Elizabeth Stewart

My current research focuses on connecting current issues in the ethics of Artificial Intelligence to the philosophical literature on trust and trustworthiness. I am also interested broadly in the ethics of new technologies, techno-moral virtues, and the ethics and epistemology of online mis/disinformation.

More concretely, I am working on several interdisciplinary projects related to the epistemology of fact-checking with an eye towards understanding how content moderation algorithms can better facilitate trust in trustworthy information sources. Social media companies have tested several strategies for incorporating fact-checking into their content moderation practices, including hiring third-party professional fact-checkers and using user-generated fact-checks. My research aims to understand how these strategies differ epistemically. Currently, the questions I am addressing in my research include: What role should fact checking play in social media content moderation? How do fact checkers reach their verdicts, and how does their work contribute to the online epistemic landscape? Are they trustworthy? Should we rely on algorithms to help improve these epistemic landscapes? How can we be responsible consumers of online content? 

I have previous published papers on content moderation, the dynamics of trust relationships, and trust in science.