resulting in loss of work, network & distress... oh wait
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Loved the “Muff Busters” exhibit at the
@vagina_museum
! So glad we have one. Even when asking for directions, some women answered me embarrassed: “Why do we need a museum? We all have a vagina.” Well, the answer’s in the pictures. We don’t know enough about our own bodies yet!
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Is the de-platforming of journalism a dangerous attack on freedom of expression by a private company? Yes. Has the same been happening before to sex workers, activists, LGBTQIA+ users etc., without the necessary attention by mainstream media and society? Also yes.
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“Things that are positioned as very new (and very bad) by people on the right are actually very old,” says
@GoingMedieval
at
@EroticonUK
, with an apt slide arguing “the past is queer as hell”. People have been writing about having hot sex for centuries
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I’m a bit hesitant to even tweet about this - I left my online conspiracy research days behind post-PhD to focus on matters closer to my communities - but this brill investigation by
@broderick
has reminded me of the conspiracy scripts I identified then, and of how they spread /1
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What would platform governance look like if users could get a seat at the table to design policies that affect them? The report I'm launching today with
@digi_citizens
,
@webfoundation
&
@sprblm_
shares policies from co-design workshops with impacted users:
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Fab to be featured in this
@BBC_Future
piece imagining an Internet run by women alongside so many familiar faces I admire, sharing important insights on change. What's missing here is the experience & expertise of sex workers. Here’s why it matters.
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By going for Meloni, Italy has essentially said to its LGBTQIA+ people, its immigrants, its women fighting for abortion rights that they don’t matter. It’s not just Italy’s most right-wing govt since Mussolini - it’s a coalition of rebranded old dogs with a fearmongering agenda…
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Open access alert! The paper
@HanneMarleen
, I &
@tpoell
have written is now live in
@SocialMedia_Soc
. In it, we complicate the idea that content creators seek visibility by default & show sexual(ity) creators' visibility management strategies.
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At 6 PM GMT on Tuesday I’m going live with the
@OversightBoard
on IG to talk about ways to make online spaces safer & more equitable for women. Such an honour to join the amazing
@seyiakiwowo
and
@nighatdad
for this convo! ✨ Hope you can tune in ✌🏻
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If you’re at
#GDC_UVA23
& are not too hungover, catch me in A.09 on the platform governance panel talking about algorithmic injustice in IG & TikTok appeals. Yes this is a “come to my talk” academic thirst trap / fit check (
@wolfandbadger
/
@polejunkieUK
) - it worked last year 🤷🏻♀️
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Successfully humped Meta’s London floors 😂 today I was part of a group of academics invited to feedback on Meta’s policies. I can’t say what we discussed but it was a positive, generative experience - we challenged a lot, we learnt a lot from each other.
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My 92-year-old grandpa, whose health had been deteriorating this month, died last night in his sleep. Due to the current situation, my family & I have decided it’s better for me not to go to Rome for the funeral. I haven’t seen him in a year & I won’t get a goodbye… ciao Nonno
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Aside from our team’s effort, I think “scaramanzia,” the 🇮🇹 superstition of not talking too soon not to jinx things, played a role tonight. While the ENG press claimed victory & bank hols were proposed, most Italians only talked about playing. Viva la scaramanzia 🤣
#EURO2020
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Once again, a platform essentially built by sex workers’ efforts & creativity excludes them when it goes big. OF follows mainstream social platforms, payment services, search engines - a threat to SWs’ livelihood in a pandemic that has forced many of them to work online. Gross
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Being back home in Sardinia at 28 means everybody feels entitled to ask me if I have / want children. I’ve just given birth to a 3 and a half year PhD thesis, gimme a break 👩🏻🎓
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Hello to everyone who just followed me on the back of that citizenship thing. You don’t know what you just got yourself into x
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Had my (online)
@CityUniLondon
#phd
graduation today here in Sardinia with my parents, hoping for a bigger celebration in LDN once things are less scary 🤞🏼 Looking extra in full Dante style as per 🇮🇹 tradition 🤌🏼 we even turned up as an accidental Italian flag 😅
#CityClassof2021
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If I - a foreigner - had gone to university in the UK 1 year later, I couldn't have afforded it (re: 9K fee). I came here bc it seemed to offer more opps than Italy. 11 yrs later, everything I loved about it is disappearing. It seems more & more inhospitable esp for young people
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Navigating my online presence as a Very Naked Person™️ at the start of my PhD was challenging. Due to prejudices related to women, sexuality, taking part in an art that exists because of strippers (thank you, stripper goddesses!) I initially kept my academic career separate.
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Loved doing this interview with
@jilliancyork
for
@EFF
, talking about the inspo & story behind my research on digital censorship, my work at
@digi_citizens
+ my hopes for the future. It's one the most comprehensive articles explaining what I do :)
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Day one of my conference and I’ve already met three pole dancing academics :) we are taking over. You are not ready
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My thoughts on the reasons behind the swathes of deletions in the kink / SW / sex posi community over the weekend via
@WIRED
- thank you
@lydmorrish
for picking this story up and citing both my personal experience and
@digi_citizens
work.
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Omg so something just happened and I’ve just had an actual conversation with someone at Facebook/Instagram policy!
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Got a lot of new followers from what I can assume is
@HarryTDyer
’s autoethnography thread - thank you! I wanted to talk about why I chose autoethnography as a method, about why *that* paper has worrying implications not just on the practice but on early-career researchers as well
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My friend just called me a slutty version of Clueless and I could not be happier 🥹🥹🥹 life goal achieved
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Academic partnership and friendship of dreams ✨✨✨ everyone needs a friend like
@TomDivon
to feel better on rejection day 🥹🥹🥹
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Sad to see such a progressive world leader go, but also pretty amazing statement to everyone who idolised her that it’s ok to step down when you don’t have any energy left. A pretty big message to everyone in politics and outside
Jacinda Ardern resigns: ‘I no longer have enough in the tank’
2K
5K
24K
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This Barbie is a keynote speaker 😍 feeling so inspired & recharged after a beautiful day at
@eroticonuk
2023. V grateful to have been able to bring my usual pole dancing academic vibes to the m opening keynote panel on the challenges & opportunities of erotic content creation…
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What I thought 30-year-olds looked like as a child vs what I look like at 30 😛
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There is a research benefit from being an active member of the community you are also researching as long as you keep perspective. A lack of lived experience does not guarantee neutrality.
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Just withdrew my first TikTok creator fund balance - £11.22 in 2 months 🙃 don’t get me wrong, I am SO happy that platforms somehow manage to pay creators, but considering one of my vids is at 4.5M views and one at 1.2M… it’s not a lot per view 😅
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This is a very hopeless, sucky time. BUT as
#lockdown2
was looming yesterday, a nice thing happened & I won’t let the situation prevent me from being happy about it: I SUBMITTED MY
#PhD
THESIS! Here’s me submitting + celebrating upside down 😍 now help me manifest a quick Viva 🙏🏼
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Guess no one who wrote these questions has been reading the news uh
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"FOSTA seems to have weakened the natural resistance of fandom and internet culture at large to the US’s broader puritanical, anti-sex culture." Yet more unintended consequences of flawed legislation in this fab and bonkers piece by
@topgallantry
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A FEW YRS AGO YOU COULD HAPPILY EXPRESS YOURSELF ON SOCIAL MEDIA BUT SINCE THE CRACKDOWN ON NUDITY AFTER LAWS LIKE FOSTA/SESTA YOU CAN’T ANYMORE, BC PLATFORMS ARE PRIVATE COMPANIES WHO WANNA PROTECT THEMSELVES SO THEY’RE HIDING ALL THE BUTTS. THEY SAY IT’S TO KEEP KIDS SAFE-
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So on the day of my PhD graduation,
@watchadoremedia
(by
@brutamerica
&
@AdoreMe
) posted this video interview blending my research with my life. It was a lovely celebration of my journey in the past few years, and I’m so grateful to them for spreading awareness about my work 💞
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Guess I’m getting shadowbanned tomorrow 😂
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Meanwhile, tonight was my first time at the Ritz. The category was: just finished poisoning husband no.4 (jk the only thing getting murdered were my feet in these shoes)
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In
@CosmopolitanUK
talking about my
@digi_citizens
work on the back of
@gianlucahmd
&
@HilkeSchellmann
’s Guardian investigation. Thanks
@JenniSavin
for interviewing me & for going above & beyond to make sure my research on shadowbanning was credited 🥰
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Took a week off training to let my body recover - nice to be back to doing freestyles / planning class for Tuesday 💞
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Managed to catch the “Sensitive Content” exhibit at
@weareunitlondon
, featuring contemporary artists whose work & ideas have been censored, including
@pussyrrriot
,
@artistbeard
,
@Sally_Hewett
and more 💚 the exhibit runs until Oct 16 so make sure you check it out 💚
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Starting data collection for my
@digi_citizens
project today! If you've been affected by negative comments *and* account &/or content removals on IG/TikTok, pls fill out this survey to help me better understand the relationship b/w flagging & censorship :)
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What, like it’s hard? 😛 [just landed back in London, pic from yesterday’s workshop at
@MSRNE
which we wrapped up with drinks at
@BKCHarvard
] 💅🏻
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My absolute pet peeve is when some TikToker makes a vid called “Things to do in London that nobody tells you” or “London hidden gems” and it’s literally Covent Garden.
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I can finally share something I've been dying to talk about for ages: This
@guardian_us
investigation by
@HilkeSchellmann
&
@gianlucahmd
featuring me and some amazing people is out today, highlighting sexist algorithms & backing research on & user experiences of censorship. 1/
‘There is no standard’: investigation finds AI algorithms objectify women’s bodies
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Man: *asks about my research*
Me: *answers briefly*
Man (who still hasn’t read my research): “You should consider this aspect” (which is already in my research)
🙄🙄🙄🙄
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Got settled status! 🇬🇧 as a European, it feels bittersweet to have to apply to stay in a place that is my home & where I was free to move to pre-Br**it. Now need to get citizenship bc I don’t trust this govt to not turn on its word as they’ve done with so many immigrants 🤦🏻♀️
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Presenting my work at
@Meta
but make it fashion 😛 went back to Meta HQ to share new developments from my
@digi_citizens
@NorthumbriaUni
project, incl preliminary policy recos co-designed with participants from my Tech Policy Design Labs in collab with
@webfoundation
&
@sprblm_
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My comment has been removed from
@tiktok_uk
bc I called someone a creep… meanwhile m3n are literally informing me they are jacking off to my content or commenting on literally any part of my body and that’s fine. The misogyny on this platform 🤢
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#AoIR2023
is over and my heart is so full ❤️ I felt like such an oddball during my PhD for the lack of networks and people observing my same weird corners of the internet as mine. But at conferences like AoIR I really do feel like I’ve found my people 🥹
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