SEMINAR: Safety in the Making: Advancing Safety Governance for Online Communities
Guest: Jingjie Li, University of Edinburgh
Title: Safety in the Making: Advancing Safety Governance for Online Communities (IE, EE, CS, DS)
Date/Time: March 25, 13:40
Location: https://sabanciuniv.
Abstract: Internet users enjoy interacting on emerging digital mediums which carry complex online safety implications that users often struggle to assess and account for. In this talk, I will present insights from our prior and on-going efforts in understanding users’ privacy and safety considerations in online communities. The talk will first discuss our work that characterizes online community responses to scam-driven human trafficking, which receives a Best Paper Award at ACM CHI 2026. Scam-driven cross-border human trafficking in China has becomes a long-standing societal crisis. By analyzing community responses on RedNote, a major Chinese social media platform, our findings reveal several key issues, including cultural values that enable trafficking also hinder their recovery. While communities present protective strategies, efforts are complicated by doubts about the reliability of support and cross-border coordination. We will also discuss key implications for prevention, platform governance, and international cooperation against scam-driven trafficking. Next, I will discuss several opportunities to proactively govern online communities, drawing insights from our work on social media and gaming platforms. Finally, I will reflect on methodological lessons from our research to spark discussions around future opportunities in this space.
Bio: Jingjie Li is a Lecturer in the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh. His work spans privacy, security, and online safety, with the goal of seamlessly integrating these principles into emerging human-centered technologies such as smart homes, augmented and virtual reality, and AI-enabled systems. He published impactful work at premier conferences in security and privacy (IEEE S&P, USENIX Security, and ACM CCS), human-computer interaction (ACM CHI and ACM CSCW), and computer systems (IEEE/ACM ISCA, IEEE TMC and IEEE TVLSI). His interdisciplinary work received multiple best paper and design contest awards and has informed industry development and policymaking with key stakeholders across countries, including Meta and US FTC. Before joining the University of Edinburgh, Jingjie obtained a Ph.D. degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2023.