Can Middleware Save Social Media?

In wrestling with the enormous power that social media platforms exert over the system of free expression, Congress has repeatedly debated legislation that would protect user privacy and give users more control over their experience online. Time after time these efforts have faltered—sometimes because the proposed interventions raised genuine free speech concerns. As a result, little has changed for the millions of individuals anxious about the collection and use of their personal information, and about who or what decides the kind and quality of information they see.

In seeking avenues to address these concerns without impinging on First Amendment rights, many free speech and technology advocates are looking to middleware, third-party software that operates between users and platforms. Middleware’s proponents say that this kind of software could permit users to enhance their ability to shape their online experience, including by curating their timelines and by exercising more control over what data they share. Skeptics say that middleware raises privacy concerns of its own and that more fundamental changes are needed to address the pathologies of the digital public sphere. Can middleware really deliver the improvements that its boosters envision?

On March 27, 2026, the Knight Institute will host “Can Middleware Save Social Media?” a half-day convening focusing on these questions and the future of these go-between tools. This convening is a collaboration between the Knight Institute and the Institute’s Senior Policy Fellow Olivier Sylvain and will include discussions with academics, policymakers, and technologists.

Registration is required to attend in-person or to watch the livestream.

Note: Registration does not guarantee admission. Seating is first-come, first-served.

Speakers will include:

• Luke Hogg, The Foundation for American Innovation
• Daphne Keller, Stanford University
• Ramya Krishnan, Knight Institute
• Olivier Sylvain, Fordham University
• Ethan Zuckerman, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
• Additional speakers to be announced

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Host or Publisher Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University