Social Media Platform Design, Algorithmic Systems, and Digital Harm: A Virtual Judicial Training for Judges and Law Clerks
Prepare for the social media algorithm issues already reaching courts
Courts are increasingly asked to evaluate claims involving harms happening to social media users – especially young people. This training explains social media platform design, algorithmic recommendation systems, and alleged harms they are causing to children. It provides a practical, legal framework for judicial evaluation, including core concepts in evidence and causation of harm, and how legal theories of products liability and speech protection may apply.
What the Training Covers
• How engagement-based algorithms work in social media feeds—and how platform design features shape user behavior (e.g., infinite scroll, autoplay, notifications)
• Predictable patterns of alleged harm (exposure, escalation, and engagement-related harms)
• Evidence and causation: correlation vs. causation and limits of available research and platform data
• Legal doctrines courts are applying, including First Amendment considerations and Section 230
• Judicial tools and guardrails (expert testimony, amicus briefs, independent risk audits, and more)
Who Should Attend
The training was expressly designed for federal and state court judges and law clerks, but everyone is welcome to attend.
Format
Expert presentations, brief anonymous polls, guided discussion, and live Q&A with the virtual audience; session recorded with an edited version shared excluding discussions, chat, and audience attendee names.
Agenda at a Glance
- 12:00–1:20 PM ET — Expert presentations, anonymous polls, and guided discussion
- 1:20–1:30 PM ET — Break
- 1:30–3:00 PM ET — Expert presentations, anonymous polls, guided discussion, wrap-up, and live Q&A
Support
This training is free to attend thanks to support from the American Association for Justice Robert L. Habush Endowment and the Becca Schmill Foundation.
Speaker Information
- Nancy Costello, JD – Clinical Professor of Law; Director, First Amendment Law Clinic, Michigan State University College of Law; Director, McLellan Free Speech Online Library.
- S. Bryn Austin, ScD – Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School; S. Jean Emans, MD, Endowed Chair in Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital; Research Scientist in the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital
- Jacob Appel, MPA – Chief Strategist, ORCAA Collaborative Expert Assistance Network
- Jill R. Kavanaugh, MLIS – Program Manager, Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders; Boston Children’s Hospital
- Kylee Nemetz, JD – Litigation Attorney
ⓘ Harvard Chan School hosts a diverse array of speakers, invited to share both scholarly research and personal perspectives. They do not speak for the School, and hosting them does not imply endorsement of their views, organizations, or employers.