March 19, 2021 | Taylor Owen's latest piece for the National Post delves into聽algorithmic bias and the disproportionate harms Big Tech inflicts on people of colour. One piece of the solution? "Amplify聽the diverse voices of those with most knowledge of technology鈥檚 injustices."
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March 5, 2021 |聽Google and Facebook聽have dominated聽digital advertising in search and social networking, creating a business model that is not based on the distribution of reliable information. Following the Australian government's recent mandate on tech regulation, Max Bell School Professor聽Taylor Owen聽discusses the plight of independent media and the reputable journalistic institutions that are at stake.
February 26, 2021 |聽It is increasingly clear that the many benefits of digital platforms such as Facebook, Amazon and Google come with significant economic, social and political costs. Reflecting on recent attempts to address the harms caused big tech, Max Bell School Professor Taylor Owen聽argues that聽the governance struggle between Big Tech and the nation state is actually about the future of liberal democracy itself.
Supported by the Max Bell School's Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, the Canadian Commission on Democratic Expression has released a new report detailing six recommendations to enable citizens, governments and platforms to deal with online hate speech in Canada.
Read the Commission's report .
January 14, 2021 | In his opinion piece in The Globe and Mail, Max Bell School professor Taylor Owen discusses聽the effects of the recent social-media ban imposed on Donald Trump. Take a look at the article to understand how Trump's de-platforming scratches the surface of the deeper issues plaguing the current online ecosystem.聽
January 5, 2020 | While the COVID-19 vaccine offers us an eventual way past the pandemic, many Canadians are unsure about taking or unwilling to take a vaccine. In this Globe and Mail article, Max Bell School Professor Taylor Owen and other researchers at the聽Media Ecosystem Observatory聽unpack the cause聽and solutions to vaccine hesitancy in Canada.
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December 2020 | This new report by the Media Ecosystem Observatory聽looks into vaccine hesitancy in Canada in the lead-up to the development of a vaccine. Key findings included that 65% of Canadians intend to take a vaccine, and that the聽best opportunity to reach those who are unsure is to address important concerns around the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine.
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The Centre is 9I制作厂免费鈥檚 focal point on critical research and public debate about the role of media and emerging technologies in shaping democracy and public life
August 17, 2020 | Since the start of this year, there have been increasing calls for the Canadian government聽to impose a national moratorium on facial recognition technology. This demand arises from the possibility that law enforcement will use facial recognition聽to discriminate against certain demographics and worsen discrimination in the justice system. A moratorium would provide legislators time to develop a comprehensive and effective policy regulating聽 FR technology and the data it collects, uses, and shares.
August 6, 2020 | Social media and other digital聽platforms have begun to overtake traditional journalism as our primary sources of information. The communications difficulties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic have聽demonstrated how this trend will prove to have drastic consequences on the reliability of information in our democracies. Max Bell School Professor Taylor Owen co-authored this op-ed with Ben Scott, in which they look at how聽misinformation, disinformation, online hate, state propaganda and partisan news result from our current information ecosystem.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Montreal, July 29, 2020
A new study led by researchers at 9I制作厂免费 finds that people who get their news from social media are more likely to have misperceptions about COVID-19. Those that consume more traditional news media have fewer misperceptions and are more likely to follow public health recommendations like social distancing.
July 6, 2020 | Over 800 companies are pulling their ads from Facebook in response to the Stop Hate for Profit boycott, led by civil rights groups who want to remove hate speech from the platform. Will threatening the company's bottom line motivate them into action? Max Bell School Professor Taylor Owen goes on the CBC's Front Burner to discuss the propagation of hate speech on social media. Listen in to learn about the ways that platforms can be incentivized to deal with fake news and discriminatory content.
May 25, 2020 | The study co-led by Professor Taylor Owen found that among Canadians, there is cross-partisan consensus on the threat the virus poses and measures that need to be taken to battle it. The study also found that when there isn鈥檛 a consensus 鈥� which is the case in the United States 鈥� compliance with physical distancing guidelines is undermined, which poses an obvious threat.聽
April 16, 2020 | The COVID-19 pandemic has placed nearly unprecedented pressure on policymakers and citizens alike. Effectively containing the pandemic requires a societal consensus. However, a long line of research in political science has told us that polarization tends to occur on highly salient topics because partisans 鈥渇ollow the leader.鈥� Elite consensus is thus essential to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.
May 14, 2020 | The COVID-19 pandemic necessitates widespread voluntary and sustained public compliance with expert-guided public health directives, like social or physical distancing. Understanding which citizens seek out and engage with expert messages regarding COVID-19 is thus of central importance. Anti-intellectualism - the generalized distrust of experts and intellectuals 鈥� is likely to be a dominant factor. This article, co-written by Professor Taylor Owen, investigates the associations between anti-intellectualism and COVID-19 risk perceptions and social distancing compliance.
