Apryl A. Williams

Apryl A. Williams is Assistant Professor of Communication & Media and an affiliate of the Digital Studies Institute at the University of Michigan. Williams is also a Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, a Faculty Fellow at the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study and the Notre Dame Technology Ethics Center, and an affiliated researcher at NYU's Center for Critical Race & Digital Studies. 

As a multidisciplinary scholar, Williams studies the experience of race and racism in digital spaces. In her forthcoming book, Call Me Master: Race, Gender & Algorithmic Inequality, she argues that dating platforms facilitate sexual racism and questions the degree to which dating apps are responsible for negative experiences of marginalized users. This work also interrogates user agency when using match-making algorithms and highlights the experiences of people of color as they navigate the ever-changing social rules that govern online dating. 

Williams' previous work has been published in leading interdisciplinary journals including Social Media + Society, Information, Communication & Society, Ethnicities, the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, the International Journal of Communication, and the Sociology of Race and Ethnicity. She also serves as Series Editor of Emerald Studies in Media and Communications where she has co-edited five books on aspects of digital culture such as international media flows, digital inequalities, and digital publics. Her research has also been covered in popular press outlets including Time Magazine, Newsweek, Slate, NPR’s On the Media, and The Guardian.