Policy Director Nadine Farid Johnson joined Kimberly Adams this week on “Marketplace Tech” to discuss democratic discourse and understanding speech online.

When asked about changes in the social media platforms’ content moderation policies and their effect on the recent U.S. election, Farid Johnson noted, “We’re actually not sure of the full range” of impact. Citing the power of platforms to amplify certain content, which in turn affects “how we share, how we learn … how users relate to one another,” she emphasized that it’s “critically important” for researchers and journalists to study how the platforms shape public discourse without the threat of legal sanction by large internet companies. 

Read about the Knight Institute’s proposed “safe harbor” for journalists and researchers studying social media platforms here. 

Listen to the full episode below.