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New report on The State of Independent Technology Research

  • 1.  New report on The State of Independent Technology Research

    Posted 08-19-2025 11:50
    With apologies for cross-postings, I wanted to share a new report that is likely to be relevant to many ICA scholars, across multiple divisions and request your help circulating widely.

    The Coalition for Independent Technology Research (CITR) today released its inaugural report "The State of Independent Technology Research 2025: Power in Numbers," showing how the collapse of support for public-interest research is a threat to not only the researchers behind the work, but people's deeper understanding of the technology shaping their everyday lives. The report serves as both an accountability check on the tech industry and a call to arms for researchers. 
    From shrinking funding and institutional censorship to legal threats, harassment and surveillance, the report is a glaring signal that the public infrastructure needed to study technology's impact is under attack. This comes at a time when trillion-dollar technology companies have outsized influence on how we learn, work, communicate and govern. While their power grows, the resources to study their impact and hold them accountable have dissipated.
    The report surveyed independent researchers behind some of the most important tech accountability stories-from harms to children's mental health, to algorithmic bias, to AI's risks to labor and civil rights-and found they are often underfunded, lacking infrastructure, and exposed to risk. The report draws on dozens of interviews, surveys, and case studies from across six continents to document an unprecedented crisis facing independent technology research.
    Key Findings: These statistics signal the systematic erosion of independent oversight over the most powerful technologies in human history.
    • Barriers to Information: Researchers report barriers to accessing the data essential for studying how technology affects society. 60% face barriers accessing the data essential for studying how technology affects society
    • Funding Collapse: Philanthropy and public funding are insufficient in comparison to industry-dominated research agendas and funding, leaving critical areas unstudied. 85% of researchers identify funding as their most significant challenge, with many forced to choose between research independence and financial survival
    • Retaliation and Risk: Researchers face personal and professional retribution including harassment and legal threats, both from the technology industry and political actors. Nearly 70% of respondents report safety or security threats once unimaginable in our field.

    The Coalition for Independent Technology Research is not idly standing by. Coalition members are building collective power to defend the right to research and free information. Through coordinated advocacy, mutual aid, cross-border solidarity and public education, Coalition members work together to ensure that public interest technology researchers are protected, supported, and free to ask the hard questions, so that knowledge about technology's impacts isn't controlled by corporations, but belongs to the public.

    Read the full report here. And please help us circulate these important findings.

    --
    Dr. Rebekah Tromble
    Professor of Political Science and Computer Science, Northeastern University |
    Director of Global Partnerships, Institute for Information, the Internet & Democracy, Northeastern University |

    Co-founder, Executive Board Member, Coalition for Independent Technology Research |
    Co-founder, Expert Voices Together |


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