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Danielle Citron

Faculty Associate

Danielle Citron is a Professor of Law at Boston University School of Law where she teaches and writes about privacy, free speech, and civil procedure.

Her book Hate Crimes in Cyberspace (Harvard University Press) was named one of the “20 Best Moments for Women in 2014” by Cosmopolitan magazine. Danielle’s scholarship has appeared in the Yale Law Journal, California Law Review (twice), Michigan Law Review (twice), Boston University Law Review (three times), Notre Dame Law Review (twice), Fordham Law Review (twice), George Washington Law Review, Minnesota Law Review, Texas Law Review, Washington University Law Review (three times), Southern California Law Review, Washington & Lee Law Review, Wake Forest Law Review, Washington Law Review (twice), UC Davis Law Review and other journals. Danielle has written opinion pieces for The New York Times, The Atlantic, Slate, Time, CNN, The Guardian, New Scientist, Lawfare, ars technica, Forbes, New York Daily News. Danielle is the Vice President of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, a nonprofit devoted to the protection of civil rights and liberties in the digital age. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Future of Privacy and on the advisory boards of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center for Technology and Society and Teach Privacy. In connection with her advocacy work, Danielle advises tech companies on online safety. She serves on Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council and Facebook’s Nonconsensual Intimate Imagery Task Force. Danielle is an affiliate scholar at the Stanford Center on Internet and Society, Yale Information Society Project, and NYU’s Policing Project. She is a member of the American Law Institute and served as an adviser to the American Law Institute’s Restatement Third, Information Privacy Principles Project. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the Harvard-MIT AI Fund. Danielle works closely with lawmakers and law enforcers. In June 2019, she testified before the House Intelligence Committee about the challenges of misinformation and deep fakes. She has presented her work at congressional briefings devoted to cyber stalking and violence against women. She has worked with the offices of Congresswoman Jackie Speier, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senator Kamala Harris, and Senator Diane Feinstein on federal legislation. From 2014 to 2016, Danielle served as an advisor to California Attorney General Kamala Harris. She served as a member of AG Harris’s Task Force to Combat Cyber Exploitation and Violence Against Women. Danielle has given over 300 talks, including at federal agencies, National Association of Attorneys General meetings, the National Holocaust Museum, the Anti-Defamation League, Wikimedia Foundation, universities, companies, and think tanks. She is giving a TED talk about deep fakes at the TED Global Summit in July 2019. She appeared in HBO’s Swiped: Hooking Up in the Digital Age (directed by Nancy Jo Sales) and Netizens (which premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, directed by Cynthia Lowen). She has been quoted in hundreds of news stories in publications including The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, National Public Radio, Time, Newsweek, the New Yorker, New York Magazine, Cosmopolitan, HBO’s John Oliver Show, Barron’s, Financial Times, The Guardian, Vice News, and BBC. She is a frequent guest on National Public Radio shows. Before joining BU Law, she taught at the University of Maryland School of Law where she received the 2018 “UMD Champion of Excellence” award for teaching and scholarship. She has been a Visiting Professor at Fordham Law School and George Washington Law School.


Community

The New York Times

Google Seeks to Break Vicious Cycle of Online Slander

Danielle Citron comments on Google’s efforts to reduce slander.

Jun 10, 2021
Wired

Fix Section 230 and hold tech companies to account

Danielle Citron says making social media sites act on content such as nonconsensual porn and violent conspiracies would make the internet more equal and free

May 6, 2021
Democracy in Danger

The Wild We‪b‬

Danielle Citron joins the Democracy in Danger podcast.

Apr 5, 2021
The Washington Post

Danielle Citron on deepfakes

Danielle Citron explains how deepfakes are becoming easier to create and harder to spot

Mar 13, 2021
Slate

The Case for Trump’s Permanent Ban From Social Media

Danielle Citron and colleague argue that Trump should not be allowed back on social media

Feb 5, 2021
Slate

It’s Time to Kick Trump Off Twitter

Danielle Citron says Twitter should change their rules for public officials.

Jan 6, 2021
Lawfare

Cheap Fakes on the Campaign Trail

Danielle Citron joins Lawfare podcast to discuss manipulated video and audio content.

Sep 10, 2020
The New York Times

Facebook Must Better Police Online Hate, State Attorneys General Say

Danielle Citron spoke with The New York Times about Facebook’s hate speech policies.

Aug 5, 2020
Scientific American

A Nixon Deepfake, a 'Moon Disaster' Speech and an Information Ecosystem at Risk

Jonathan Zittrain, Danielle Citron, and Joan Donovan provide expert commentary

Jul 20, 2020
The Markup

What Does President Trump’s “Crackdown” on Twitter Do?

A forthcoming article by Danielle Citron lends insight to this question

Jun 11, 2020
Harvard Law Review Blog

Cyber Civil Rights in the Time of COVID-19

Civil rights protections are as necessary in virtual spaces as in physical ones, Danielle Citron says

May 14, 2020
Lawfare

All’s Clear for Deep Fakes: Think Again

Danielle Citron and colleagues on the significance of deep fakes

May 11, 2020
The Washington Post

Be very wary of Trump’s health surveillance plans

Danielle Citron on why technology’s promise is only as good as those who control it

Apr 16, 2020
New America

Confronting Viral Disinformation

Danielle Citron discusses misinformation about COVID-19

Mar 25, 2020
Slate

Podcast: Election Meltdown

BKC faculty associate Danielle Citron joins former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, director of the ACLU’s voting-rights initiative Dale Ho, and election law…

Feb 22, 2020
BU Today

How Campaigns Can Counter Deepfakes

Danielle Citron devised an eight-point plan for political campaigns to protect against fabricated video and audio

Feb 10, 2020
The Lawfare Podcast

Danielle Citron and evelyn douek on Deep Fakes

evelyn douek spoke with law professors Bobby Chesney and Danielle Citron about deep fakes.

Jan 16, 2020
Business Insider Singapore

Facebook just banned deepfakes, but the policy has loopholes

Danielle Citron advised Facebook on the new policy and sees it as fair, but would like to see more policies banning misleading videos in the future.

Jan 7, 2020
New York Magazine

Danielle Citron on Deepfakes and the Representative Katie Hill Scandal

Danielle Citron reflects on her career, current events, and the future

Oct 31, 2019
MacArthur Foundation

Danielle Citron named a 2019 MacArthur Fellow

Citron addresses the scourge of cyber harassment by raising awareness of the toll it takes on victims

Sep 25, 2019
C-SPAN

Policing User Content on Social Media

Policy experts debate what legal responsibility social media companies should have under the 1996 Communications Decency Act

Sep 6, 2019

Events

Jan 15, 2008 @ 12:30 PM

Technological Due Process

Danielle Citron of the University of Maryland Law School

Danielle Citron discussed her model of procedural regularity and policy-making which updates last century's due process norms for automated systems.