Hi there!

I'm Louisa Bartolo. I use this website as a home for my various writings on tech policy issues during my time as a PhD researcher.

I read for a PhD at the Digital Media Research Centre (Queensland University of Technology), where I specialised in the policies surrounding digital platforms' algorithmic recommender systems. My thesis recently underwent examination and was nominated for an outstanding doctoral thesis award.

I've got a background in the social and political sciences (BA, University of Cambridge) and international public policy (MSc, University College London) and have 5 years of experience in management consulting and charity roles.

Op-eds/ media

Bartolo, L.; Carlon, D. & Giansiracusa, N. (2023). Lawsuits aren't the best way to keep the tech industry honest. The Washington Post. Link

Bartolo, L.; Carlon, D. & Giansiracusa, N. (2023). We need a better way to find AI's dangerous flaws. Fast Company. Link

Essays

Orlando-Salling, J. & Bartolo, L. (2023). The Digital Services Act as seen from the European Periphery. DSA Observatory. Link

Arcamona, L.; Bartolo, L.; Lee, Y.; Shirazyan, S. (2023). Exploring Tradeoffs in Ranking and Recommendation Algorithms. Lawfare. Link

Bartolo, L. & Matamoros-Fernandez, A. (2023). Online Harms. Yale ISP, Link

Bartolo, L. & Thomas, R. (2022). Qualitative humanities research is crucial to ethical AI. fast.ai, Link

Thomas, R. & Bartolo, L. (2022). AI Harms are Societal, Not Just Individual. fast.ai, Link

Peer reviewed journal articles

Burgess, J., Bartolo, L., Gray, J., Hutchinson, J., Kaye, D. B. V., Matamoros-Fernandez, A., Pappalardo, K., & Wikstrom, P. (2024). ‘Diversity’ as multidisciplinary keyword for the politics of cultural recommender systems in global digital media platforms. International Journal of Cultural Studies. Link

Matamoros-Fernández, A.; Bartolo, L. & Alpert, B. (2024). Acting like a bot as a defiance of platform power: Examining YouTubers’ patterns of ‘inauthentic’ behaviour on Twitter during COVID-19. New Media & Society, Link

Bartolo, L. What does 'good' curation look like? Keynote for workshop at ACM RecSys 2023, Link.

Matamoros-Fernández, A.; Bartolo, L. & Troynar, L. (2023). Humour as an online safety issue: Exploring solutions to help platforms better address this form of expression. Internet Policy Review, 12(1). Link

Matamoros-Fernández, A.; Gray, J.E.; Bartolo, L.; Burgess, J. & Suzor, N. (2021). What’s ‘up next’? Investigating algorithmic recommendations on YouTube across issues and over time, Media and Communication, 9(4). Link

Bartolo, L. (2021) ‘Eyes wide open to the context of content’: Reimagining the hate speech policies of social media platforms through a substantive equality lens, Renewal, 29(2), 39-51. Link

Consultations

One of eight named experts who fed into the Australian eSafety Commissioner's position statement on recommender systems and algorithms (2022). Link

Co-authored DMRC Submission in response to the exposure draft of the Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2023. Link