About
Social media giants are eroding our consensus reality and pushing democracy to the brink. Accountable Tech is fighting back.
The Problem We Face Today
Major social media platforms serve as information gatekeepers, putting awesome power in the hands of tech giants with little oversight. These companies – like Facebook and Google – were not fundamentally designed to serve the public good, but to generate growth and profits.
Their surveillance advertising business model relies on harvesting and monetizing data, so they developed products and algorithms to maximize engagement. Those algorithms reward outrageous content, reinforce biases irrespective of truth, and filter like-minded individuals into small echo chambers.
Moreover, bad actors are weaponizing these data-rich platforms to manipulate users – be it to suppress voters, prey on consumers, or promote extremism. Democracy requires a shared baseline of facts. But this online information landscape is instead creating a toxic patchwork of personalized pseudo-realities.
Accountable Tech is working to bring about long-term structural reform to tackle the existential threat social media companies pose to our information ecosystem and democracy.
Our Leadership
Nicole Gill
CO-FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Nicole Gill is Co-founder and Executive Director of Accountable Tech where she leads organizational development and strategy to tackle digital threats to democracy. Before founding Accountable Tech, Nicole led national campaigns on marriage equality, progressive tax reform, and protecting the Affordable Care Act. She has extensive experience building and leading coalitions that win in Congress, in state houses, at the Supreme Court, and at the ballot box.
Jesse Lehrich
CO-FOUNDER AND SENIOR ADVISOR
Jesse is a co-founder of Accountable Tech. He has a decade of experience in political communications and issue advocacy, including serving as the foreign policy spokesman for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, where he was part of the team managing the response to Russia’s information warfare operation.
