Ian Axel Anderson
@aanixel.bsky.social
Postdoc @ Caltech
Technology researcher, Surfer, Poet
They/he
Technology researcher, Surfer, Poet
They/he
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
A landmark lawsuit against Google and Meta went to trial this week. The jury’s verdict will influence the outcome of thousands of similar cases across the country. @madlinbmek.bsky.social on what it all means: on-the-media.visitlink.me/IYc6S1
On the Media
The Peabody Award-winning On the Media podcast is your guide to examining how the media sausage is made. Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger examine threats to free speech and government transparency, cast a skeptical eye on media coverage of the week’s big stories and unravel hidden political narratives in everything we read, watch and hear.
on-the-media.visitlink.me
February 14, 2026 at 4:01 PM
A landmark lawsuit against Google and Meta went to trial this week. The jury’s verdict will influence the outcome of thousands of similar cases across the country. @madlinbmek.bsky.social on what it all means: on-the-media.visitlink.me/IYc6S1
Had a brief cameo to discuss my research in this episode about the social media addiction trials! Really good listen for those interested in these cases in the US…
📻 Tune into this week’s show, featuring: @madlinbmek.bsky.social, @juliaangwin.com, and @juddlegum.bsky.social on-the-media.visitlink.me/coWfX-
February 15, 2026 at 5:21 AM
Had a brief cameo to discuss my research in this episode about the social media addiction trials! Really good listen for those interested in these cases in the US…
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
We absolutely MUST adopt relegation in American sports. How else can we compete with these levels of haters on a global scale?
Brazilian side Guarani held a ‘funeral’ at half-time to celebrate rival club Ponte Preta’s relegation to the 2nd division of the Sao Paulo state championship
During half-time the stadium announcer asked fans to turn on their phone flashlights before the stadium lights went out.
During half-time the stadium announcer asked fans to turn on their phone flashlights before the stadium lights went out.
February 12, 2026 at 1:30 PM
We absolutely MUST adopt relegation in American sports. How else can we compete with these levels of haters on a global scale?
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
In her latest column, @bakerdphd.bsky.social looks at the history of AAU regarding campus free speech. If they took a stance on many key issues today, some status-obsessed public universities would face very difficult membership decisions.
How Elite Colleges Aided Censorship During the Red Scares
Powerful organizations during the Red Scares crafted a world where “academic freedom” was conditional on political allegiance.
www.insidehighered.com
February 10, 2026 at 10:05 AM
In her latest column, @bakerdphd.bsky.social looks at the history of AAU regarding campus free speech. If they took a stance on many key issues today, some status-obsessed public universities would face very difficult membership decisions.
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
Research finds that people overestimate how many social media users post harmful content--which makes us think the world is worse than it really is.
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
February 4, 2026 at 9:40 PM
Research finds that people overestimate how many social media users post harmful content--which makes us think the world is worse than it really is.
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Appreciate this thread--was curious whether the data backed up that narrative and the anecdotal evidence I'd seen from users across social media. Also 100% agree that more transparency is crucial to getting a complete picture of how the ownership change is/isn't impacting the site.
Last week the story was that TikTok censored anti-Trump/ICE/Pretti videos after the U.S. ownership change. We investigated with a large set of US TikTok data and found some interesting results, short thread...
February 4, 2026 at 6:34 PM
Appreciate this thread--was curious whether the data backed up that narrative and the anecdotal evidence I'd seen from users across social media. Also 100% agree that more transparency is crucial to getting a complete picture of how the ownership change is/isn't impacting the site.
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
Wrote about a recent study that suggested calling it "social media addiction" can do more harm than social media itself, in that it takes agency away from people, and makes it more difficult to help people who actually have a problem with not being able to put down social media.
The ‘Social Media Addiction’ Narrative May Be More Harmful Than Social Media Itself
This week, a major trial kicked off in Los Angeles in which hundreds of families sued Meta, TikTok, Snap, and YouTube, accusing the companies of intentionally designing their products to be addictive (though Snap…
This week, a major trial kicked off in Los Angeles in which hundreds of families sued Meta, TikTok, Snap, and YouTube, accusing the companies of intentionally designing their products to be addictive (though Snap…
The ‘Social Media Addiction’ Narrative May Be More Harmful Than Social Media Itself
This week, a major trial kicked off in Los Angeles in which hundreds of families sued Meta, TikTok, Snap, and YouTube, accusing the companies of intentionally designing their products to be addictive (though Snap and TikTok both settled on the eve of the trial) . From the Guardian: For the first time, a huge group of parents, teens and school districts is taking on the world’s most powerful social media companies in open court, accusing the tech giants of intentionally designing their products to be addictive.
www.techdirt.com
January 29, 2026 at 7:26 PM
Wrote about a recent study that suggested calling it "social media addiction" can do more harm than social media itself, in that it takes agency away from people, and makes it more difficult to help people who actually have a problem with not being able to put down social media.
As a longtime follower, it’s really cool to see my work covered here! Thank you 🙏🏻
The ‘Social Media Addiction’ Narrative May Be More Harmful Than Social Media Itself
This week, a major trial kicked off in Los Angeles in which hundreds of families sued Meta, TikTok, Snap, and YouTube, accusing the companies of intentionally designing their products to be addictive (though Snap…
This week, a major trial kicked off in Los Angeles in which hundreds of families sued Meta, TikTok, Snap, and YouTube, accusing the companies of intentionally designing their products to be addictive (though Snap…
The ‘Social Media Addiction’ Narrative May Be More Harmful Than Social Media Itself
This week, a major trial kicked off in Los Angeles in which hundreds of families sued Meta, TikTok, Snap, and YouTube, accusing the companies of intentionally designing their products to be addictive (though Snap and TikTok both settled on the eve of the trial) . From the Guardian: For the first time, a huge group of parents, teens and school districts is taking on the world’s most powerful social media companies in open court, accusing the tech giants of intentionally designing their products to be addictive.
www.techdirt.com
January 29, 2026 at 9:16 PM
As a longtime follower, it’s really cool to see my work covered here! Thank you 🙏🏻
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
Florida took another step Thursday toward banning all its public universities from hiring foreign workers on H-1B visas. The public comment period on the proposal will last two weeks:
www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
Florida Now Accepting Public Comment on H-1B Visa Hiring Ban
University system leaders say they need to pause hiring on the visas for a year to collect information about how universities utilize the program. Only the student and faculty board representatives ob...
www.insidehighered.com
January 29, 2026 at 5:34 PM
Florida took another step Thursday toward banning all its public universities from hiring foreign workers on H-1B visas. The public comment period on the proposal will last two weeks:
www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
There was a paper recently advocating for friction in certain domains…this also seems like a case where more friction would be beneficial…
“The idea is to put ChatGPT front and center inside software that scientists use to write up their work in much the same way that chatbots are now embedded into popular programming editors.
It’s vibe coding, but for science.”
It’s vibe coding, but for science.”
OpenAI’s latest product lets you vibe code science
Prism is a ChatGPT-powered text editor that automates much of the work involved in writing scientific papers.
www.technologyreview.com
January 28, 2026 at 9:07 AM
There was a paper recently advocating for friction in certain domains…this also seems like a case where more friction would be beneficial…
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
"Haidt’s claims of inherent harm are not well-founded, and the policy proposals to ban kids entirely from social media are a bad idea. For older teenage boys, having no social media was associated with *worse* outcomes than having too much of it"
Two Major Studies, 125,000 Kids: The Social Media Panic Doesn’t Hold Up
For years now, we’ve been repeatedly pointing out that the “social media is destroying kids” narrative, popularized by Jonathan Haidt and others, has been built on a foundation of…
www.techdirt.com
January 23, 2026 at 4:16 AM
"Haidt’s claims of inherent harm are not well-founded, and the policy proposals to ban kids entirely from social media are a bad idea. For older teenage boys, having no social media was associated with *worse* outcomes than having too much of it"
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
For anyone new to the idea that Alt National Parks Service is a grift, @taylorlorenz.bsky.social made a nice little primer about the hijacking of resistance politics by hucksters and charlatans
youtu.be/mz3Rf820ozE?...
youtu.be/mz3Rf820ozE?...
The Rise and Fall of 'the Resistance'
YouTube video by Taylor Lorenz
youtu.be
January 26, 2026 at 8:18 PM
For anyone new to the idea that Alt National Parks Service is a grift, @taylorlorenz.bsky.social made a nice little primer about the hijacking of resistance politics by hucksters and charlatans
youtu.be/mz3Rf820ozE?...
youtu.be/mz3Rf820ozE?...
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
"Contemporary fascism is simply neoliberalism with its multicultural mask off. We have been heading in this direction since the latter half of the 20th century, at least."
“Many will ask: how did we get here? For those who believed the lies of the US cold war propaganda campaigns, this violence will appear new.“
nublues.beehiiv.com/p/mask-off-t...
nublues.beehiiv.com/p/mask-off-t...
Mask Off: The Not So New American Fascism
Contemporary fascism is simply neoliberalism with its multicultural mask off. We have been heading in this direction since the latter half of the 20th century, at least.
nublues.beehiiv.com
January 27, 2026 at 12:36 AM
"Contemporary fascism is simply neoliberalism with its multicultural mask off. We have been heading in this direction since the latter half of the 20th century, at least."
Was fun to speak with @apnews.com's Kaitlyn Huamani about anti-doomscrolling interventions and my work on social media addiction / habits! Full article here:
apnews.com/article/soci...
apnews.com/article/soci...
Social media addiction's surprising challenger? Anti-doomscrolling influencers
With billions of active users across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and other social media platforms, cutting down on screen time is a common goal for many people.
apnews.com
January 22, 2026 at 3:24 AM
Was fun to speak with @apnews.com's Kaitlyn Huamani about anti-doomscrolling interventions and my work on social media addiction / habits! Full article here:
apnews.com/article/soci...
apnews.com/article/soci...
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
One of the issues that has come up again and again in my reporting on misinformation and social media is the massive influence social media companies have on research in the field.
Last night a preprint dropped that tries to get at this with some numbers. My piece in @science.org (and 🧪🧵 coming):
Last night a preprint dropped that tries to get at this with some numbers. My piece in @science.org (and 🧪🧵 coming):
Nearly a third of social media research has undisclosed ties to industry, preprint claims
Industry-linked studies were also more likely to focus on particular topics, suggesting these ties may be skewing the field
www.science.org
January 19, 2026 at 3:26 PM
One of the issues that has come up again and again in my reporting on misinformation and social media is the massive influence social media companies have on research in the field.
Last night a preprint dropped that tries to get at this with some numbers. My piece in @science.org (and 🧪🧵 coming):
Last night a preprint dropped that tries to get at this with some numbers. My piece in @science.org (and 🧪🧵 coming):
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
Governments are banning teenagers from social media to cover up officials' failure to confront real crises. It’s wrong, dangerous, and cruel. mikemales.substack.com/p/government...
Governments are banning teenagers from social media to cover up officials' failure to confront real crises. It’s wrong, dangerous, and cruel.
Surveys and studies increasingly expose authorities’ self-interested derelictions and political motives behind scapegoating teens, social media, and “mental health.”
mikemales.substack.com
January 13, 2026 at 8:36 PM
Governments are banning teenagers from social media to cover up officials' failure to confront real crises. It’s wrong, dangerous, and cruel. mikemales.substack.com/p/government...
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
I am a victim of deepfake porn. The technology has reached ubiquity since I was targeted in 2022.
How many more women and girls need to bear their scars to the world before someone with real power in the tech industry stands up for us?
(Gift link) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
How many more women and girls need to bear their scars to the world before someone with real power in the tech industry stands up for us?
(Gift link) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
January 7, 2026 at 12:42 AM
I am a victim of deepfake porn. The technology has reached ubiquity since I was targeted in 2022.
How many more women and girls need to bear their scars to the world before someone with real power in the tech industry stands up for us?
(Gift link) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
How many more women and girls need to bear their scars to the world before someone with real power in the tech industry stands up for us?
(Gift link) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
For many years I've assigned @shuhbillskee.bsky.social 's nice BBC Ideas video on the myth of tech "addiction" www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSNp... - and it has cute animations, students like it. But @taylorlorenz.bsky.social released this interview with @aanixel.bsky.social
youtu.be/K-0z0j0QvPI?...
youtu.be/K-0z0j0QvPI?...
Is technology addiction a myth? | BBC Ideas
YouTube video by BBC Ideas
www.youtube.com
January 5, 2026 at 6:47 PM
For many years I've assigned @shuhbillskee.bsky.social 's nice BBC Ideas video on the myth of tech "addiction" www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSNp... - and it has cute animations, students like it. But @taylorlorenz.bsky.social released this interview with @aanixel.bsky.social
youtu.be/K-0z0j0QvPI?...
youtu.be/K-0z0j0QvPI?...
This and the actual paper are both really good. Must-reads.
saw someone recently who was in their feelings about this, but I think it just gets more obviously true every day. www.everythingishorrible.net/p/our-proble...
Our Problem Isn't Polarization. It's Fascism.
A new paper makes the case.
www.everythingishorrible.net
January 4, 2026 at 4:58 AM
This and the actual paper are both really good. Must-reads.
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
saw someone recently who was in their feelings about this, but I think it just gets more obviously true every day. www.everythingishorrible.net/p/our-proble...
Our Problem Isn't Polarization. It's Fascism.
A new paper makes the case.
www.everythingishorrible.net
January 4, 2026 at 3:53 AM
saw someone recently who was in their feelings about this, but I think it just gets more obviously true every day. www.everythingishorrible.net/p/our-proble...
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
The only solution is for corporations who manufacture systems that do this and demonstrate no interest in preventing it to be legally on the hook. “Oops” is not a legal defense, and “we tried” isn’t enough. There’s no alternative that makes sense.
For the last few days on X, people (mainly women, and sometimes children) have had nonconsensual images of them in swimsuits (or much worse) requested by users and created by Grok.
Musk's only apparent response thus far has been to crack jokes about it.
Musk's only apparent response thus far has been to crack jokes about it.
so x dot com’s ai generated CSAM and they admitted it may violate US law and … i haven’t seen in anyone in power say much at all or call to stop using the platform
January 2, 2026 at 6:16 PM
The only solution is for corporations who manufacture systems that do this and demonstrate no interest in preventing it to be legally on the hook. “Oops” is not a legal defense, and “we tried” isn’t enough. There’s no alternative that makes sense.
Reposted by Ian Axel Anderson
“None of these laws actually crack down on Big Tech. Instead, age verification schemes consolidate power among the largest and most powerful tech conglomerates and allow the companies to harvest and profit from even more highly sensitive data from users.“
Social Media Is a Literal Lifeline for Many Kids. Don't Ban Them From Using It
US politicians want to replicate Australia's draconian law prohibiting children under 16 from using social media. But experts say such bans will actually make kids 'significantly less safe online.'
zeteo.com
December 13, 2025 at 2:31 PM
“None of these laws actually crack down on Big Tech. Instead, age verification schemes consolidate power among the largest and most powerful tech conglomerates and allow the companies to harvest and profit from even more highly sensitive data from users.“
Was really exciting for me to sit down with @taylorlorenz.bsky.social and discuss my research on her Podcast, Power User! I’ve followed her social media coverage for a long time.
Highly recommend watching the full YouTube version below (has visuals from the relevant paper): youtu.be/K-0z0j0QvPI?...
Highly recommend watching the full YouTube version below (has visuals from the relevant paper): youtu.be/K-0z0j0QvPI?...
Social Media Addiction Isn't Real (Here's What's Really Happening)
YouTube video by Taylor Lorenz
youtu.be
December 19, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Was really exciting for me to sit down with @taylorlorenz.bsky.social and discuss my research on her Podcast, Power User! I’ve followed her social media coverage for a long time.
Highly recommend watching the full YouTube version below (has visuals from the relevant paper): youtu.be/K-0z0j0QvPI?...
Highly recommend watching the full YouTube version below (has visuals from the relevant paper): youtu.be/K-0z0j0QvPI?...
Thanks to the editors @pnas.org for their support! New piece from me, @georgiaturner.bsky.social and @fassiluisa.bsky.social…
Opinion piece: We need #transparency standards for #SocialMedia #research that involves companies: https://ow.ly/I1TL50XHy19
#industry #academia #Meta #Facebook #Twitter #ethics #ConflictOfInterest
#industry #academia #Meta #Facebook #Twitter #ethics #ConflictOfInterest
December 15, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Thanks to the editors @pnas.org for their support! New piece from me, @georgiaturner.bsky.social and @fassiluisa.bsky.social…