Online Influencers, Politics and Free Speech

Organized by the Columbia Global Paris Center, Columbia SIPA Technology Policy and Innovation, Columbia World Projects, and The Centre for Media, Technology, and Democracy at McGill University.

To be notified of upcoming Paris Global Center events, we invite you to sign up for our monthly newsletter.

—

This panel will examine the powerful role of online influencers in contemporary politics. Our globally-renowned experts will discuss the lessons that journalists can learn from how influencers do their work, European regulations about how influencers disclose their payments and funding and examples of where influencers online have affected politics and policy offline.

Join us for a vigorous and thought-provoking conversation about the growing and powerful force of online conversation.

Speakers

• Julia Angwin, Founder and CEO, Proof News

Julia Angwin is an award-winning investigative journalist, a bestselling author, a New York Times contributing Opinion writer and the founding director of the Independent Media + Audience Project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. Her forthcoming book, with co-author Ami Fields-Meyer, “On Courage: How to be a Dissident in an Age of Fear,” is scheduled to be published in June 2026 by Mariner Books.

• Eric Munch, Legal Analyst, European Audiovisual Observatory

Eric Munch joined the Department for Legal Information in September 2022, after having previously been involved with the EPRA Secretariat. He is involved in maintaining and updating the Observatory’s AVMSDatabase for national transpositions of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, by coordinating exchanges with experts and the European Commission. 

• Taylor Owen, Beaverbrook Chair in Media, Ethics and Communication at McGill University

Taylor Owen is the Beaverbrook Chair in Media, Ethics and Communications, the founding director of The Center for Media, Technology and Democracy, and an Associate Professor in the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University. He is the host of the Big Tech podcast, a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Governance Innovation, a Fellow at the Public Policy Forum, and sits on the Governing Council of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

• Alice Cappelle, Video journalist and content creator
• Allia Mohamed, Co-Founder, Open Igloo

Allia Mohamed is the co-founder and CEO of Openigloo, a housing transparency platform focused on helping renters find quality apartments from reputable landlords. She is also a housing-focused digital creator with more than 200,000 followers, sharing market insights, renter education, and practical housing guidance that has been cited by The New York Times, Bloomberg, and Forbes. Based in Brooklyn, Allia brings over a decade of experience in finance, venture capital, and consulting. She holds a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Commerce from Dalhousie University.

Moderator

• Emily Bell, Director, Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Columbia School of Journalism

Emily Bell is founding director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia Journalism School and a leading thinker, commentator and strategist on digital journalism. She is co-author of “Post Industrial Journalism: Adapting to the Present” (2012) with CW Anderson and Clay Shirky. Bell is a trustee on the board of the Scott Trust, the owners of The Guardian, a member of Columbia Journalism Review’s board of overseers, an adviser to Tamedia Group in Switzerland, has served as chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Advisory Council on social media, and has served as a member of Poynter’s National Advisory Board.

—

This event will take place in Reid Hall’s Grande Salle Ginsberg-LeClerc, built in 1912 and extensively renovated in 2023 thanks to the generous support of Judith Ginsberg and Paul LeClerc.

Reid Hall, the Columbia Global Paris Center, and the Institute for Ideas and Imagination are not responsible for the views and opinions expressed by their speakers and guests.