Rebekah Larsen

Rebekah Larsen is a media sociologist and assistant professor in Comparative Media Studies/Writing. Her work uncovers and analyzes understudied media ecosystems, with special attention to sociotechnical change and power relations within these systems. Recent scholarly sites of inquiry include conservative talk radio stations in rural Utah (and ethnographic work in conservative spaces); the new global network of fact checkers funded by social media platform content moderation contracts; and search engine manipulation of journalists and activists around a controversial 2010s privacy regulation. Her publications have variously addressed leaked personal data from platform whistleblowers; tradeoffs in platform-journalist partnerships; and changes in the fact-checking field around publics and technologies.

Larsen completed her PhD in sociology at Cambridge University. She also holds affiliations with Harvard Law School’s Berkman Klein Center and Cambridge University’s Centre for Governance and Human Rights.