Aliya Bhatia
@aliyabhatia.bsky.social
Senior policy analyst, Free Expression @cdt.org
Posts, thoughts, dreams my own.
Not Alia Bhatt
aliya-bhatia.com
Posts, thoughts, dreams my own.
Not Alia Bhatt
aliya-bhatia.com
“We are not the only ones facing health challenges in the area,” said Kasbe, who is 36. “It’s all covered with filth.”
“Amazon is using the shiny thing of AI to distract from the fact that it’s building a dirty energy empire,” she said.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
“Amazon is using the shiny thing of AI to distract from the fact that it’s building a dirty energy empire,” she said.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
‘It’s hell for us here’: Mumbai families suffer as datacentres keep the city hooked on coal
As Mumbai sees increased energy demand from new datacenters, particularly from Amazon, the filthiest neighbourhood in one of India’s largest cities must keep its major coal plants
www.theguardian.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:31 PM
“We are not the only ones facing health challenges in the area,” said Kasbe, who is 36. “It’s all covered with filth.”
“Amazon is using the shiny thing of AI to distract from the fact that it’s building a dirty energy empire,” she said.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
“Amazon is using the shiny thing of AI to distract from the fact that it’s building a dirty energy empire,” she said.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
Age verification is not the way to keep kids safe on the internet. CDT has some thoughts about what kind of child safety policies and features might actually be effective: cdt.org/insights/wha...
What Kids and Parents Want: Policy Insights for Social Media Safety Features
This report examines the gap between child safety policy proposals for social media and how teens and parents — the people these policies are meant to protect — experience and view them. While the top...
cdt.org
November 21, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Age verification is not the way to keep kids safe on the internet. CDT has some thoughts about what kind of child safety policies and features might actually be effective: cdt.org/insights/wha...
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
Delighted to share my collaboration with @aliyabhatia.bsky.social on research that grounds online safety debates in what families actually say they need and value. We touched on four key topics: age verification, feed controls, screen-time features and parental access.
CDT released new research on what teens & parents actually want from social media safety features. CDT’s @mluria.bsky.social & @aliyabhatia.bsky.social found that many policy proposals—like strict age checks or rigid time limits—often feel intrusive, ineffective, or disconnected from family needs.
November 20, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Delighted to share my collaboration with @aliyabhatia.bsky.social on research that grounds online safety debates in what families actually say they need and value. We touched on four key topics: age verification, feed controls, screen-time features and parental access.
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
Horrific and illegal activities are playing out across livestreaming platforms. Research by the Center for Democracy & Technology shows that platforms use three major approaches to address the problem, writes Dhanaraj Thakur. But do they work? Platforms must provide proof of their efficacy, he says.
Livestreaming Platforms Must Demonstrate Their Safety Measures' Effectiveness | TechPolicy.Press
Research by the Center for Democracy & Technology shows that platforms use three major approaches to address this problem, writes Dhanaraj Thakur.
www.techpolicy.press
November 18, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Horrific and illegal activities are playing out across livestreaming platforms. Research by the Center for Democracy & Technology shows that platforms use three major approaches to address the problem, writes Dhanaraj Thakur. But do they work? Platforms must provide proof of their efficacy, he says.
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
New report alert🚨🚨 Political influencers aren’t quite activists, media, or advertisers. So what are they? How do social media policies and government regulations apply?
🧵 on this transformative trend in democracy and politics:
cdt.org/insights/arc...
🧵 on this transformative trend in democracy and politics:
cdt.org/insights/arc...
Architects of Online Influence: How Creators, Platforms, and Policymakers Shape Political Speech
[ PDF version ] A social media creator gave gifts worth tens of thousands of dollars to Donald Trump during a livestream ahead of the 2024 presidential election. A progressive influencer ranted in a v...
cdt.org
November 13, 2025 at 9:20 PM
New report alert🚨🚨 Political influencers aren’t quite activists, media, or advertisers. So what are they? How do social media policies and government regulations apply?
🧵 on this transformative trend in democracy and politics:
cdt.org/insights/arc...
🧵 on this transformative trend in democracy and politics:
cdt.org/insights/arc...
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
AI systems can unintentionally worsen mental health issues — including eating disorders. CDT’s new report, From Symptoms to Systems, maps out 6 key ways generative AI may contribute to eating disorder-related harms and offers guidance for developers, clinicians & caregivers. cdt.org/insights/fro...
November 10, 2025 at 8:55 PM
AI systems can unintentionally worsen mental health issues — including eating disorders. CDT’s new report, From Symptoms to Systems, maps out 6 key ways generative AI may contribute to eating disorder-related harms and offers guidance for developers, clinicians & caregivers. cdt.org/insights/fro...
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
Interested in #TechPolicy #internships? Join us at @cdt.org next summer! Several options: Legal, research, comms, etc.
cdt.org/careers/
cdt.org/careers/
Careers
Current Openingsfind yourself engaged in passionate discussions about privacy policies? Are you yearning to put your expertise to work on internet neutrality legislation? If so, you might be a great f...
cdt.org
November 10, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Interested in #TechPolicy #internships? Join us at @cdt.org next summer! Several options: Legal, research, comms, etc.
cdt.org/careers/
cdt.org/careers/
Incredibly well-argued piece countering Haidt's Anxious Generation written with such passion and care from youth advocate Maximilian Milovidov. "Could it be that our phones became mirrors of a broken adult world, not the cause of its fractures?" joanganzcooneycenter.org/2025/11/06/w...
We're Not The Anxious Generation
In his best-selling book, The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt argues that smartphones have “rewired” childhood and broken a generation. He calls Gen-Z the least flourishing generation in modern hi...
joanganzcooneycenter.org
November 10, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Incredibly well-argued piece countering Haidt's Anxious Generation written with such passion and care from youth advocate Maximilian Milovidov. "Could it be that our phones became mirrors of a broken adult world, not the cause of its fractures?" joanganzcooneycenter.org/2025/11/06/w...
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
In CDT’s latest blog, Andy Crawford explains why it’s time for Congress and US DOT to step up and protect travelers’ privacy — even at 30,000 feet.
Totally Exposed at 30,000 Feet
Airlines know an awful lot about their customers. They know where they travel to and from and when they do it. They know their names, contact information, frequent flyer numbers, credit card numbers, and details from travel documents like driver’s licenses or passports. They collect data about individual passengers’ meal preferences, seat assignments, and the […]
cdt.org
November 6, 2025 at 8:49 PM
In CDT’s latest blog, Andy Crawford explains why it’s time for Congress and US DOT to step up and protect travelers’ privacy — even at 30,000 feet.
"It turns out you can’t rely on your citizenship or legal status to save you — whether you’re grabbed off the street and held in ICE detention could be determined by the whims of erratic AI software." Read my colleague @jakelaperruque.bsky.social www.techpolicy.press/ices-reckles...
ICE’s Reckless Reliance on Facial Recognition Puts Us All In Danger | TechPolicy.Press
Jake Laperruque raises the alarm on ICE’s reckless use of facial recognition and its risks for wrongful detainment.
www.techpolicy.press
November 6, 2025 at 2:45 PM
"It turns out you can’t rely on your citizenship or legal status to save you — whether you’re grabbed off the street and held in ICE detention could be determined by the whims of erratic AI software." Read my colleague @jakelaperruque.bsky.social www.techpolicy.press/ices-reckles...
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
MUST READ: CDT’s @aliyabhatia.bsky.social & @npdoty.techpolicy.social.ap.brid.gy propose safeguards that should accompany mandates to deploy age assurance mechanisms to mitigate risks to users’ rights, along with privacy-preserving alternatives to age verification.
Mitigating risk to rights with age verification: Privacy-preserving guardrails that should accompany deployments of age verification approaches
Around the world, age verification tools are popping up more and more frequently. In the UK, in the aftermath of the enactment of the Online Safety Act, users have been required to to submit identity documents or have their faces scanned to access not just adult-content providers and even certain other online content on services […]
cdt.org
October 31, 2025 at 7:30 PM
MUST READ: CDT’s @aliyabhatia.bsky.social & @npdoty.techpolicy.social.ap.brid.gy propose safeguards that should accompany mandates to deploy age assurance mechanisms to mitigate risks to users’ rights, along with privacy-preserving alternatives to age verification.
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
Treating facial recognition as a definitive ID is at odds with virtually every law enforcement agency in America that has policies & procedures for using the tech.
Don't treat a match as a defintive ID is perhaps the most basic rule of the tech, including by DHS. These actions violate agency rules:
Don't treat a match as a defintive ID is perhaps the most basic rule of the tech, including by DHS. These actions violate agency rules:
October 29, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Treating facial recognition as a definitive ID is at odds with virtually every law enforcement agency in America that has policies & procedures for using the tech.
Don't treat a match as a defintive ID is perhaps the most basic rule of the tech, including by DHS. These actions violate agency rules:
Don't treat a match as a defintive ID is perhaps the most basic rule of the tech, including by DHS. These actions violate agency rules:
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
A chilling story about an ex-partner weaponizing Apple's family sharing. www.wired.com/story/apples...
This happened with AirTags and connected car services (see @kashhill.bsky.social). And apparently it's hard to ditch the primary account holder when they're no longer part of the family.
This happened with AirTags and connected car services (see @kashhill.bsky.social). And apparently it's hard to ditch the primary account holder when they're no longer part of the family.
October 29, 2025 at 11:46 AM
A chilling story about an ex-partner weaponizing Apple's family sharing. www.wired.com/story/apples...
This happened with AirTags and connected car services (see @kashhill.bsky.social). And apparently it's hard to ditch the primary account holder when they're no longer part of the family.
This happened with AirTags and connected car services (see @kashhill.bsky.social). And apparently it's hard to ditch the primary account holder when they're no longer part of the family.
Humbled to be on a panel with truly inspirational leaders tomorrow talking about the flawed and prejudicial beliefs underpinning social media monitoring technologies and the chilling effects of using this tech to surveil immigrants (and the citizens the tech dragnet inevitably catches too). Tune in!
Starting tomorrow! Join CDT & Stand Together Trust for The Age of Constitutional Evasion: Jawboning and Other Forms of Government Pressure to Control Private Speech — a 2-day virtual event exploring free expression & government influence online.
📅 Oct 28–29 | 12–3 PM ET
🔗 standtogether.swoogo...
📅 Oct 28–29 | 12–3 PM ET
🔗 standtogether.swoogo...
October 28, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Humbled to be on a panel with truly inspirational leaders tomorrow talking about the flawed and prejudicial beliefs underpinning social media monitoring technologies and the chilling effects of using this tech to surveil immigrants (and the citizens the tech dragnet inevitably catches too). Tune in!
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
I receive so many questions about what research in civil society is like -- Join our virtual panel to hear more about exactly that! @cdt.org @datasociety.bsky.social @aclu.org
With @thakurdhanaraj.bsky.social @alicetiara.bsky.social and @mkgerchick.bsky.social
To register:
cdt.org/event/advoca...
With @thakurdhanaraj.bsky.social @alicetiara.bsky.social and @mkgerchick.bsky.social
To register:
cdt.org/event/advoca...
Advocating with Evidence: Lessons for Tech Researchers in Civil Society
Advocating with Evidence: Lessons for Tech Researchers in Civil Society November 13, 2025, 10-11am ET online Civil society is struggling to address how technology and the tech industry contribute to e...
cdt.org
October 27, 2025 at 5:54 PM
I receive so many questions about what research in civil society is like -- Join our virtual panel to hear more about exactly that! @cdt.org @datasociety.bsky.social @aclu.org
With @thakurdhanaraj.bsky.social @alicetiara.bsky.social and @mkgerchick.bsky.social
To register:
cdt.org/event/advoca...
With @thakurdhanaraj.bsky.social @alicetiara.bsky.social and @mkgerchick.bsky.social
To register:
cdt.org/event/advoca...
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
"Today, as we see the American civic space becoming more hostile to protest, and weapons of state power wielded aggressively against dissenting views, it is time once again to demonstrate that Canada’s Charter values are distinct, by recognizing the importance of protest to our democratic order."
Opinion: Bill C-9 puts Canadians’ Charter rights in peril
The Combatting Hate Act is far too broad in the powers it grants to police and prosecutors in dealing with protests
www.theglobeandmail.com
October 27, 2025 at 4:56 PM
"Today, as we see the American civic space becoming more hostile to protest, and weapons of state power wielded aggressively against dissenting views, it is time once again to demonstrate that Canada’s Charter values are distinct, by recognizing the importance of protest to our democratic order."
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
Online censorship is one of the many levers of state power right-wingers have been pulling to try and snuff out queer and trans existence. But instead of fighting back, some Democrats are helping them at the controls. Read the full #OpEd from @fightforthefuture.org
Why Are Some Democrats Backing MAGA's Anti-LGBTQ+ Censorship?
From late-night host cancellations to removing LGBTQ+ history from government sites, politicians in both parties are contributing to the overwriting of the internet — a place where lots of queer and t...
www.teenvogue.com
October 24, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Online censorship is one of the many levers of state power right-wingers have been pulling to try and snuff out queer and trans existence. But instead of fighting back, some Democrats are helping them at the controls. Read the full #OpEd from @fightforthefuture.org
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
The federal government "jawbones" private companies by pressuring them to silence voices they can’t legally censor themselves, and Big Tech has erased ICE‑watching apps and an ICE-Sighting Chicago Facebook group.
The full story: lataco.com/big-tech-ice
By Nik Venet
The full story: lataco.com/big-tech-ice
By Nik Venet
October 21, 2025 at 11:14 PM
The federal government "jawbones" private companies by pressuring them to silence voices they can’t legally censor themselves, and Big Tech has erased ICE‑watching apps and an ICE-Sighting Chicago Facebook group.
The full story: lataco.com/big-tech-ice
By Nik Venet
The full story: lataco.com/big-tech-ice
By Nik Venet
one day I will learn how to spell jeopardize correctly in the first go
October 21, 2025 at 5:21 PM
one day I will learn how to spell jeopardize correctly in the first go
Not a zoho ad on a dc bus
October 18, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Not a zoho ad on a dc bus
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
BREAKING from PP
We found immigration agents have held more than 170 *citizens*
The govt doesn't track citizens held. So we did. We tallied:
Nearly 20 kids, two w/ cancer
More than 20 citizens held for day or more, incommunicado
www.propublica.org/article/immi...
by @nicolefoy.bsky.social
We found immigration agents have held more than 170 *citizens*
The govt doesn't track citizens held. So we did. We tallied:
Nearly 20 kids, two w/ cancer
More than 20 citizens held for day or more, incommunicado
www.propublica.org/article/immi...
by @nicolefoy.bsky.social
More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.
The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...
www.propublica.org
October 16, 2025 at 4:06 PM
BREAKING from PP
We found immigration agents have held more than 170 *citizens*
The govt doesn't track citizens held. So we did. We tallied:
Nearly 20 kids, two w/ cancer
More than 20 citizens held for day or more, incommunicado
www.propublica.org/article/immi...
by @nicolefoy.bsky.social
We found immigration agents have held more than 170 *citizens*
The govt doesn't track citizens held. So we did. We tallied:
Nearly 20 kids, two w/ cancer
More than 20 citizens held for day or more, incommunicado
www.propublica.org/article/immi...
by @nicolefoy.bsky.social
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
📢 Today, CDT Europe is proud to announce the creation of its new Advisory Council, an exciting milestone for our organisation as we strengthen our work at the intersection of #technology, policy, and democracy in Europe.
👇🏻 Read more on our website: cdt.org/insights/cdt...
👇🏻 Read more on our website: cdt.org/insights/cdt...
CDT Europe Announces Inaugural Advisory Council
The Advisory Council Membersto announce the creation of its new Advisory Council, an exciting milestone for our organisation as we strengthen our work at the intersection of technology, policy, and de...
cdt.org
October 16, 2025 at 9:58 AM
📢 Today, CDT Europe is proud to announce the creation of its new Advisory Council, an exciting milestone for our organisation as we strengthen our work at the intersection of #technology, policy, and democracy in Europe.
👇🏻 Read more on our website: cdt.org/insights/cdt...
👇🏻 Read more on our website: cdt.org/insights/cdt...
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
The perfect coda to this story: after publication, the State Department's press office responded to my questions about the legal basis for revoking visas based on speech. Their response, in full (we were NOT off-record).
October 16, 2025 at 1:52 PM
The perfect coda to this story: after publication, the State Department's press office responded to my questions about the legal basis for revoking visas based on speech. Their response, in full (we were NOT off-record).
Reposted by Aliya Bhatia
I have a lot of respect for Zolan Kanno-Youngs and @haleaziz.bsky.social and have talked to both many times in the past. That the Times lets them be so blunt about what is happening with the U.S. refugee admissions program is a good sign of how much the Trump admin is not even trying to deny it.
October 15, 2025 at 9:19 PM
I have a lot of respect for Zolan Kanno-Youngs and @haleaziz.bsky.social and have talked to both many times in the past. That the Times lets them be so blunt about what is happening with the U.S. refugee admissions program is a good sign of how much the Trump admin is not even trying to deny it.