Platform Drama: 'Cancel culture,' Celebrity, and Accountability on Social Media

Join the Cyber Policy Center, together with the Program on Democracy and the Internet on Tuesday, February 7, from Noon–1 PM Pacific, for "Platform Drama: 'Cancel culture,' Celebrity, and Accountability on Social Media" a discussion with Becca Lewis, Stanford Graduate Fellow and PhD candidate in Communication at Stanford University. The session will moderated by Nate Persily, Co-Director of the CPC and James B. McClatchy Professor of Law at Stanford Law School.

Recent years have witnessed debates about so-called “cancel culture” and more broadly about online accountability practices. In this talk, Becca Lewis examines the issue from a new perspective, using "YouTube drama" as a case study that reflects a long line of ethical negotiations in popular media contexts. Drawing on her research conducted with Professor Angèle Christin in the Stanford Department of Communication, Lewis will outline a framework for understanding accountability practices on social media: as an ongoing “platform drama” in which creators engage in perpetual and highly visible power struggles with celebrities, audiences, legacy media, other creators, and social media platforms themselves.

This session is part of the Winter Seminar Series, a series spanning January through March, hosted at the Cyber Policy Center with the Program on Democracy and the Internet. Sessions are in-person and virtual, with in-person attendance offered to Stanford affiliates only. Lunch is provided for in-person attendance.

In person attendance is available to Stanford affiliates and virtual attendance via zoom is open to the public; registration is required.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Becca Lewis is a Stanford Graduate Fellow and PhD candidate in Communication at Stanford University. She is an expert on disinformation and far-right digital media, and her white papers published with Data & Society are considered foundational studies in the field. Her research has also been published in academic journals including New Media & Society, Social Media + Society, and American Behavioral Scientist. In 2022, she served as an expert witness in the defamation lawsuits brought against Alex Jones by parents of Sandy Hook shooting victims. She holds an MSc in Social Science from the Oxford Internet Institute.