//researcher

Understanding how technology works, where harms emerge, and how to build it better

I help organizations make sense of messy data, human behavior, and platform dynamics so they can make more grounded decisions about safety, quality, and accountability.

Work With MeExpert Witness
Matt Motyl speaking
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Expert Witness Cases

// featured in

The Wall Street JournalCNNThe New York TimesNPRThe Washington PostBBCThe GuardianBloombergVoxNewsweekScience FridayPCMag

// how i help

Clearer understanding for higher-stakes decisions

I help law firms, organizations, policymakers, and researchers understand complicated technologies, confusing evidence, and the real-world consequences they create.

Expert Witness

Clear, evidence-based analysis on recommendation systems, content moderation, online harms, child safety, and related questions at the intersection of technology and society.

Advisory

Strategic guidance for organizations trying to understand how technology interacts with people, incentives, and institutions — and how to improve products, policies, and processes.

Speaking

Talks and briefings that translate complicated systems into clear, memorable explanations for non-expert audiences.

Workshops

Practical sessions on interpreting messy evidence, understanding platform dynamics, and making more grounded decisions about safety, quality, and accountability.

// featured tool

Show Me The Data

An interactive guide to platform data — built to help researchers, journalists, and policymakers understand what evidence platforms make available and how to work with it.

Explore the full guide →See all tools →
show-me-the-data.com

Learn how to access and analyze platform data for studies, publications, and understanding online information ecosystems.

// selected work

Show Me The Data

Tool

An interactive guide to platform data built to help researchers, journalists, and policymakers understand what evidence platforms make available — and what remains difficult to study.

Visit site→

Social Media Index

Research

A large-scale effort to measure how people actually experience major social platforms, and to compare positive and negative outcomes across them.

Recommendation Systems Working Group

Policy

Co-authored guidance on how recommendation systems shape what people see, where harms can emerge, and how better feeds can be designed and governed.

Visit site→

What Could Go Wrong

Coming soon

A satirical social media tycoon simulation game about incentives, tradeoffs, and unintended consequences in platform design.

See all tools & projects →

// what people say

In my 2 years of working with Matt, his research was a critical foundation for cross-company-approach to improving societal outcomes. His work often resulted in step-changes to our product strategy — marrying his expertise in social science with cutting-edge quant and qual techniques. He was able to take extremely complex domains and data challenges — and generate actionable and clear insights for Product orgs. Most importantly: he displayed an unwavering commitment to people, society, equity, and our shared-goal to make the online world a better place. I would work with Matt again in a heartbeat — and am tremendously grateful for the way he helped all of us achieve more.
Ryan Beiermeister
Ryan Beiermeister
VP at OpenAI · formerly Head of Civic Product & Director at Meta
Matt is an excellent colleague. He really stands out in his ability to distill complex technical concepts and data in simple terms. He has excellent technical abilities and communication skills, which is a potent combination, and he is great at advocating his work with key stakeholders across the company. I recommend Matt without hesitation.
Sagnik Ghosh, Ph.D.
Sagnik Ghosh, Ph.D.
Lead Engineer at Anthropic · formerly Senior Engineer at Meta
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