Dear colleagues, The University of Virginia School of Data Science, in partnership with the Digital Technology for Democracy Lab, is pleased to announce the third session of the Gender & Tech Online Talk Series, which will take place on August 28, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. (EDT). The “Platform Governance” session will discuss free speech regulation, activism, and platform policies. Speakers will be encouraged to address the role that feminist labor activism and policy reforms play in creating platforms that prioritize social justice and human rights, the prevalent perspectives on freedom of expression in social media governance, the way cultural norms and systemic biases in tech influence freedom of expression online, and the necessary reforms to advance minorities’ participation in platform governance from an STS education and practice perspective. We are honoured to welcome two keynote speakers: Julie Owono (Internet Sans Frontières & Meta Oversight Board) Coleen Carrigan (UVA Engineering). The webinar is free and open to the public. You can register here: https://virginia.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XBBg61Y2QzWMWpGN__9z0g#/registr... The Gender & Tech Online Talk Series brings together leading scholars, advocates, and practitioners to examine the intersections of gender, technology, democracy, and human rights. Its purpose is to critically explore how digital platforms and technological infrastructures impact women, queer, and gender-diverse individuals, while also identifying pathways toward more inclusive, rights-based models of digital governance. We invite everyone interested in advancing equity and justice in digital governance to participate in this important conversation. The series is co-organized by Yasmin Curzi and Jess Reia and sponsored by the UVA School of Data Science and DTD Lab. Please feel free to circulate this announcement within your networks. Thank you! Jess and Yasmin *Jess Reia, Ph.D. (they/them)* Andrew Carnegie Fellow <https://www.carnegie.org/awards/honoree/jess-reia/> Assistant Professor of Data Science Faculty co-lead, Digital Technology for Democracy Lab <https://karshinstitute.virginia.edu/digital-technology-democracy-lab>, University of Virginia Visiting Scholar, Institute for Global Public Policy <https://igpp.fudan.edu.cn/igppen/main.htm>, Fudan University 2024-2025 Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Democracy & Technology <https://cdt.org/> <https://karshinstitute.virginia.edu/> New book: Urban Music Governance <https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/U/bo245009492.html> <https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/U/bo245009492.html>