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June 27 + 28 | A hybrid conference convened at the University of Amsterdam. Digitization is transforming intimate practices around the globe. The expansive reach of digital connectivity is reorganizing public/private, global/local boundaries, and pushing beyond dominant Western understandings of intimacy. Digital platforms and mobile apps—Facebook, Tiktok, Instagram, WeChat, WhatsApp, Tinder, Tantan, Blued, and Chaturbate—have…

Apryl Williams opened a Tinder account in 2013 and began wondering about the algorithms used by dating apps, how they selected potential matches, and what role race may play in the system. Now, after nearly 10 years of research, the Black sociologist who studies race, gender, and popular culture has written a book about her findings,…

Hundreds of millions of people use dating apps to find love, but what goes on behind the screens to prompt connection and safeguard users’ personal information? Join Sr. Mozilla Fellow and University of Michigan Professor Apryl Williams and Zoe MacDonald from our *Privacy Not Included team as we discuss the role race-based discrimination plays in…

“Online dating as a black woman is a unique experience. Black women are often over-targeted by those seeking exoticism, yet we are told that we are the least desired dating demographic. I wondered how dating apps’ algorithms reconciled my blackness: was I being placed in match decks because of my blackness or despite it? It also sparked another question:…

Please join us at 2:30 PM EST on Thursday, March 7, 2024, for this very special book talk, hosted by the DSI’s very own Professor Apryl Williams! This will be a hybrid event, with both in-person and virtual registration options available.  Click here for hybrid and in-person registration details.

“Williams, a professor of communications and digital studies at the University of Michigan, debuts with a troubling investigation of structural racism in online dating platforms. Drawing on interviews with users, data and public statements provided by platforms, and studies conducted by herself and others, Williams shows how these platforms’ algorithms, through the ranking and sorting…

Apryl Williams explains why racial bias plays an integral role in how people are matched on dating apps

Utah State University