Dr. Sarah Myers West

Dr. Sarah Myers West has over a decade of experience critically examining the political economy of the tech industry. Her award-winning research and writing blends social science, policy, and historical methods to address the intersection of technology, labor, and platform accountability. Her forthcoming book, Tracing Code (University of California Press), draws on years of historical and social scientific research to examine the origins of data capitalism and commercial surveillance. 

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Her writing is published in journals including Social Studies of Science, New Media & Society, the International Journal of Communication, Policy & Internet and Business and Society, and her research is featured in the Wall Street Journal, PBS, CBS, the Associated Press, and Motherboard, among others.

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Dr. West currently serves as a Senior Advisor on AI at the Federal Trade Commission, is the Managing Director of the AI Now Institute (currently on leave) and a Visiting Research Scientist at the Network Science Institute at Northeastern University. She holds Doctoral and Masters Degrees in Communication from the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, and a Masters in Public Diplomacy from Annenberg and the Dornsife School of International Relations. She is also a graduate of the University of Virginia's Media Studies program. 

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• Cryptography as Information Control. Social Studies of Science.

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• Social Media as Social Infrastructure. The Social Media Debate: Unpacking the Social, Psychological, and Cultural Effects of Social Media Platforms. 

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• Discriminating Systems: Gender, Race and Power in AI. AI Now Institute. 

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• Data Capitalism: Redefining the Logics of Surveillance and Privacy, Business and Society. 

       Best Paper Award 2020​

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• Censored, Suspended, Shadowbanned: Researching User Experiences of Content Moderation on Social Media Platforms. New Media & Society. 

• "Discriminating Systems"