# Zeynep Tufekci

> Zeynep Tufekci is a Turkish-born sociologist, professor at Princeton University, and New York Times opinion columnist who has become one of the world's foremost voices on the intersection of technology and society. Known for being consistently ahead of the curve — predicting Facebook's role in ethnic violence, YouTube's radicalization pipeline, and COVID-19's severity before mainstream institutions caught on — she bridges computer science and humanistic inquiry with a rare clarity. Her 2017 book 'Twitter and Tear Gas' is a landmark study of networked protest, and her Substack newsletter 'Insight' offers rigorous, genuinely open-minded analysis of the hardest puzzles at the edge of science, technology, and democracy.

- **Role:** Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University
- **Organizations:** Princeton University, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Columbia Journalism School, Harvard Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP)
- **From:** Istanbul, Turkey
- **Nationality:** Turkish-American
- **Education:** Undergraduate degree in Computer Programming, Bogazici University, B.A. in Sociology, Istanbul University, M.A. in Radio, Television, and Film, University of Texas at Austin, Ph.D. in Sociology, University of Texas at Austin
- **Known for:** Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, Princeton University (2023), Pulitzer Prize Finalist (2022) for pandemic and culture columns in The New York Times, Inaugural Andrew Carnegie Fellow (2015), selected by Carnegie Corporation of New York

## Career timeline

- **pre-2004** — Worked as a computer programmer for IBM in Turkey
- **2004** — Completed PhD at University of Texas at Austin
- **2005** — Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Maryland Baltimore County
- **2008** — Assistant Professor, University of Maryland Baltimore County
- **2011** — Assistant Professor, UNC Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science
- **2013** — Attended Gezi Park protests in Istanbul; research informing 'Twitter and Tear Gas'
- **2015** — Named inaugural Andrew Carnegie Fellow by Carnegie Corporation of New York
- **2016** — Promoted to Associate Professor with tenure at UNC Chapel Hill
- **2017** — Published 'Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest' (Yale University Press)
- **2019** — Began contributing to The Atlantic
- **2020** — Early COVID-19 warnings published; ordered masks in January 2020 before public health agencies
- **2021** — Became Opinion Columnist for The New York Times
- **2021** — Visited Columbia Journalism School as Visiting Professor; became Inaugural Director, Craig Newmark Center for Journalism Ethics and Security
- **2022** — Named Pulitzer Prize Finalist for pandemic and culture columns
- **2023** — Appointed Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University
- **2026** — Delivered The Baird Lecture at Elon University on AI and society (March 2026)

## Achievements

- Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, Princeton University (2023)
- Pulitzer Prize Finalist (2022) for pandemic and culture columns in The New York Times
- Inaugural Andrew Carnegie Fellow (2015), selected by Carnegie Corporation of New York
- Author of 'Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest' (Yale University Press, 2017)
- Inaugural Director, Craig Newmark Center for Journalism Ethics and Security at Columbia Journalism School
- Three TED Talks with millions of views on technology, society, and ethics
- Founder of 'Insight' Substack newsletter, a pioneering model including 'The Counter' feature publishing strongest opposing arguments
- Predicted Facebook's role in Rohingya ethnic cleansing in Myanmar (2013 - years before it happened)
- Predicted YouTube's radicalization pipeline (2017)
- Among first journalists to warn of COVID-19 severity (January 7, 2020)

## Latest updates

- **2026-03** — Delivered The Baird Lecture at Elon University on AI threats and opportunities, urging students to ask tough questions about artificial intelligence's societal implications.
- **2025-04** — Participated in 'Addressing the Impact of Social Media and AI on Democracy' symposium at University of Mississippi, focusing on journalism's role in helping society adapt to AI-driven information changes.
- **2023-07** — Began appointment as Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University.

## Links

- Website: https://zeynep.me/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zeynep-tufekci-2958881a
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/zeynep
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/technosociology/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/zeynep-tufekci
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-04-22