Abstract

More than ever before, visuals—images, memes, and short videos—are shaping public opinion and influencing political discourse. Memes, doctored images, and viral videos are often highly affective, making them easy to share and prone to rapid spread. This emotional pull can mobilize civic engagement and inspire activism—but it can also amplify harmful narratives, from extremist propaganda to disinformation and targeted harassment. Yet despite their growing influence, we still lack a comprehensive understanding of how to govern and moderate visuals effectively across social media platforms.

This talk will offer a candid, evidence-based look at three key areas in the governance and moderation of visual content online:
A) Social and political challenges. Visuals cut across language and cultural barriers, which gives them enormous reach and persuasive power. They can drive advocacy, protest, and political participation—but they can also fuel identity-based hate, conspiracy theories, and extremist recruitment. The speed and scale of virality mean that a single manipulated or decontextualized image can dominate public debate, forcing rapid policy responses that risk being seen as censorship or political bias.
B) Technical challenges. Moderating visual content at scale is more complex than moderating text. Automated systems like AI-driven image recognition and video analysis are improving, but still make costly errors. Deepfakes and other AI-generated visuals add new layers of difficulty, making harmful content harder to detect and respond to in time.
C) Ethical challenges. Many visuals involve real people—sometimes vulnerable groups—raising questions about consent, privacy, and the potential for harm. A single viral image can lead to harassment, surveillance, or even physical danger. Policymakers face the ongoing dilemma of protecting public interest while safeguarding individual rights.

About the Speaker

Jun Liu is an award-winning scholar and Associate Professor at the Center for Tracking and Society and the Department of Communication, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He is also a Research Affiliate at the Center on Digital Culture and Society at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Liu has served as Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-PI on research projects funded by public and private bodies in Denmark, as well as international funding agencies, with a total grant portfolio of approximately 1 million EUR. He has authored over 60 publications in leading international journals across social science fields—including communication, sociology, and political science—as well as in data science. His work extends beyond academia, contributing to policy analysis, media commentary, and invited public talks and keynote speeches on digital society, data governance, and civic engagement.

He holds leadership roles in prominent international academic associations, including the European Communication Research and Education Association and the European Consortium for Political Research. His scholarship has been recognized with awards from the American Political Science Association and the International Communication Association.