Nick Couldry
I teach media communications and social theory at London School of Economics. Main interests: data colonialism, AI, rebuilding social media. Links to my two new books: linktr.ee/SpaceOfTheWorldBook lnk.to/DataGrabBook
- If you are interested in my take on the social media age ban debate, here it is, thanks to @lseeuroppblog.bsky.social
- Social media age bans will fail because they are not radical enough. Only by banning toxic business models that exploit social attention can we address the problems with social media. ✍ @couldrynick.bsky.social @lsemedia.bsky.social @politybooks.bsky.social blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2...
- On a weekend of atrocious news, this vision of better public spaces, closer to communities, is a much needed positive: open.substack.com/pub/newpubli...
- this recent interview by my co-author Ulises Mejias gives an up-to-date view of our approach to #datacolonialism for the age of GenAI
- New Books Q&A with Ulises A. Mejias, co-author of Data Grab: The New Colonialism of Big Tech and How to Fight Back (University of Chicago Press, 2024) Interviewed by Jeba Humayra Prithwi asaskat.com/2025/12/09/q... @ulises-mejias.bsky.social @couldrynick.bsky.social @uchicagopress.bsky.social
- a review for the LSE Review of Books is out today of my recent book on social media, The Space of the World: lnkd.in/e-Bg79H7
- If you are interested in hearing my latest take on AI and the challenges it poses for communications research, here is a keynote I gave at ZEMKI University of Bremen in October @zemki.bsky.social
- This article by @jburn-murdoch is very important
- Interesting blog reacting to my recent LSE lecture @lsemedia.bsky.social : blogs.lse.ac.uk/medialse/202...
- Resisting AI is in OUR hands!
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- Am travelling now. Thanks for your email. Will reply over the weekend
- for those who missed the live version of my recent talk and debate at LSE with Baroness Beeban Kidron on the future of social media, here is the recording: www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0Fv... . For me, was an amazing evening and made the huge effort of writing the book worthwhile! @lsemedia.bsky.social
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- So sorry to hear this. Happy to go on talking I'd you reach out to me by email n.couldry@lse.ac.uk
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- I hear you and deeply sympathise. That's why I am writing a book to try and challenge this. Se ior scholars have a responsibility yo try and shape the debate, since junior scholars are put in an impossible position.
- Another brave article by @lmesseri.bsky.social and @mjcrockett.bsky.social . Essential reading if you care about the harm AI celebrationism is doing!
- Can the human sciences exist w/out the human? Proposals for using AI as human research subjects suggest yes. But @mjcrockett.bsky.social and I respond with, ‘not so fast.’ In fact, silicon subjects say more about the problems of the research paradigm than the promises of AI. 🚨New article, thread 1/
- AI introduces entirely new definitions of 'risk management,' but we should not accept them
- "If 3 out of 100 flights crashed, no one would fly." #teslatakedown #MuskMustFall youtu.be/6ltU9q1pKKM?...
- Nice to be included in this company! Critics of AI are growing but certainly need to give each other support
- Very grateful to fellow travelers who are trying to temper enthusiasm for AI, especially in the halls of the academy. @janerosenzweig.bsky.social @melhogan.bsky.social @eryk.bsky.social @histoftech.bsky.social @criticalai-journal.bsky.social @jeddobson.bsky.social @couldrynick.bsky.social and more
- Can the human sciences exist w/out the human? Proposals for using AI as human research subjects suggest yes. But @mjcrockett.bsky.social and I respond with, ‘not so fast.’ In fact, silicon subjects say more about the problems of the research paradigm than the promises of AI. 🚨New article, thread 1/
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View full threadVery grateful to fellow travelers who are trying to temper enthusiasm for AI, especially in the halls of the academy. @janerosenzweig.bsky.social @melhogan.bsky.social @eryk.bsky.social @histoftech.bsky.social @criticalai-journal.bsky.social @jeddobson.bsky.social @couldrynick.bsky.social and more
- Thanks Lisa. I am rushing to finish first draft of a book on AI which I hope will be out by end of next year. Let me know if you'd like to know more and I'll drop you a line by email
- Very excited to announce that my paper 'Human Life as Terra Nullius' with @jcmagalhaes.bsky.social on colonial implications of Facebook's early patents is out: link.springer.com/article/10.1.... Has been a privilege to work with Joao on this and develop the concept of 'socially blind engineering'
- We had an amazing f2f and online audience of 400 pr so. I hope we can do morr events like this.
- Fantastic event last night with @couldrynick.bsky.social and Baroness Kidron. A genuine exchange of ideas and concerns around policy and the core issues involved in tackling Big Tech’s business model. A sliver of hope.
- This interview (available in English and Portuguese) with the Brazilian journal Algorithms and Society reflects on my recent work on data colonialism and social , and also my current work on AI: periodicos.ufmg.br/index.php/al... @lsemedia.bsky.social
- on 2nd October I'll give an LSE lecture on the future of social media based on my recent book The Space of the World www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?b.... Baroness Beeban Kidron will respond and Myria Georgiou will be chairing. Do come: there'll be a live stream too! www.lse.ac.uk/events/the-s...
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- Great link! I have the deepest respect for Sara Ahmed's work
- If you are in the London area, hope you can come to this!
- We’re hosting the book launch of 'The Space of the World', our first public event of the term! 🌍 Can Human Solidarity Survive Social Media? w/ @couldrynick.bsky.social, Baroness Beeban Kidron @myriageorgiou.bsky.social 🗓️ Thu 2 Oct | 6.30–8pm 📍LSE + Online 🔗 Register: www.lse.ac.uk/Events/2025/...
- How we risk ignoring children's rights in our digital design aka trashing the future
- NEW! #ScreenDeep Host Kris Perry sits down with Sonia Livingstone, OBE, FBA, @sonialivingstone.bsky.social to explore the intersection of children’s rights, online safety, parenting around child media use, #AI design, and public #policy in the digital world. Listen NOW: bit.ly/4fnvefI
- An important battle
- There's an intense debate in Brazil about how tech firms & algorithms promote sexual & romantic engagement with children (adultização). Without guardrails, the big firms will absolutely pursue this practice. Lula & allies are trying to get legislation passed. revistaforum.com.br/politica/202...
- This is a really important debate, more important than ever given recent US moves
- Thrilled to guest host @poltheoryother.bsky.social this week! I interviewed @ceciliarikap.bsky.social about what digital sovereignty really means, how we might build it, and how it would benefit so many countries currently dependent on US tech. podcasts.apple.com/podcast/digi...
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- you re right to pick up on this nonsense. Imagination without content or reference is not imagination!
- I am thrilled too! Thanks to @lsemedia.bsky.social for all its support over the years!!
- 🎉 We're delighted to announce Professor @couldrynick.bsky.social has been elected as a @britishacademy.bsky.social Fellow in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the humanities & social sciences. Read more about the British Academy Fellowship: www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/agm-wel...
- Have a new blog for @lsemedia.bsky.social which reads Mark Zuckerberg' recent pronouncements on Meta's implications for advertising through lens of data colonialism: blogs.lse.ac.uk/medialse/202.... If you're interested in my other recent blogs, they're collected here: www.nickcouldry.org/blog-1
- I am thrilled to say that I will be one of the new British Academy fellows. I look forward to joining colleagues to continue raising the profile of critical media research in Britain and internationally @lsemedia.bsky.social
- The British Academy has elected 92 new Fellows in 2025 – a higher number than in previous years due to new Fellowship places for candidates whose research spans more than one discipline www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/agm-wel...
- The decision to suspend the whip from four MPs for opposing cuts to welfare payments for disabled people is wrong - and has to be reversed. Sign the petition to demand their reinstatement: actionnetwork.org/petitions/re...
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- I read and loved that essay! We are thinking very much along the same lines
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- Thanks for the name check, Lisa.
- New article by myself and @velislavahill.bsky.social OUT TODAY with the British Journal of Sociology of Education: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... @lsemedia.bsky.social
- Last month, I recorded this podcast with Prof Terry Flew of Sydney University about my recent book The Space of the World: Can Human Solidarity Survive Social Media and What if it Can't? Great conversation. Thanks @terryflew.bsky.social !! @politybooks.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...
- If you want to understand the technical damage DOGE did to US government, read this masterly analysis by Bruce Schneier, delivered to congressional committee last month: oversight.house.gov/wp-content/u...
- And, if you'e interested to read more about the crisis at University of Virginia and its implications for the whole US university sector: www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...
- Eloquent article by @sivav.bsky.social on the cultural revolution going on in US universities: newrepublic.com/article/1973...
- The signalling is not good, and signalling still matters
- University of Virginia President Resigns Under Pressure From Trump Administration www.nytimes.com/2025/06/27/u...
- Too right.
- Words to live by, from Cory Doctorow - "Monopolists corrupt our political system, maim and impoverish workers, gouge their customers on enshittified, overpriced garbage. They are an existential threat to the survival of the human species." pluralistic.net/2025/06/28/m...
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- Mmm not sure what video feel about this
- If you are in the UK and fancy a day or two in the country, I will be speaking on #datacolonialism at the ALSO festival at Compton Verney, Warwickshire, on Saturday July 12 morning. Details here: www.also-festival.com/entities/als...
- This is just the best thing that has happened in a long time.
- Amazing. Russ was very pessimistic when we discussed on Sunday
- This really IS good news for progressive politics in the US. Good news of any sort certainly needed.
- I am both deeply honored by the prize and thrilled for the first time to experience the warmth and SOLIDARITY that is UDC @uniondemcomm.bsky.social . This is the place to be and to connect!!
- At each conference, UDC confers the Dallas Smythe Award to honor a critical media scholar/activist whose work exhibits the spirit of engagement, democracy, teaching, and feistiness to which the UDC is committed. We're thrilled this year to present @couldrynick.bsky.social with that honor #udc2025
- Agreed. This is a fantastic conference. My first time at this great UDC conference thanks @uniondemcomm.bsky.social !!
- Great discussion today at @uniondemcomm.bsky.social about the future of nonprofit journalism and whether it preserves old forms or leads to new democratic relationships in local communities. @miccenter.bsky.social @davidberman.bsky.social
- So the real project of GEN AI becomes clear: intensifying the neoliberalism HOLLOWING OUT of public institutions, yet Big Tech tells it is about unleashing 'our' creativity!!! www.wltx.com/article/news...
- Absolutely right. The corporatization of education is a project of extraction and conquest, not support or service!
- This is a huge honor for me, I could not be more thrilled!
- Congratulations to Professor @couldrynick.bsky.social for being awarded the 2025 Dallas Smythe Award 🏆 A prominent & prolific sociologist of media & culture, he will be delivering the Dallas Smythe lecture on Saturday 21 June @uniondemcomm.bsky.social Find out more: www.democraticcomm.org
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- Wearing a mask on my train right now!
