Robert W Gehl

Popular Publications

I've written for a range of publications in order to share my research with the public.

• 2022. “Elon Musk’s stance on free speech doesn’t include competition to Twitter.” Toronto Star. 18 December.
• 2022. “Canada’s public broadcaster should use Mastodon to provide a social media service.” The Conversation. 8 November.
• 2022. “Citizens’ social media can provide an antidote to propaganda and disinformation.” The Conversation. 25 October.
• 2022. With Sean Lawson. “Masters of Crowds: The Rise of Mass Social Engineering.” MIT Press Reader. 29 June.
• 2022. McCammon, Muira, Diami Virgilio, Cody Ogden, Kevin Ackermann, Ethan Zuckerman, Robert Gehl, Saima Akhtar, et al. “Dead-and-Dying Platforms: A Roundtable.” Internet Histories 0 (0): 1–17.
• 2022. With Sean Lawson. “Target Practice.” Real Life. 7 April.
• 2021. “Cracking Open the Android/iOS Grip on Smartphones and the Mobile Internet.” The Reboot. 29 Jul.
• 2021. “The Internet’s Weakest Link: DNS and the Risks of Consolidation.” The Reboot. 29 Apr.
• 2021. With Ugochukwu Etudo and Jeremy Blackburn. “Does ‘deplatforming’ work to curb hate speech and calls for violence? 3 experts in online communications weigh in.” 15 Jan. The Conversation
• 2020. “Creating Decentralized Social Media Alternatives to Facebook and Twitter.” The Reboot. 28 Dec.
• 2020. “Trashing the Phone Company with Suzy Thunder.” Hack Curio.
• 2020. "Hacker Tools: Cake and Balloons." Hack Curio.
• 2018. “Illuminating the Dark Web.” The Conversation. 30 October.
• 2017. "Legitimizing the Dark Web: The New York Times's Tor Hidden Service." Culture Digitally.
• Fembot Collective and Robert W. Gehl, 2017. "4 Ways Feminists Can Protect Themselves Online." Ms. Magazine Blog.
• Gehl, R.W., 2017. "Proactive Paranoia." Real Life. 24 August.
• Gehl, R.W. and Julie Snyder-Yuly, 2016. "The Need for Alternative Social Media." Democratic Communique.
• Gehl, R.W., 2015. "Socializing the Dark Web." The New Inquiry.
• Gehl, R.W., 2014. "Ello isn't the Facebook Alternative You Were Promised. The Week.
• Gehl, R.W., 2014. "Social Networking on the Dark Web." Culture Digitally.
• Gehl, R.W., 2014. "Robot 'pals' are invading social media — and it's time to unfriend them." The Week
• Gehl, R.W. and Boyle, Casey. 2014. "Cookie Cutters." The New Inquiry "Consent" issue.
• Gehl, R.W., 2014. "The Online Cookie has Turned Stale." The Week.
• Gehl, R.W., 2014. "Google Glass: A Mind-Meld with the Surveillance State." The Week.
• Gehl, R.W., 2013. "Open Access 2: The Revenge." Edges.
• Gehl, R.W., 2013. "Beware an Internet for All." Salt Lake Tribune.
• Gehl, R.W., 2013. "What Socialbots Tell Us About Social Media." Culture Digitally.
• Gehl, R.W., 2013. "A history of Like." The New Inquiry.
• Gehl, R.W., 2013. "Getting to Tenure and Sanity with a Spreadsheet: One Writing Group's Tale." Red Thread.
• Gehl, R.W., 2012. "Mapping and Counter-Mapping Facebook." Social Text Blog.
• Gehl, R.W., 2010. "The Year Anonymity Came Under Attack (for some of us)." Red Thread.
• Gehl, R.W., 2010. "The Digital Divide." The Rotarian, June.
• Gehl, R.W., 2010. "The Girls Have Caught Up to the Boys." In Media Res.
• Gehl, R.W., 2004. "The Box Office Ballot: The Passion of the Christ and the Bush Campaign." Clamor Communiques, #50.